Henry's Blog

Amazing Faith - not for the faint hearted

Day 1 (12 May 2025) Henry's cycling adventure from Venice to Turkey via the Balkans - meeting new people and spreading the gospel.

New beginnings

Well, I’m here! Where is here you ask? I’m currently writing this in my tent on the banks of the river Piave, listening to the rain patter away on the flysheet. (See map)

It was a brutally early start for a 5:50am flight, Raf very kindly dropped me to Bristol Airport and I was off! I arrived at the oversized luggage counter in Venice just in time to see my bike be launched through the hatch, slamming into the floor and promptly splitting open and emptying its contents onto the terminal floor. Thankfully, no harm done and I collected everything and spent the next hour fiddling with Allen keys, feeling very grateful for Josiah’s suggestion that I take a few full size ones and don’t just use the multi-tool.

I spent a couple of hours around Venice proper after that, seeing the sights (photo of me by the Scalzi bridge) and trying to relax - not easy when you’re three times as wide as an average person in a city that can see upwards of 200 000 tourists a day!

To punctuate the flat cycling through seemingly endless vineyards (photo) I enjoyed a rather challenging conversation with the owner of a petrol station, conducted largely with a mix of translating app and mine, trying to explain that I wanted to buy only half a litre of petrol for my stove. We got there eventually, and I had warm pasta for tea!

Highlights:

* Meeting some lovely ex-cycle tourists in Venice, they had cycled to all the cathedrals in France (apparently there are 149).

* Bike arriving in working order, and not too much faff setting it up.

Lowlights:

* 3:30am start and saying goodbye to Raf and James (housemates)

Day 4 (15 May 2025) - Excuse me sir, do you know why we’ve pulled you over?

Four days in and I’m starting to get used to this now. I’m getting quicker at getting going in the morning and better at working out when to follow the GPS suggested route and when might it might be wise to ignore Komoot! The last three days have taken me through some absolutely stunning scenery in the Julian Alps. Deep blue rivers, towering peaks with late spring snow patches clinging on above 2000m and flowering alpine meadows have made up much of my scenery, I think my camp on night two in Reisuetta is in the top 5 spots of all time for me.

Best wild campsite ever?

I passed into Slovenia on Day 3 after a brutal 10km climb with an average, yes average, gradient of 10%. With a 36kg setup this took me a fair while and I was in a less than glamorous state when I did top out. Was it worth it for the 20km descent? Probably. After just a few km in Slovenia though I was surprised to say the least when a policeman with a speed gun waved at me to pull over - Ok I was fast down that descent but surely not thaaat fast! Thankfully he was only concerned that I was cycling a little too far in the middle of the road for his liking so we have a good chat, I explained to him my tour and my planned route and I went on my way without any more trouble.

Topping out after a brutal climb!

Unfortunately, the Vrsič pass to Bled was closed, so I changed my route and headed southwards to a border town between Slovenia and Italy. Gorize (Italy)/Novogorize (Slovenia) is the European capital of culture for 2025 it transpires and will host the finish of a stage of the Giro d’Italia this year (unfortunately I’m about 10 days early). I stayed with a lovely bloke called Bojan here who kindly let me use his apartment, wash my clothes and have a shower!

I’ve been thinking lots over the past few days about a talk at church on my last Sunday in Bristol. We were talking about the where in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus tells us not to store up treasures here on earth, but to build up treasures in heaven (Matthew 6). The phrase that stuck was “how can we stop seeing interactions with others as an ‘extraction’ opportunity, but as an ‘investment’ opportunity” I’ve been thinking about how we can build others up even through small interactions we may have when on the road, in a shop buying food or when sharing a meal. I’ve only done 75km today, but some highlights have been cycling along an amazingly wide valley full of fruit trees (see photo of valley plus cherry trees) and seeing a show cave with an electric train that goes through it! (postojnska-jama.eu)

Fantastic gravel track down wide valley

Cherry trees, with ripe cherries!

Yay caving!

Prayer points for those of you who pray:

To know how to invest well in others through often transient encounters, and ensure I’m sharing Jesus with people I meet en route
That I will find a way to fix my broken shifter. I’ve been on small ring only since day 1 at about 40km and it’s thankfully not been that problematic so far, but I would really like to have all my gears again!

Day 8 (19 May 2025) - Island Hopping

Welcome back! It’s been a good few days since I’ve done one of these and there has been plenty going on! Last Wednesday I decided it was time to go to a campsite for a shower and somewhere flat to put my tent at last, not only did I get to cook indoors (a luxury these days), but I also met Leo - a German cycle tourist heading from his home in the Black Forest to Athens. We decided to ride together into Croatia the next day and see where the adventure took us. After a beer and plotting session we turned in for the night, excited to tick off a new country in the morning.

Leo and me set up at the campsite

We didn’t even realise we were at the border when it came - we just thought it was a motorway toll station, the ease of the Schengen zone eh! Zooming down towards the coast we arrived in Rijeka (an industrial city on the Croatian coast) and then continued to a tiny town called Bakar for lunch. Leo and I did the cycle tourist classic, head for the super market and buy the cheapest two things possible for lunch. For me this was bread and some suspect ‘wedding feast soup’ in a packet. As we sat down by the seaside we noticed an abnormal number of motorcycles at the restaurant next to us with an obscene amount of food. We asked what was going on and it turned out we had accidentally become part of a group of ‘influencers’ touring around on Honda motorcycles to ‘create content’. One bloke came up to us and offered us some food which we gladly accepted… Sea Bass and Calamari beats stale bread any day! We didn’t choose the influencer lifestyle - it chose us! (Shameless plug, follow me on Instagram @eddystoneadventurer for some regular but short updates)

Me and Leo before the influencer lifestyle…

After this Leo and I were too full to cycle much further or eat much dinner so we set about finding a campsite. We had to settle for a gravel track in a small forest in the end, beggars can’t be choosers! We had a good chance to get chatting and it turned out Leo had recently been on a cycle pilgrimage in Italy. We had a great chat about faith and how different our churches are (he loved it when I showed a video of Christ Church on Easter Sunday with some top notch worship - big up the CCC worship team!) and ended up sharing communion together in this little forest. What a brilliant chance encounter to meet another Christian on the road and encourage each other.

… and afterwards!

