Former Soviet Union tour- Abkhazia

[enduroadventure]

The first day is behind us.
We left Riga at noon. A lot of time passed until everything was finally in its place and the motorcycles were ready. The clouds are in front of us as we make way to Terehov border crossing, through which we plan to get into Russia. The weather is cold. The road conditions are poor, and its hard to keep hold of the motorcycles because the road is wet and there are ridges in, caused by trucks. Czech tires ''Mitas'' are not suited for these conditions, they are made for off-road and dry asphalt. Before the border, we notice a rainbow in the cloudy sky. We reached the border at 8 pm. Trucks are standing in the queue for a day already but there are no queues for cars. Checking the formalities for bringing our motorcycles into Russia takes 2 hours. The guards are very objective. While forming documents, we find out from other drivers that there are restrictions that forbid you to bring any dairy or meat over the border. Janis has taken 55 cans of boar meat with him, which to our great delight are not identified and taken away.
The night settles fast and it gets colder. We enter Russia at 10 pm. We had to find accommodation fast, because soon wild animals would start roaming around roads. There are no available rooms in any of the 2 motels that we find. It is not until driving 10 more km to Putoshtok when we find a cafe for truck drivers where there are some rooms available. The room costs 800 roubles. While we move our belongings and equipment to the sleeping place (which could hardly be called a hotel room), we are being watched and questioned by locals and driver. The vibe is friendly. 430 km covered today.

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540 km covered yesterday. Around 10 pm we have packed and ready to head towards Putoshtok near Moscow, our destination is Klubink, which is located 60 km from the capitals main road. There, Kiril was waiting for us, he moved to Moscow from Riga 15 years ago. The road is under construction for ~100 km behind Putoshtok, after that, there's a quality road until Volokolamka. It's a pleasure to ride. We enter Klubinka at 7 pm and Kiril is already waiting for us. We even made it to the Latvia-USA hockey game. After the victory of our team, emotions are high for everyone. Kiril is no stranger to sports, he represented Latvia in pentathlon the olympic games that took place in Barcelona. The tired travelers are offered a sauna and shelter for the night. We spend the evening talking about good old times.

A film about this trip is coming soon.

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It already smells like summer here. We open the swim season in river Danube. The water is ~18 degrees celsius. It looks like it's going to be a hot day, so equipment is stripped down to minimum. The wind has calmed, so driving is pure bliss. Further south, the road conditions get worse, but we are not bugged by this. It's really hot, approximately 30 degrees at noon. At 4 pm, after the usual refuelling, Normunds's BMW's starter stops working. It takes us about an hour to identify the problem. It turns out to be the battery, which has simply run out. We start to stress, because we have to figure out how to get a new one. The closest town is 100 km away. Janis takes the lead and offers his solutions. We change the batteries between Janis and Oskars motorcycles, Oskars has a carburettor which needs less power- this works. We succeed to run the ride by transferring Oskars's motorcycle's power to Normunds's BMW. We're on the road again! After 50 km on the highway, the last amount of power which kept Oskars's alternator alive, has run out before a long elevation, which makes the thought of pushing dreadful. What's funny- 300 m before us, a company of 3 men on an Ural motorcycle have also stopped, they tell us that they ran from the police until they got on the highway, where they ran out of fuel. As they say themselves, they appear to be a little tipsy. They agree to an exchange deal. There, on the highway, we hand over our emergency fuel bottle and they give us one of the Ural's half dead batteries. The three cheerful men push their motorcycle on the highway together and drive off before us, their clothes fluttering in the wind. We follow them. After a few kilometres, there's an exit that leads to a village with a car repair workshop, which, thankfully, works on a saturday evening and sells Chinese batteries for 20 euros. The three joyful men invite us to celebrate this, but we call them some s and continue driving. The sun is already setting when we find a place to camp at- at a meadow near the highway and a quarry. 520 km covered today.

A film about this trip is coming soon.

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The weather keeps pampering us. Today, everyone has woken up earlier. Usually, this happens around 7 am, then we have a breakfast together, then checkups for the motorcycles, then packing and attaching the panniers. All of this usually takes us around 3 hours, so we rarely leave camp earlier than 10 am. Today, we were on the road at 9 am. In the morning, the night air is still lingering and it's possible to feel the refreshing breeze, which carries the smell of fresh crops. After Rostov, we turn to Stavropol and say our goodbyes to the highway, which had started to bore us. Here, fields of crops surround us. The blue painted roadside villages appear very tidy, much more so than the ones from the border to Moscow. The people are very kind and responsive, but we keep being confused with Lithuanians. It's hard to find a campsite here, because every single square meter is used for growing crops. Around 6 pm, we find a pond which serves as a commercial fishing spot and quickly arrange making a camp here, thanks to the kind owner Alexey. Around 10 pm, a dark cloud appears from the south and we start to prepare for a storm, but it passes by us. 470 km covered today.

A film about this trip is coming soon.

