Have Blood. Will Travel Plans. They're more..... guidelines, really.

she wore a raaaaspberry beret

GEORGIA | Monday, 23 Aug 2010 | Views [498]

An eagle soars overhead, carefully scoping the landscape for a suitable feast. In parallel we scan the berry bushes for luscious red jewels that hang ever-so sweetly awaiting our pluck. we gorge on rasperries by the handful. they cover the slopes like ... Read more >

Tags: berries, trekking

Intruder alert

GEORGIA | Saturday, 21 Aug 2010 | Views [460]

we are voyeurs. we walk alone, stumbling upward on the troubled path, watching the horizon with deference, not knowing where the end lies. we are voyeurs. we chance upon an empty hut, fire recently cold, the still air an aroma of sheep and dog and sweaty ... Read more >

Tags: shepherds, trekking

The hands on this Chechnyan could swallow a cabbage

GEORGIA | Saturday, 21 Aug 2010 | Views [546]

In our first human contact for a week we find ourselves this morning in the company of a team, a troupe, a barrel of steamy shepherds. nearing the camp we contemplate which method to use to get past the dogs. Griet paws their ferocity with indifference, ... Read more >

Tags: shepherds, trekking

In a side-stepped world

GEORGIA | Thursday, 19 Aug 2010 | Views [606]

We struggle and strut through a steeplechase of descending slopes. Age-old Defensive Towers built of stone and labour dot the landscape like lonesome lovers, their pact unbroken yet crumbled through centuries of wear. We peer into Kistani village, revealing ... Read more >

Tags: trekking

Livin' on The Edge

GEORGIA | Monday, 16 Aug 2010 | Views [762]

The grey moisture-laden skies that gave way to a glistening pastel sunset the night before have blossomed and slice the morning silence with surgical precision. For the next two days we will walk on a knife's edge; a razor-sharp warping that has bludgeoned ... Read more >

Tags: khevsureti ridge, mt tanizi, trekking

don't you go out in the rain

GEORGIA | Saturday, 14 Aug 2010 | Views [466]

a map, holding promised trails and rising slopes that have long since swallowed the path. latent optimism at finding a way out amongst the hungry mountains. a fire, recently cold, crumbles under the dripping sky. walking in shepherds trails, following ... Read more >

Tags: trekking

whatever you do, don't mention the war

GEORGIA | Thursday, 12 Aug 2010 | Views [560]

the second day into our trek and the views over our first pass open to yield a panorama worthy of a Karate Kid prequel. i could sense my brain Waxing Off as we sat for an hour at the top, gazing out across blue skies where the mountains are bathed in ... Read more >

Tags: kazbegi, trekking

Born from an Egg on a Mountaintop

GEORGIA | Tuesday, 10 Aug 2010 | Views [1213]

and with thoughts flying across snow-capped peaks on a fluffy cloud still lingering, i'm back from another jaunt. like the adventures of TinTin, or Calvin and Hobbs, or even our beloved Monkey Magic, the next series of escapades would not be complete ... Read more >

Tags: trekking

that was a freakin' BEAR, man!

AZERBAIJAN | Friday, 23 Jul 2010 | Views [636]

It was just another typical day in the Azerbaijan Caucasus. A picturesque mountain village, fresh air, hospitality (no problem, just pay what you can) and a humble breakfast of bread, butter, honey and loads of tea. Some newly made Polish friends upgraded ... Read more >

Tags: bears, military post, trekking

Photos: Samsari Ridge

GEORGIA | Sunday, 27 Jun 2010 | Photo Gallery

Tags: trekking

I wake up in the morning

GEORGIA | Thursday, 24 Jun 2010 | Views [783]

and i raise my weary head......I got an old coat for a pillow, and the earth was last night's bed........I don't know where i'm going, only God knows where i've been.......I'm a devil on the run, a six-gun lover, a candle in the wind..............Well, ... Read more >

Tags: trekking

Got wood?

GEORGIA | Monday, 14 Jun 2010 | Views [697]

I hear about this place in the mountains when a fellow traveller quips "So I have a question for you, if you're a trekker, why the HELL are you not going to Svaneti?". well, a lack of guidebook sometimes means you need these tips, my friend.... Read more >

Tags: mestia, svaneti, trekking

Episode 9: It Had To Happen

TURKEY | Monday, 31 May 2010 | Views [461]

We finally get rained upon. the weather turns just a little nasty to make camping on the ridge line in the rocks and snow, ready for A Final Ascent anything remotely close to what even the most devilish of masochists might call fun. then we lose the ... Read more >

Tags: trekking

Episode 8: Life above the trees

TURKEY | Monday, 31 May 2010 | Views [393]

we carefully prise ourselves free of the youth that have been feeding their curiosity with our bizarre speech and appearance, and begin another mountainous ascent. walking amongst ancient oaks, including the Volcanic Oak endemic to the region with some ... Read more >

Tags: trekking

Episode 7: Sleeping Village

TURKEY | Monday, 31 May 2010 | Views [392]

this setting is familiar; all the people are gone. there are no roads that bring the outside world here. carved Turkish script etched above a doorway and gigantic wells whisper that life may return. in time the forgotten fruit trees may be pruned and ... Read more >

Tags: trekking

Episode 6: Ahmet

TURKEY | Monday, 31 May 2010 | Views [419]

now, occasionally some characters appear in your story that just seem to write themselves.  Ahmet was just such a character. accustomed by now as we are to following the Red and White and deciphering the cryptic trail notes, we still find ourselves ... Read more >

Tags: trekking

Episode 5: Two days and one shepherd

TURKEY | Monday, 31 May 2010 | Views [483]

we climb from a "refreshing" bathe in the icy chill of waters feeding the Köprülü canyon that sets the shrinkage factor to maximum. then climb some more. and keep climbing through thick Juniper forests on the stiffest section of the trail thus ... Read more >

Tags: trekking

Episode 4: It's Pudding Time Children!!

TURKEY | Friday, 28 May 2010 | Views [385]

while The Next Day gets busy preparing its position for us across the horizon and through the walnut forests, our İntrepid Trekkers, our duo of deft decision makers, our protagonists in this preternatural travel-log have all Gone Native. we nestle into ... Read more >

Tags: trekking

Episode 3: All My Truckin'

TURKEY | Friday, 28 May 2010 | Views [409]

what happens when the track disappears amongst a disgusting haze of logged forest? Logged Forest that you expected to be Luscious Pine? why, you hitch a ride down off the mountain in the back of a Lorry, of course! a boring 5 hour walk is transformed ... Read more >

Tags: trekking

Episode 2: Geocaching without the Geo...

TURKEY | Tuesday, 25 May 2010 | Views [409]

...or the Cache. all the advice warned against it. the waymarks for this section of the trail are impossible to find, and virtually non-existent.  even with GPS you can't do it. or so they say.  bollocks to that. we disregard the GPS in favour of the ... Read more >

Tags: trekking