Communion al fresco

We awoke to the sound of many insects and a few larger animals and got back on the road in the lovely Dalmatian coast sunshine. On our first climb of the day we met Boris - not the politician but a business management lecturer from Austria. He’s originally from Serbia and spent time in Croatia in his youth - I listened to a history lesson from his experience of being part of Yugoslavia during the ethnic conflicts of the early 90s as we climbed up to 1200m over the course of an hour or so.

On the road again in the sunshine!

Leo and I had scoped out, of all things, a bear sanctuary to camp at for the night. When we arrived it was a bizarre but brilliant experience. Ivan, a pensioner with a passion for nature, has devoted his later life to looking after several brown bears who have been found neglected or have been otherwise badly treated in captivity. We were told we could camp in a field and stay the night. We pitched the tents and then had a well earned beer, before exploring a little more, chatting to some of the other people there (travellers from places such as France and Estonia) and turning in for the night.

Over the past few days I’ve been continuing my thoughts on investing in people and how to do this both on tour and when back at home. I’ve realised how when I’m out here it’s easy to ‘hop’ between ‘Islands’ of known safety and comfort. If you’ll allow me to stretch an analogy then cycling along the roads between places is somewhat like sailing around an archipelago of various islands. There are known safe ports with well trodden passages between them. These are charted waters with good bouyage keeping you from danger. When you arrive you know you’ll find comfort and what you expect. In my context this is the equivalent of jumping between campsites, cafes and hostels. All places I know will be easy and safe, but at the end of the day… a little boring. When sailing in an archipelago the real exciting times are when you try to get to new and interesting places you’re not 100% sure you’ll manage. Sure, you’re aware of any dangers and make sure to avoid the rocks, but does it really matter if your boat touches the sandy bottom and you get stuck for a bit? In my context, this is where I have to reach out to people I don’t know, to start up conversations with locals and ask them about their lives. To be flexible and willing to change my plans and to allow God to steer me where he would wish. Only with this mindset can we truly experience all there is for us, and through this mindset we grow and can also grow others.

The next day I decided to head onwards towards Bosnia whilst Leo wanted to stay and help out with the bears for a few days. We said our goodbyes and I headed off towards the border! When I crossed the border I was surprised at how quick and stark the change was. The identical church that I had found in each Croatian town (closed on Sunday for some reason?!) was replaced by intentional looking mosques. The road signs were now in Cyrillic and I realised I now had no currency of use and it was a Sunday afternoon so no chance of getting any!

The standard Croatian church…

I rode onwards to a town called Bihać where I spent the night in the garden of a small bar owner who kindly let me stay over. I was right next to the river Una which was beautiful to say the least - the light was good too so I had a bit of a play around with my camera.

I’m now in a small town called Ključ and heading further into Bosnia today. Unfortunately I woke up this morning to ants in all of my gear! So I’ve had a slightly frustrating morning picking them out of my tent, clothes and just about everything else. Fingers crossed I’ve got them all out!

…and the standard Bosnian mosque

For those of you who pray:

- My Achilles (right) is sore and has been for a few days now (classic injury!). Please pray for healing.

- ⁠I’m struggling to sleep because of hayfever and being outside so much! Prayer for good sleep would be great.

- ⁠That I would continue to be able to find quiet spaces to stop and reflect, I can see myself getting distracted sometimes and want to make the most of the chance to be off grid.

- ⁠Most importantly - that I would continue to seek and find ways to interact and impact people, even when it seems there might be slim pickings. One of the things I’ve found awesome is how many people I’m meeting and how much better those conversations are when being bold about reaching out.

Day 14 (25 May 2025)

The last time I wrote I had just entered Bosnia and was in the north of the country having just had an excellent camp. Over the past week I’ve been slowly making my way through Bosnia, having a couple of rest days along the way to repair myself and the bike, and learning about this fascinating country.

After a couple more days cycling I arrived in Travnik, a small city in the centre of Bosnia where I had been given the address of Lorenz and his family who has kindly offered to host me in their guest apartment. I was excited at the prospect of a bed and shower after 10 days of sleeping bag and tent! Not only did the apartment have these ammeneties but it also had a sauna - what a win!

Bosnia is still clearly culturally divided between three ethnic groups - the Bosnians (Muslim), Serbs (Orthodox) and Croats (Catholic). These divisions are what led to the tragic war in 1992-5 and the scars of that war are still painfully present today. On the road to Travnik I passed a signpost. It said ‘Welcome to Republic of Srpska’. It was like crossing a border within a country. Immediately the road signs were only in Cyrillic text and the mosques were replaced with orthodox churches. There are still sadly land mines littering the country across these borders between the Bosnian Federation and the Serbian Republic. Bosnia has three heads of government, one to represent each ethnic group, and they take turns to rotate the premiership having 8 month stints each.

An ominous road sign…

I spent a rest day in Travnik, allowing my body to recover from a fairly lengthy first stint. My saddle sores got smaller, the achillies pain reduced a little and I caught up on lots of sleep! I went out into town and tried Ćevapi - a traditional Bosnian sausage eaten with sour cream and bread. Thankfully Bosnia is very cheap and it cost all of £2.50!

The next day I said farewell to Lorenz and his lovely family, feeling very blessed by their hospitality. The previous night Lorenz and I had shared our faith stories with one another, including how he had come to Bosnia as a Christian missionary 15 years ago and had since become an orthodox minister and started a manufacturing company of air handling units (relevant to me - so I went to see his business the next day before setting off!)

Thank you Lorenz and family!

As I cycled onwards I passed through remote mountain villages, often with dogs chasing me down the road to ‘defend’ their houses! I’m learning how to deal with the dogs but it’s always a little surprising to have a huge beast chasing you down the road! That Bosnia is a county healing from the war is still very apparent. Many houses lie abandoned, either from the war or since then where people have left the country to richer nations in search of a better life. As I cycled over the mountains I saw countless abandoned buildings and towns seemingly void of any people.

Dogs! A staple fixture of the Balkans so far

After a short day cycling I reached Fojnica - home to another Christian missionary family who has offered to host me. These are friends of the Leswells whom I used to go to church with in Cornwall many moons ago and who also visited Bosnia as missionaries. I was immediately welcomed and shown a room where I could stay - a real bed three days in a row feels decadent at this point! Walter, Erica and their family hosted me and were very generous - feeding me well and allowing me to use their workshop to try and attend to the gear issues that have been plaguing me since day one!