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A helicopter which frequently flies over the snow capped mountaintops to Georgia is visible from our hotel room window. The rescue and search for the missing people are still on. The glacier landslide has covered 300 m of the road and taken 6 trucks with it, ruptured a gas pipe and filled up river Tereka. Seven people have died and many are still missing.
Today, our declaration for equipment entry in Russia is over, so we go to the border to figure out what to do about this. 10 km before the crossing is a police and army post. Noone is allowed near the crossing. We talk the guards into letting one motorcycle inside to figure the situation out. The Russian guards assure us once again, that crossing is not allowed and probably wont be possible for about a month. They recommend us to go to the border crossing with South Ossetia, which is 80 km away. We decide that this is our best option. On the way, another cash blackmail from the police happens. This appears to be the only unpleasant thing about North Ossetia. The rainfall is dreadful and the temperature is around 10 degrees celsius. After a 2 hour ride on the turpentine, we are at the border. There is Russian army equipment everywhere. The guard hears us out, and warns that our one-way Russian visa won't be valid to go back. We decide to go back. Nearby, there's a spot in the mountains called Cej, and it's rumoured to be worthy of seeing. There, we would also have to search for accommodation, because we have to dry our wet clothes. Not far from our destination, there's a painting of Stalin on a cliff. Later, we find out from our host Tamirlan that this is nothing unusual and they appear in several places here. Our host is very welcoming and the night continues at the table with stories of Ossetian life and values. 100 km covered today.
A film about this trip is coming soon.


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The rain has stopped, but the mountains are still covered in fog. As it turns out, we are in a sacred place which was closed for everyone but Osetians until the Soviets came in.
I go on a walk with Oskars, we are headed to a waterfall which is located a few miles away, and we plan to meet the knowledgeable Osetian Elan, who takes care of the sacred places here. Elan tells more about history of the valley, the complicated relationship between Osetians, Georgians and Ingushetians. But we have to keep going.
A new way to get into Georgia has appeared. A ferry from Sochi to Trabzon in Turkey crosses 3 times weekly. We thought we were going to make it to tomorrows ferry, but, because of the war in Ukraine, every ferry line from Russia to Turkey has been closed and there is no way to get over the Black sea. Our last option is to go through Abkhazia, although Georgia does not accept this country-like formation and crossing the border is a criminal offense. We're gonna try to get the embassy to help us travel in.
Today, traveling through a police blockpost that we crossed yesterday takes us longer than an hour. The reason is rather weird. All of our fingerprints are being taken. We have figured out that it's best to not ask too many questions, so we simply observe the procedure. We want to get it on camera, but that is strictly forbidden. Maybe that is because of our unshaven faces, similar to the ones in pictures of vahabiti terrorists on the wall. Who knows! But one thing is clear: it will take time until this country is ready to welcome travellers. In the past few hours, we experience the strongest rainfall while driving in our lives. Everywhere around us are black clouds, so we don't see the point in waiting for them to disperse. Finally, at Minvodi, the rain stops and we head to the west. 490 km covered yesterday.
A film about this trip is coming soon.


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It's sunny again! We meet a traveler with BMW R1200GS Adventure. This guy is followed by a crew in a bus. He is on his way from Vladivostok to Turkey. The Turks are already aware of the situation on border and consider entering through Dagestan or Azerbeijan. They explain us why it won't be possible to cross the sea to Trabzon by ferry: a few days ago, Turkey has closed its ferry line with Russia as an answer to the activity in Ukraine. We decide to take in the Caucasus from this side, to go to Dombay and later to Elbruz. From a road leading from Armavira to Teberd and enter Karachayevo Cherkessia. We are stopped at the blockpost. The policeman checks our papers and points out the immigration cards, which have run out. He has every right to fine us 800 roubles each, but, having heard our story and reasons, he lets us go, warning that we might not be understood at the next block post. The empty, curved road leads us in the direction of the snow capped mountains, the weather is brilliant and we finally start to cope with or situation. Approximately 50 km from Abkhazian border we stop at an empty camping site, where the caretaker Viktor tells us about life on the border and the weird safety regulations during Sochi Olympics. 470 km covered yesterday.
A film about this trip is coming soon.


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Huge sign roadside at the border: Do not take drugs over border.

[enduroadventure]

The mountains are covered in clouds again. We check the weather forecast and it seems like nothing will change in the following five days. The weather seems to be better at the Back sea, so we decide to take the chance and try to enter Abkhazia, which was Georgia's territory until early nineties, and Georgians and most other countries still consider it Georgia. The Russian-Abkhazian visa system seems incomprehensible, so we decide that it's a good idea to find out more about entering the region, as this would also be useful information to other travellers. As a shortcut, we are going to take the Maikop- Tuapsi mountain pass, it appears to be a gravel road on the map, but truck drivers say we will pass there. 350 km covered today.
A film about this trip is coming soon.


