Adventure Annoyances 2 - Bad Drivers

Following on in our ‘Adventure Annoyances’ series we look now from the surface of the roads to those driving on them, specifically the Bad drivers. Every country has atrocious drivers; only some have more than others, the worst offenders we have found being in Albania, Turkey, Russia and Georgia. Tailgating is a huge problem in all countries, with cars literally less than 2m from your rear bumper at speeds of more than 50kph. (function(jQuery) {function init() { wS […]

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Adventure Annoyances 1 - Bad Roads

Gaze at the constant stream of romantic overland expedition posts on social media and it’s easy to believe that it’s all exotic sunsets, idyllic camp spots and laughter with locals. In reality however, it’s not all thrilling and fulfilling- overlanding has more than its fair share of exasperations and frustrations. But surely that’s part of the experience, right? Most days these provocations can be shrugged off, even laughed at, but even with the strongly develo […]

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A Spring in the Steppe

The true heart of Kazakhstan can be found in its vast steppe land, at times stretching to an infinite horizon in every direction. The world’s ninth largest country, a third of Kazakhstan’s colossal land area is steppe, an indication of just how immense this landscape is. So common is the sight of eternal, flat plain that it is easy to take this beautiful habitat for granted and many exploring the natural wonders of the country bypass this glorious grassland and focus mainly on […]

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Gorging in Georgia

Legend has it that wine was invented 8,000 years ago in Georgia, a small country which still produces over 100 million bottles of beautiful wine varieties every year. Whilst immersing ourselves in this important part of the country’s heritage, we felt it necessary to soak up the potent grape juice with some of Georgia’s delicious array of culinary specialities and these are some of our favourites. (function(jQuery) {function init() { wSlideshow.render({elementID:”739533000362992880 […]

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Going Wild in Georgia

Within hours of crossing the border from Turkey into Georgia the landscape began to feel more ‘wild’. Gone was the previous week’s dismay of exploring a valley only to be met by industrial development; indiscriminate scarring of the rock sides for roads and mining and rubbish strewn everywhere. (function(jQuery) {function init() { wSlideshow.render({elementID:”918392086740536057″,nav:”none”,navLocation:”bottom”,captionLocation:”bottom”,tran […]

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Dawn Devotion and Breakfast With the Jikheti Nuns

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Lunchin" with the Locals in Armenia

A lasting memory of Armenia will be the warmth of the people we met there, we were welcomed so many times into people’s homes and spent many memorable hours sharing food, wine, cognac and oghi (the latter not so many memories of!).  On one misty morning, we set off from Kapan for a days adventuring with our new friend David in the mountains of southern Armenia’s Syunik province. We explored the villages and landscape of Shikagogh nature reserve, a beautiful, remote expanse of 10 […]

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The Bretheren Closer to Heaven

Clinging to a rock face, nestled high up on a steep cliff in the Pontic Mountains in the Altındere National Park, Turkey, is the 4th century Sumela Monastery; a site of great historical and cultural significance.Having already visited the Monastery of Ostrog (Montenegro) and the spectacular Metéora complex of Greek Orthodox monasteries, both of which are perched precariously in isolated places, we were aware of the tradition typical of inaccessible Monasteries throughout the r […]

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Turkish Tea-Time

(function(jQuery) function init() wSlideshow.render(elementID:”358215269261816094″,nav:”none”,navLocation:”bottom”,captionLocation:”bottom”,transition:”fade”,autoplay:”1″,speed:”5″,aspectRatio:”auto”,showControls:”true”,randomStart:”false”,images:[“url”:”5/6/1/6/5616847/6574027.jpg”,”width”:”400″,”height”:”288″,“url”:”5/6/1/6/5616847/9316782.jpg”,”width”:”400″,”height”:”288″]) jQuery ? jQuery(init) : document.observe(‘dom:loaded’, init))(window._W && _W.jQuery) It was a cold, grey, […]

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15 Things You Never Want To See On Your GPS

Now we’ve done a lot of off roading, in Africa the easiest way to reach a destination may not be direct, it could involve a couple river crossings, or consist of driving through some dried up riverbeds, well you get the point. We’ve encountered a few disturbing messages on our GPS throughout our travels that […]

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Work or travel?

Michel’s sabbatical is almost over. It was a sabbatical without job guarantee and without a guarantee from Michel’s side that he would come back to his employer. Should we go back to the Netherlands, back to a “normal” life? Or do we want to continue traveling for another year? The idea has always been to…
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