Towns and buildings left deserted

After a good nights sleep I headed to the workshop with Samuel, their (grown up!) son. He works fixing agricultural machines and so I had a brilliant morning of trying to mend my tiny delicate gear shifter in a tractor workshop. Needless to say it was a challenge to find an M3 bolt - M33 would have been more likely!

Samuel spoke excellent English, but this didn’t quite extend to knowing the names of all the tools I needed to use. Thus ensued an excellent time of me looking for something, not being able to find it, getting a picture of it up on my phone and him going ‘aha’ and bringing me a drill bit, centre punch, pair of pliers or whatever it was I needed at the time! For those that are interested, the fix involved installing a small piece of steel as a rubbing strip to replace a plastic component that had snapped in the shifter, I think it looks pretty neat all things considered…

Small bolt the only evidence of a fix.

Having had two days off in the last three I wanted to get moving again and so headed towards Sarajevo the next morning. It’s a really interesting city with a fascinating ‘east meets west’ feeling to it. The ‘highlight’ if you can call it that was a visit to the museum of the seige of Sarajevo. Over 44 months the Serbian Democratic Party bombarded the city, cutting it off from the outside world and leaving thousands to survive without electricity, food, clean water or communications with the outside world. For two years until a short tunnel was duf the only way to get out was to run across an airstrip where you would be shot at and at the end have to jump into a ditch filled with barbed wire. The saddest thing is that we don’t seem to have learned lessons from such an awful chapter in the history of humanity. There are so many parallels with events happening right now around the world, particularly in the Middle East. I left the exhibition in a pretty depressed state and I remember just crying out, thinking how is it possible for humans to do this to each other, and even worse for us to keep doing it today.

To cheer myself up (not), I walked along the river to the spot where in 1914 Archduke Ferdinand of the Austro-Hungarian empire was assassinated, leading to the outbreak of WW1. It was a poignant afternoon and really puts our currently stable and comfortable lives into perspective. Humanity is fragile and the relationships we have with all others are important.

I walked back to the hostel I was staying in feeling contemplative and suddenly feeling a lot more aware of bullet marks in the buildings around me, wondering how it would feel to have to run everywhere for fear of snipers in the buildings above.

Signs of the seige are evident all around

I’m now going to head southwards towards Montenegro and am gradually heading southwards towards Greece in the coming weeks, if you haven’t already you can follow me on instagram @eddystoneadventurer for more regular but shorter updates.

For those of you who pray:

The time off has given my achilles time to recover, so thank you for your prayers and thoughts on that! It’s probably 80% less painful now.
Hayfever has been less bad this week, having stayed inside a few times, so thank you again for your prayers!
Please pray that I would be able to up the mileage again now that I’ve had a more chilled out week.
My charge bank has literally this second given up the ghost and is giving off an electronic fire kind of smell… I have 8% on my phone charge so pray that I can sort something out for that!
Please pray for the people of Bosnia, that the country would be more unified and less divided. That lessons would be learned from the past and that we as Christians would be able to lead the way showing the love of Jesus and tolerance of all.

Day 18 (29 May 2025)

Hello all! It’s only been four days since my last post but I’ve managed to rattle off two more countries since then.

First of all - check out the write up I did of my time in Bosnia for Alpkit (whom I used to work for and who also make the bike frame I’m using) https://alpkit.com/blogs/deeds/cycling-through-bosnia

I left Bosnia behind on Monday morning and headed into Durmitor national park in Montenegro. I then spent two days working my way across the beautiful landscapes of Montenegro before crossing the border into Albania yesterday morning.

The Piva gorge in Montenegro has to be one of the most impressive landscapes I’ve experienced on this trip so far - a river loved by paddlers and rafters the canyon cuts steeply and deeply into the Dinaric alps in the north of Montenegro. The road seems to have to right to exist at all and I can’t imagine the expense and engineering expertise required to build it. At one point there was a bridge over the 80m (ish) high gorge both starting and finishing at a tunnel in a sheer rock race. Cliftonites - you may well be proud of your bridge but I’m afraid I think you’ve been outdone here!

Entering Montenegro

After this I started to climb up and up and up! I wanted to climb into the Durmitor national park - a stunning upland region in the north of Montenegro. I passed an incredibly impressive dam which turned the small river below me into a giant reservoir.

Look at that bridge! (In the centre of photo)

After a few hours of climbing in brutal heat, I broke out into the Durmitor plateau. At 1800m height I decided it was time to call it a day (2000m climbing in only 70km distance) and found some shepherds who kindly let me sleep in their field under a beautiful mountain. I woke up and it was only 2C outside.

The start of a gargantuam climb up to Durmitor - reservoir in background.

Dogs on the prowl…

Camping on the Durmitor plateau - a cloudy day

The next day I tackled the rest of the Sedlo pass - a stunning road taking me up to 1908m. I was thinking of heading up some of the mountains on foot but the weather was pretty poor so I headed down the pass and southwards.

I made it to Ničsić and found a suitable bridge to camp under. In the morning I woke early to find some stray dogs prowling. Thankfully, I’ve got a bit better at dealing with dogs by now and they soon understood who was boss and kept their distance!

Camping under the bridge

In the morning I got up early and made it to Podgorica early in the morning. Here I wanted to get a new leather seal for my stove’s fuel pump. I went to a cobblers to see what I could find - they were very helpful and punched a hole for me in some leather, ensuring I managed to get the seal to work! (This did involve about 2 hours faffing in a park and much frustration with a return trip to the cobblers, but I got it working eventually!)

Having ‘fun’ with the fuel pump!

This was not to be the end of the stove faff though as I later realised I lost a critical part of the stove in the park…

In Pogdorica I stumbled across another cycle tourist - Joseph who is a carpenter from Czechia. (Watch out for his kids I guess!) We cycled together for the afternoon, crossing into Albania and then camping next to Shkoder lake. This was beautiful but I’ve never experienced so many different types of insect in my life! Joseph and I chatted a while and even tried to watch the Europe Conference league final in my tent - alas the connection was too bad to stream video.

Camping by lake Shkoder - yes I did go for a swim and it was lovely!

