A lovely day. John removed the bulb from the headlight and
yes it appeared broken there was a loose piece rattling around. At
Mitsubishi John took the bulb into the spare parts area which was
very run down compared to the flash new show room. The guy had no
parts but when John said just head light the guy opened his drawer
handed him two light bulbs and charged him $4 - but no, could not help
with a mirror.
Through
Tblisi and out the other side leaving the congestion behind with a
relief. Always a good feeling to get though a city, no matter how
small, unscathed.
Diverted
just out of Telavi to visit two more churches, however the one we
visited was actually a group of 3 churches built within meters of
each other all of different ages. The other church sadly was closed
for major repairs.
We
visited the oldest flame tree about 1000 years old. Nearby the tree was this great artwork of three snails.
While scuttling out
some back streets we found a great green grocer and found some broccoli.
A
campsite was chosen up a a spot in the hills where 3 churches were
nestled. It
was a loop road so that was great. After finding the road/track
leading out of the village we, or rather I, began to wonder of the
wisdom of our action.
I drove while the track was dry but once it
started to get a bit technical and WET I handed over to John. It was
not raining, but the trees were still dripping. The track got very
closed in. It seemed like EC was going through a car wash all the wet
branches giving her a sponge off. We assumed (wrongly) that the other
access track must be the main one, but when we joined it it was just as
small and muddy.
Finally
we got to the top and the church.
A
fire was alight just outside the door and a sleeping bag was laid
across the doorstep with one dirty sandal print on it. By calling, we
could not raise anyone but wandered in. I put the hood of my jacket
up to cover my head. A very big empty church. Some repairs had been
done on it to keep the water out. Was really quiet amazing.
We
wondered past the church and browsed at the other church which was
in very poor repair. Only half of it still standing. There was
nowhere else to camp apart from where we had stopped near the main
church.
The
owner of the fire turned up in the form of an elderly monk. He had no
English but we managed to chat a bit. He was there for 3 days and had
walked up. And yes, we could camp here for one night.
I
gathered together some nibbles, bread, cheese olives dried fruit and
wine and we sat with him by the fire. He refused the wine although we
could see that he was very tempted. We did not pour any in respect
for his abstinence. He ate very little of the food. We left him to
his solitude by the fire.
A
big disappointment that we could not learn his story.
157km
157km