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The tourism season hasn't started yet so finding accommodation is not a problem. An Abkhaz man named Miron lives in a house with his family and also offers travellers accommodation in the couple of free rooms they have. There's a large roofed terrace in the yard with a kitchen and tables. Here, the family and guests communicate and socialise. The room costs 2000 roubles (35 euros) a day. Since the beginning of our stay here, we are surprised by our hosts' hospitality. Miron offers us homemade red wine and snacks and spends a good share of his time talking to us about the war and relationship between Russians and Georgians. He has quite a lot to say, because he fought in the war and got badly injured. When we ask about restoring the relationship between Abkhazs and Georgians, he does not believe this will happen. He will never forget the war, maybe his children or grandchildren will, he adds. Our conversation is listened by his 12 year old son Hashcha, who adds that he won't forget either.
A film about this trip is coming soon.


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Enduroadventure

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Unplanned solutions and motorcyclists daily life in Abkhazia. The rain follows us until Suhumi, where the sky starts to clear. The road condition is good, but you have to pay special attention to Abkhaz drivers. Also, you have to watch out for cows and such, because they often appear on the road. There are almost no ATM machines except the ones in Sukhumi.
About the police. Miron, who has connections within the police says, that the president has ordered not to bug tourists on the road, but the reality is a bit different. There are many police posts on the road, we don't get pulled over without reason, but in some cases, immediate action is taken after minor misdemeanours that would be ignored in most countries. Yesterday, a cop in a civil car followed us and with his phone filmed Janis making a forbidden manoeuvre, after which he stopped us and fined us without protocol. Documents have to be in order, wine and at breakfast is out of question. Also, sometimes we get pulled over to answer questions about equipment, the purposes of our trip and other stuff. Of course, all of this limits the feeling of freedom.
In Sukhumi, everything goes smoothly. In the Russian Consulate, a kind employee sends us to formalise our visas for Abkhazia, without which it would be impossible to get a transit visa for Russia. The Consular Department is located in Saharov street 33, and this is where we get our visas from the kind officials. After lunchtime, our documents are taken for the Russian visa and it is promised to open the visa in 5 work days. We leave the city to the South and head to Ochemchire. At 6 pm we enter a city which walls are still marked by the war that took place 20 years ago. A mercedes stops by us, and the driver, Asni, a young man with a kind face, offers help. We answer that we are looking for accommodation. Without hesitation, he invites us to his parents home, where a meal is also presented. 180 km covered today.
A film about this trip is coming soon.


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[danielsprague]

Nice read

You were lucky not to get into trouble in North Ossetia for being off a federal highway (in the Ardon Valley), but lovely place. I crossed the Trans-Caucasian Highway in 2010, through the Roki Tunnel. I'm not sure you would have got in without entry clearance from Tskhinval.

Stage 20 – Russia & South Ossetia: The North Caucasus [1/2] | EurasiaOverland

If you are still in Abkhazia, I highly recommend you visit Lake Ritsa and the beach and forest in Pitsunda, absolutely beautiful places. They were the top of the list of holiday destinations in Soviet times. Also, take care anywhere south of Ochamchira, as security is not so good. I wouldn't be out at night in Gali and surroundings.

Stage 19 – Azerbaijan, Georgia & Abkhazia: The South Caucasus | EurasiaOverland

[enduroadventure]

We continue to admire the land where the time machine has thrown us 50 years back. Here, in the South, the people are even more kind than in the large cities. They wave, stop and want to talk and invite us to their tables. We drive through the spooky city Ochemchire, where every third building is a witness of war. They have been burned down, destroyed, pierced with bullets. Before war, the city was populated by Georgians and Megrelians mostly, but now, the properties have been denationalised and it is not clear how and if they keep track of things here. Georg Victor orthodox church, an energetically powerful place, is located not far from the city. Many believers from Russia come here to get a blessing.
We turn to the North again, because of the recommendations to visit a small town named Novij Afon. On the road, we stop a fuel carrier to refuel, because there are no gas stations.
We turn to the mountains to the cave of Abriskil, which many locals have advised us to see. We have to drive carefully, because the road is full of cows.
The cave is worth seeing, but only with the funny Abkhaz guide, which calls himself Vitaliy Tarasovich. There are no tourists here, and in the 800 m long cave we enjoy Tarasovich's stories and legends. Tarasovich appears to be slightly drunk and this is amplified by his Caucasian accent, which gives us some amusing material for the film. 160 km covered today.
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[enduroadventure]

Russian transit visas are open for 4 days and that means our adventures in Abkhazia are over. One thing is clear- for a place like Abkhazia, a week on a motorcycle is not enough. Maybe two weeks would be enough. But we have an idea of this place and more than 10 hours of filmed material, so the film is not going to be boring. We spend the last evening on the coast of Black sea, to get proper rest.
At 8 am, we are on the road. The border is not a problem and we cross it in 2 hours. It's hot outside. After Krasnodar in Rostov direction there is major road construction. The traffic jam is ~10 km long. We get to use our 2 wheel benefits and bypass it. Strawberries and cherries await us in Rostov!

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