Here began part two of the stove saga. Realising that I had misplaced the critical flame Diverter in Pogdorica I had to fashion a rudimentary solution using a sardine tin and a screwdriver to cut it… for 10 minutes work I was pretty pleased when I managed to boil water for my spaghetti that evening!

First attempt at a new flame Diverter from a sardine tin… well it works at least!

What the part is meant to look like!

Me and Joseph the carpenter

The next morning (today) Joseph and I said our farewells and he headed into the mountains whilst I decided to head for the coast instead. I was flying along at 25mph woth a spectacular tailwind for the best part of the morning - feeling on top of the world! Along the way I met James, a Scottish bloke cycling to Tirana who had some excellent past cycle touring experiences. We rode together for about an hour and then I sped onwards as he stopped for the day. Unfortunately at this point the storm I had been riding all morning caught up with me and I was suddenly in a downpour! At this stage I called it quits for the day and went to a campsite to dry out and clean my gear after four nights wild camping in a row.

I have an annoying bottom bracket click which really shouldn’t be there as I replaced it just before I came out here. This afternoons job was therefore to disassemble the bike somewhat to try and get to the root cause of it - it does drive you somewhat crazy after a while as any cyclist will attest to!

Hanging the bike out to dry after a thorough clean. I also decided to use my time here to try and make a slightly better flame Diverter - I’ll let you be the judge. I am in a good campsite waiting for it to dry out before I put it back together in the morning. Thankfully the sun is now coming out and a lovely rainbow has just appeared… time for dinner.

Flame Diverter mk2 - better?

For those of you who pray:

I’ve not actually managed as much cycling as I would like the past week. That being said I’ve spent lots of time talking to people and also sometimes riding slower than I would do solo. Please pray that I would be contented with this, and that I will also get the chance to get some good long days in over the next week.
The heat is coming this week - please pray for my ability to cope with that well!
Is is cheeky to ask for prayer to remove a bottom bracket click? (Feels similar to praying for your football team to score, I’ll let you decide on that one).
That I would continue to meet amazing people and God would open up good opportunities to have meaningful conversations despite

Day 24 (4 June 2025)

Mechanicals!

Hello everyone - it’s been a while since I last wrote and it’ll be even longer until you get to read this as Richard - the gentleman who runs this website and uploads the blogs for me - is on a well deserved break at the moment!

Berea

I write to you now from the banks of the river Haliacmon - just outside Veria in Greece (formally known as Berea, the same place where Paul and Silas leave Thessaloniki for in Acts 17).

Apparently where Paul preached in Berea

I’ve made some good distance in the last week - heading southwards through the rest of Albania and then continuing through the Northern part of Greece, through the hilly Pindos national park and then out the other side to my current location.

If there has been one word to describe the last week though, it’s been ‘mechanicals’!

When I last wrote I had bodged together a flame diverter for the stove - thankfully still working well enough for morning coffee and evening pasta. Since then it’s been the bikes turn to play up.

Firstly, the bottom bracket click which I had last week did go away after I took the bike to pieces at the campsite in Shënkoll. However, approximately 20km later the clock started again and it’s just got worse since! I’ve been learning how to stop it from driving me crazy, especially up the long climbs in Greece, and thankfully the noise is just annoying and not (yet) functionally affecting the bike. Some good friends are coming to meet me later this week and I have placed an order for a new bottom bracket to arrive with them so fingers crossed next time I write we will have that one solved!

As I was heading southwards in Albania I visited a nice little town called Berat. From here I headed up the valley which eventually turned into a proper canyon passage - very cool.

Canyon near Berat

The road eventually got back to river level and I hopped off for a quick swim to cool down (it’s generally about 30C here most of the day now). Here I met Heather - a retired Brit who was touring around Albania in her campervan. We chatted for a while about life and travelling and she kindly offered me lunch and even a proper cup of tea (my first in weeks). It’s great the random and unexpected encounters that we have on the road and it’s also a great chance to find out what inspires and motivates others in whatever stage of life they are in.

After lunch I continued on

Day 40 (20 June 2025)

Is it Istanbul or Constantinople? - A tale of two monasteries

Hello everyone! This past week has been more relaxed, I’ve intentionally tried to slow down a little bit to have more time off the bike - and hence I’ve not covered as much distance as I normally might in a week.

I’ve largely been riding along the coast of northern Greece in the last week, this has meant some excellent wild camping on beaches, usually complete with a freshwater shower and of course plenty of opportunity for swimming too.

The head of the Greek Othodox church is the Ecuminial Patriarchy of Constantinople and the Greeks don’t seem particularly impressed at the renaming of the city following the fall of the Ottoman Empire…

Wild camping

I’ve also had a good chance to put up the solar panel that Alpkit sent to me to use - I’m still tweaking the set-up on the bike to make sure cables don’t bounce out of ports when going over potholes, but it’s pretty reliable when I’m stationary.

I’ve been in Greece for nearly two weeks now, however the country has been really varied in landscape (if not heat - it’s pretty constant now!). Entering Halkidiki I could tell I was on the holiday coast of Greece, not many British tourists (you’re all on the islands - I can see it from your instagram and Strava!) but plenty of people from elsewhere in Europe such as Italy and Bulgaria.

One of the first things I did after leaving Thessaloniki was to cycle (through the night) to Ouranoupoli, the ‘gateway’ to Mount Athos. Mount Athos is a peninsular in North Greece in Halkidiki (the eastern most of the three ‘fingers’ pointing southwards from the mainland just SE of Thessaloniki) which is a monastic centre of the Orthodox Church. There are 20 separate monasteries on this peninsula where no women are permitted to enter, and only 10 non Orthodox people are granted a ‘Diamonhthrion’ to enter daily.

I had managed to pick up one of these permits last minute from Thessaloniki and was excited to visit and see what it was all about. By now I’ve been experiencing small parts of the Orthodox Church but in honesty have very little knowledge of the institution at all.

I hopped on the boat that takes us to port Dapne - one of the main ports on the peninsular - and then took a couple of minibuses to reach the Great Lavra monastery. Founded in 964AD, this is the oldest monastery on the peninsular. I spent a day there exploring the monastery, attending the services and eating with the Monks.

In honesty, I found the whole experience quite overwhelming and not at all what I expected. Whilst I was expecting the solemn and quiet atmosphere, I was surprised at how ‘on edge’ I felt throughout. Perhaps it was because I was surrounded by Orthodox Christians (other pilgrims) asking ‘are you considering converting’, or perhaps my multiple faux pas of referring to ‘Istanbul’ as my next destination on the bike (no, it’s still Constantinople!) or eating with my left hand (I didn’t think I was that far east yet!) being called out.

The services themselves could not have been more different to how I normally experience church on a Sunday morning. Now, having plenty of experience of High Anglican Church, incense and bells are nothing new to me, but I was not fully prepared for the amount of Icon ‘veneration’ that takes place before and during each service. The monasteries are incredibly proud of these icons they possess which may range from beautiful paintings and sculptures of holy people, scenes and items, to (supposedly) parts of the cross upon which Jesus was crucified and, in this instance, one of the hands of the Virgin Mary. Much of the service is oriented around signing oneself with a cross and then kissing these icons, a process known as ‘venerating’ the icons. Other aspects of the service included plenty of chanting, reading Psalms and prayers and kneeling in confession. It was a beautiful space in which to have a church service - all of the monasteries are incredibly beautiful and well kept. The church in particular was enormously impressive inside (though no photos allowed I’m afraid - look up Great Lavra monastery).

After this we ate - all in silence whilst a monk read out a prayer. I was informed that I should hurry up eating as we would all have to stop once he finished praying, the only issue was that as it was all in Greek I had no clue if he was just getting started or about to finish!

Matins began at 4:15am and went on for about 4 hours (apparently - I had a bus to catch halfway through, and also snuck out to see a gorgeous sunrise). As I made the journey back to the ‘real world’ I couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed and confused - I can’t have fully understood the Orthodox Church and I just felt like a total outsider - the ‘Potestanths’ label on my entrance permit being the proof of this!

Back on land I decided to head to the small island of Ammoulani, only about 10km away, to explore and spent the night there. I was in much need of some English conversation at this point and was pleased when a yacht in the bay invited me on board for a beer when I swam close - good old boaties!

I gradually wound my way eastwards over the next few days, there’s plenty of hedgerow fruit around now so I’ve been supplementing my diet with Mulberries and Plums - I wish we had more of these back in the UK!

One of the highlights this week was visiting the ancient city of Phillipi - the first place Paul and Silas brought Christianity to Europe back in c.50AD. Despite being destroyed almost totally by an earthquake back in the 7th century, an impressive amount of ruins remain. The amphitheater remains in remarkably good condition, and you can see the old forum and no less than four churches/basillicas from the 3/4th century Roman period. The Via Egnatis passes straight through the city - this was the main route from Europe to Asia at the time.

As I continued eastwards from Phillipi I noticed a church in the centre of a lake. When I arrived it turned out this was actually an orthodox Monastry of St Nicholas. I went to have a look and met the five Monks from Vatopedi Monastry on Mount Athos who look after this Monastry, taking two week stints each to come to the small Monastry and keep it going. I explained to them my experience on Athos (these Monks spoke English) and they were saddened to hear at how I felt uncomfortable there. They listened to me and explained to me a little more about the church, inviting me to visit Vatopedi Monastry (I’m not going back right away! But perhaps in the future) and helping me understand their services a little better. I attended Vespas with them given it was that time of day, and then chatted a little longer about my bike ride with them. They very kindly offered me some food to help me on my way and showed me around the Monastry a little. Safe to say I was pleased to have found this other Monastry and I think it saved me from having a particular view of the Orthodox Church in my head - it’s never fair to judge based upon one experience when an organization is that large, though we could all do well to remember that!

For those of you who pray:

• Pray for good sleep, I’m finding myself pretty tired at the moment

• Pray for continued interactions that God would put in my way

• Be thankful for fewer mechanical issues recently, only a couple of punctures this week, though one is staring at me now begging to be fixed… I guess I’ll go and do that now!

Day 43 (23 June 2025)

Rest and recuperation

Firstly - sorry for how long it took to get the last post out! I’ve been having some phone and internet issues which have made it tricky to get things sorted. This also means the map is not going to get updated on the blog anymore - if you want to see where I am then go and give my polar steps a follow -

https://www.polarsteps.com/eddystoneadventurer

The last week in Greece was fairly similar to the previous week - lots of sunshine and seaside with plenty of camping by the beach. One highlight was calling into Christ Church back at home via video link whilst the younger congregation played a ‘where’s Henry’ game (pin the cyclist on the map!)

The paper version of polar steps! You can watch the church recording here (see 30:32 for me, but also enjoy the excellent Chloe’s preach just after if you have time): https://www.youtube.com/live/zBtpNFoFUsY?si=OhwYMyfXOa1P8ZQG

I made it to the Turkish border a day after that, an affair full of barbed wire, armed border guards and plenty of iron girders ready to be deployed just in case - a bit different to Schengen borders!

Crossing into Türkiye

I had an excellent campsite by a lake shortly after this, getting some great pics of the bike and my campsite in the morning sunshine.

The next couple of days were mostly dull cycling along main roads in the European part of Türkiye, however…

…the main news of this week is that I’ve made it to Istanbul!

One excited cyclist!

This feels like a real milestone to have reached - the frontier of Europe and Asia and site of so many pivotal battles and the rise and fall of empires over millennia. Istanbul is just as much of a geographical focal point today as ever, so it was no surprise to meet other cycle tourists as I rode into the city. Leila (French) and Roman (Swiss) joined me for the last half day into Istanbul - we were all excited for a few days of rest!

Only hours after entering the city, my brother Finlay touched down at the airport. We checked into our apartment (pretty grotty in honesty!) and headed out to explore Istanbul. We set about sampling much of the local cuisine, eating plenty of Kebap, Pide, Gözleme and Lahmacun. We ticked off the main tourist sites like the Haifa Sophia, Blue Mosque, Grand Bazaar etc. (more of a chore for us at times for two Cornish boys from the countryside!) before deciding to spend some time outside of touristville and head into the middle of nowhere in particular in the city.

Here we both had the best haircut either of us have ever had (sorry mum - your haircuts are great too!) by a 16 year old Syrian refugee! It’s fair to say I was a little nervous at first but his skill with the scissors was unrivalled. We had a lovely conversation with the help of google translate, talking about the situation in his home country and how he and his family have hopes to return in the next couple of months now the oppressive regime has fallen. There are many refugees from all over in Istanbul, and SE Turkey is now seeing a massive influx of Iranians following the recent developments. I have to say, it was a slightly odd experience having my face washed, and being shaved by a man who wasn’t even old enough to shave himself - but I was very impressed at his resilience and his acquired skill in what are clearly devastating life circumstances for any family.

Turkish coffee and holiday vibes

The Blue Mosque (Sultan Ahmet Camii)

Finlay smouldering on the bridge…

Fresh trims, Istanbul watch out!

The madness of this enormous city!

What a skyline!

It’s been great to have a few days of rest in the city, but I’m ready to move on now. Being a classic tourist is OK, but being a cycle tourist is much better! I feel like I’ve been in major cities quite a bit recently and I’m really looking forward to some calm and wilderness over the next few days and weeks.

Arty or what eh! (Is my neck really that long?!)

For those of you who pray:

I’m having lots of interactions with Muslims in mosques now. This is really beneficial for me as I’m learning so much about Islam and their faith. Please pray for me to be understanding and to learn more about their culture and beliefs, and for insightful conversations.

Practically, my phone is not enjoying the heat. (I’m typing this with my phone inside the freezer to try and scrub off some heat whilst I type!) The off brand replacement battery I put in before I left seems to get pretty hot when charging too meaning that it’s frequently throttling itself and then shutting down due to overheating. I’m pretty reliant on it for posting blogs etc. and navigation (and getting podcasts for the hills!) so please pray it would behave!

Day 49 (29 June 2025)

Welcome to Anatolia

Since leaving Istanbul on Monday, I’ve been making good progress eastwards across the Anatolian plateau.

My progress so far

As I was preping to leave Istanbul, I happened to meet Josué, a fellow cycle tourist from Switzerland who was also planning to leave eastwards that day. It seemed as if our pace and route matched well, so we decided to ride with each other out of Istanbul after going to the bike shop to pick up his rear wheel which was in for repairs.

Me and Josué, happy to be out of Istanbul at last!

We took the ferry south across the Marmara sea, not fancying the deadly four lane highways which had featured on the way into the city. The first day back on the bike after the best part of a week resting was pretty brutal and both of us struggled with the heat again.

After about 60km we decided to call it a day, camping on the banks of Iznïk Gölü and enjoying a lovely swim in the fresh water.

Camping in the shade by the bank of Iznïk Gölü.

The next day we set off eastwards again, passing through the city of Iznïk. I didn’t know before, but Iznïk is actually the modern day name for Nicea, of the Nicene Creed/Councils. We stopped for a brief visit, posing for photos by the remarkably intact Byzantine city walls. The rest of the city though was nothing too remarkable - just a modern day ‘nice’ town. It’s amazing how such historically significant places can just feel ‘ordinary’ in the modern day.

At the gates to Nicea

We pressed onwards, I got yet another puncture (this time in the front wheel, for a change) and Josué managed to break another spoke on his rear wheel. (Drive side, but not a major issue in itself because he has a really clever hub design for cycle touring - the DT Swiss 350 where you can take the cassette off without a tool).

That night we camped by the side of a tiny mosque on the roadside. This was a pretty excellent spot with running water and a flat hard standing area for repairs. The following morning in the light we set to it and had a good repair session trueing wheels and mending inner tubes. Josué (Jo) kindly offered me his spare tyre as my front one was wearing thin - no punctures on this one so far!

Camped by the roadside mosque - thankfully no muzzein to wake us up at 4:30am!

Early morning workshop session (I got another thorn in my front wheel shortly after fixing the last puncture, at which point I decided it was time to change the tyre!) After fixing our various bike ailments we pressed onwards, making good progress eastwards.

What are you doing in my village?!

Is there a problem officer?

We even got pulled over by the police at one point - nothing to worry about though, they just wanted a selfie!

We ended the day in a tiny Turkish village called Uluhan where we were shown to an apartment at the entrance to the village which is clearly used to host visitors. We had a place to sleep and cook, running water and even some food for us. I’m assuming this is a modern day iteration of an old Silk Road Caravanserai - we felt very blessed by the hospitality of the locals who also kept us topped up with dried fruit and, of course, çay!

Unfortunately I didn’t get any photos of the caravanserai itself, but we did have a rather friendly and inquisitive feline friend who you can look at instead.

This rather pensive cat joined us for lunch one day

The next day we made excellent progress despite the brutal heat - 140km in the direction of Ankara. We had decided to go to Ankara to source a replacement rear wheel for Jo as he had now popped three drive side spokes and something was clearly amiss. Without a tension meter we weren’t confident playing around too much and thought it best to source a replacement. We stopped for the night in Acaş where we stumbled across, of all things, a festival of mulberries!

Music and dancing at the mulberry festival

The festival was full of parades and dances and was a lot of fun to observe. We spent the night at a small lake nearby, ready to get up early and ride the last 50km to Ankara.

Unfortunately, my body had other ideas. That night I managed to throw up three times and when the morning eventually came I was in no good state to blast up the 500m hill ahead before the descent into Ankara. I’m assuming this was due to something I ate (or possibly the water), exacerbated by the heat. We couldn’t stay where we were in the heat of the day so reluctantly I packed up my tent and excruciatingly slowly and resigned myself to a brutal few hours of survival cycling to make it somewhere more pleasant.

Jo was a great encouragement helping me to make it up the hill at snails pace - at one point a car even gave me a tow, me hanging onto his doorframe on the 20% section of road at the end of the climb.

Topping out to some amazing cloud formations

A blissful 10km downhill followed, at which point we realised we were just around the corner from a metro station. Ankara is, according to Wikipedia at least, the largest capital city by area in the world. I was therefore extremely pleased to see the metro system extending to 30km out of the city centre, saving me another couple of hours of snail pace crawling in the heat whilst trying not to throw up.

Bikes on the metro, we booked a hotel for the night and upon arriving I promptly collapsed on my bed and fell asleep mid afternoon.

Thankfully, as I write this the afternoon after I feel significantly better, if not quite ready to cycle again just yet. Jo has managed to source a wheel, even if we are having to go through all the fun (not) of working out spacers on a new 9/10/11 speed hub (as with many things bicycle - there are far more standards than you would have thought possible - and all have require slightly different combinations of spacers to make them work properly).

We should be able to source the correct part tomorrow and all going well I hope to be in cycling form by then!

For now, the order of the day is rest. And then - I’m really looking forward to seeing what the rest of Türkiye has to offer.

For those of you who pray:

Please pray for us to find the right spacer for Jo’s rear wheel, and then for fewer mechanical problems as we leave Ankara.
Please pray for my recovery, that I would be ready to cycle again soon.
Please pray for the people we meet. So many of them have given us such amazing hospitality and it’s difficult to see how we can pay that back!

Day 59 (9 July 2025)

Crossing Türkiye

My route so far

Since I last wrote I’ve been steadily working my way eastwards across Anatolia, still accompanied by Josué from Switzerland.

It took me another few days to properly recover from whatever the illness was but thankfully I’m now back to full strength and making good distances each day.

From Ankara our first destination was Tuz Gölü - a large salt lake pretty much in the geographical centre of Türkiye.

Riding on salt flats - not sure I’ll be breaking many land speed records with that lack of aerodynamics though!

As it turned out, the lake was pretty much totally dry when we arrived, this normally happens in August but climate change is hitting here too! (And that’s despite a relatively cool spring according to locals).

We camped the far side of this lake and enjoyed a spectacular sunset across the flats that evening.

Sunset over Tuz Gölü

Finding places to camp here is often an interesting process. The process goes something like this:

Decide you want to stop for the night and look out for the next small village.
Enter said village and arrive at the Mosque where you will find running water to fill up and generally toilet facilities (an unexpected perk of the Islamic requirement to ritually wash before prayers)
Someone will find you and, after a broken conversation where invariably the conversation goes something along the lines of ‘where are you from?’…‘Ingliterre’…‘you cycled here?’… ‘yes’… ‘that must be very hot’… ‘yes it is! Is there a good place to camp?’ At this point they invariably call the village headman or ‘muhtar’ who will either tell us to go to the next village (which normally has better facilities) or will direct us to somewhere good to camp. Often this is next to the mosque, in some municipal facilities next to a major road, or in a ‘caravanserai’ (old accommodation for Silk Road traders).

Its quite fun not knowing where you will end up each night - or who you will end up meeting through that!

After the salt lake we carried on south eastwards towards Göreme - a small town in the Cappadocia region of central Türkiye. This area is famed for its stunning rock formations which have 9-11th century houses and churches carved into them. We took a day off here and explored the area, grateful to have time to soak in the incredible geology and sample some of the local cafés.

The bike - note the extra luggage on the front fork that I’ve added recently. Turns out it’s nice to have some more clothes!

Me arriving in Cappadocia

Jo and myself in Cappadocia

One of the churches carved into the rock

Three bike packers - three (nearly) identical tents!

Route planning session in the local establishment!

As we got ready to leave Göreme the next morning we were treated to a spectacular mass balloon ascent. Cappadocia is famed for its tradition of ballooning and it did not disappoint! We watched from the vantage point of our campsite as around 60 balloons drifted right over us in the gentle morning breeze.

Balloons! I’ll just about miss the Bristol balloon fiesta this year so this will have to do.

As we rode out of Cappadocia we knew we had a slog ahead of us to get (north) eastwards. The Anatolian plateau seems to have a fairly reliable pattern of northerly winds picking up in the mid morning and strengthening until the evening. These winds become more easterly the further east you get - basically we’ve got a lot of headwinds this week! Furthermore, the plateau is mountainous here with the cities often being way above 1500m asl, Erzurum (the next major destination) is at 2000m. So, lots of hills and windy conditions heading our way.

Thankfully, the elevation means the air temperature is that bit cooler, with there also being significantly more moisture in the air. I even had dew on my tent for the first time in a month this week - that and the rolling green hills not dissimilar to those among some of the Northen fells of the Lake District have made it feel a little like home a when staring up at the stars from my sleeping bag, breathing in the lovely damp air.

One of the campsites this week - I made sure to zip up the door to keep the unexpected visitors out…!

Another high campsite in the early morning sun. Very nice of them to mow the grass for us!

We’ve met many many people over the past week who have invited us in for everything from a cup of Çay to watermelon to a full blown meal.

Highlights have to include being pulled over by traffic police on the main road who simply wanted to give us Çay and ask if they could do anymore for us, and visiting a small remote village where the boys of the town stopped us on the way in on their bikes and begged us to play football with them.

We had an excellent match, I unfortunately ending up on the losing side in both of the games we played - it’s been a while since I’ve done team sports! Congrats to Jo and his enthusiastic teammates for their victory!

Playing football in Türkiye

One really noticeable thing about riding through these more rural areas is the distinct lack of women and girls that you see. Presumably the result of conservative Islamic practices, I’m finding it a real challenge to understand the way of life with my western hat on.

I’ve been learning more about Islam since my visit to Istanbul last month, where I spoke with a good number of people in the mosques. Even though I can educate myself on Islamic views of Jesus and the Torah, and the importance they place on the Quran, for example, I’m fully aware that I won’t be able to teach myself culture, practice and tradition in the same way. This is something that is particularly hard to do in a country where you don’t speak the language and where customs are often very different to your own expectations and experiences.

As a side note - a few of you have been asking what is it that I miss most when I’m out here on the road! So, to satisfy the fans… I’m definitely missing a proper bed, but that’s not a huge problem to be honest, I’m pretty used to the tent by now and I do still love it.

Slightly more concerning is missing the entire English cricketing summer! I’ve been listening to Aggers, Zalts, Tuffers etc. who have done a fantastic job at keeping me up to date with the English teams exploits against India, but it’s just not the same as being there! I’m also missing the chance to see Somerset battle their way back to T20 finals day (come on Somerset - you’re smashing it)

I’m missing the sea and the chance to be on it, and I’m obviously missing spending time with friends and family back home.

That being said, it really is a brilliant experience not knowing what each day will hold, being kept on your toes all the time and having to go with the flow.

Do keep on touch and feel free to reach out! It’s lovely to hear from you all and to catch up with news from home.

For those of you who pray:

I’m very grateful for answered prayers concerning illness and being able to make good daily progress.
I’d like to improve my understanding and awareness of the culture, particularly Islamic culture in more rural and conservative areas. Pray for opportunities for this to happen.
Please pray for continued good health for both myself and Jo, and also our bikes! They’ve been behaving the last week (well, one puncture and some brake bleeding needed but that’s to be expected!) and that’s enabled us to make good progress.

Day 61 (11 July 2025)

Blasting across Anatolia, prepping for Georgia

Greetings all, I hope you’re surviving the heatwave back in Blighty - I’m currently writing from Erzerum, a city in Eastern Türkiye at 2000m elevation, so I think I’ve had much more bearable temperatures than back at home!

This week has been an absolute flyer in terms of distance covered. Jo and I made an excellent team activating time trial mode and sharing the wind for 700km in 6 days all the way from Cappadocia to Erzerum.

The dots have got further apart over the last few day

The riding this week has involved travelling through some pretty sparely populated areas. Villages are on secondary or tertiary roads and often only consist of three or four houses huddled around a mosque and a drinking water fountain.

Open steppe and rolling hills have been the main geographical interest this week, with glimpses of craggier mountains with a few snow patches still clinging on above 3000m on the north faces in the distance.

Open steppe landscapes with lovely rolling hills

We’ve also had to contend with a number of mountain passes in recent days, the highest of which was 2190m. Not quite the alps, but it will do!

Topping out on our highest pass in Türkiye (my highest point on the trip so far, just beating Montenegro)

Somehow, I appear to have become a puncture magnet. Whilst other cyclists have reported one or possibly two punctures in their tours so far, by the end of this week I can report my grand total is up to 13!

This is despite having purchased a ‘puncture proof’ schwalbe marathon plus rear tyre which I still managed to get a piece of metal through, and having a relatively new front tyre too.

It is somewhat amusing by this stage, and I’ve stubbornly refused to buy more tubes, instead steadily increasing the number of patches on my inner tubes (one of them now has five patches, and the others at least two each!)

Keeping in good spirits despite discovering a puncture just after lunch.

One of the best campsites in the last week was this one by a feeder to the river Euphrates, the valley of which we had been riding up earlier that day.

Camping by the Euphrates

Given that we managed 174km that day with full pannier setups we decided to treat ourselves with a beer that night, and even scrambled eggs for breakfast!

Scrambling eggs by the riverside

One thing that’s been on my mind this week though is the fact I’ve mostly been on more main roads in the last few days. In fairness it’s been great to make progress and see the changing landscape, but after a bit of a planning session Jo and I decided we wanted to do things a bit differently once we got to Georgia.

So, on our rest day in Erzerum drastic action was taken. Cycle touring mode has been turned off, and Bikepacking mode activated.

Road tyres were changed for MTB tyres, panniers were lost and an extra fork bag added. As much weight as possible has been shed in preparation for hike-a-bike sections.

Cycle touring mode

Bikepacking mode

I’m pretty pleased with the result and excited to try it out on some more off road adventures. The great thing about the gravel bike is it can morph from a road bike to a gravel bike to (almost) a MTB… we shall see how it gets on in the weeks ahead!

For those of you who pray:

I’m grateful for the excellent company and good progress made in the last couple of weeks.
Pray for good and meaningful encounters with people over the next few weeks as I leave Türkiye and enter Georgia.
That the new tyres will hold up better than the last ones(!)

Day 75 (25 July 2025)

Bikepacking Georgia Part 1

Hello again, it’s been a while since I last wrote - since then I’ve made it all the way across Georgia via some pretty amazing tracks and paths, with the occasional road in there too!

I’m still riding with Josué - the Swiss meteorologist from Lausanne who I met in Istanbul. It’s been great getting to know each other and it will be sad when we part ways in a few days time to finish our trips in our own ways.

Josué at the Georgian border

It took three days to reach the border from Erzerum where I last wrote, these largely consisted of riding on larger roads across a wide plateau at 2000m elevation with steppe covered mountains all around. A couple of landscape highlights from these days were an impressive canyon and a beautiful lake close to the Georgian border which is fully frozen over in the winter time.

Impressive canyon

Lunch by the lake surrounded by geese, dogs, chickens and cows - we were even given some homemade cheese by some locals

Georgian campsite no.1

Upon crossing the border from Türkiye to Georgia things changed very quickly. The four lane brand new highway we had been riding on was swapped out for a potholed road with gravel sections that wound its way through very rural villages full of old agricultural machinery. When we stopped for the night we realised this region of Georgia is actually inhabited by mostly Armenians. The Armenians were very friendly and let us spend a night in the garden of a house they were in the middle of building.

The following day we dropped down into a beautiful canyon to the town of Vardzia - home to a monastery carved out of the cliff face. The monastery serves mostly as a tourist destination these days, monastic life ceased here in 1578 but started again in the 1980s with three full time Monks now in residence. I couldn’t take any photos inside, but the church totally carved out of the cliff was really spectacular and incredibly peaceful despite all the tourists around (yes, of whom I am one!).

Vardzia monastery from the opposite cliff edge

It really is an impressive site, in an equally impressive location

After a night at a near perfect campsite with no small amount of rain, we climbed up over a mountain for our first ‘proper’ bikepacking. This day took us to some very remote mountains with summer villages of people who move there to graze animals when the snow has gone. We rode on gravel tracks, grassy tracks and muddy tracks until at one point we could go no further because the rain and mud had combined to create a mixture more akin to peanut butter than anything else!

This peanut butter mud clung to our tyres, our brakes, our frames and our legs so badly that we could barely walk at times, let alone cycle! At one point we resorted to using Josué’s spork (cuichette in French as I learned - how fun) to remove mud from our drivetrains…

The Shepard dogs here are also incredibly fierce - they have a job to protect their flock and they take it very seriously indeed. In honesty it feels a little irresponsible to have these animals that want to attack indiscriminately any stranger who may pass anywhere near the farm - usually the Shepard himself is needed to ward them away and they are not often the quickest to respond when you have multiple angry dogs yapping at your heels. Thankfully we have avoided injury from dogs so far but Jo’s rear tyre was not so lucky - one dog decided to sink his teeth through the sidewall which led to a frustrating half an hour fixing inner tubes whilst a bemused Shepard watched on, initially protesting the innocence of his dog until he saw the hole in the tyre!

The thunderstorm continued to blow but our spirits were high as we finally made it back down to valley level and a well deserved meal and guesthouse!

Bikepacking in Georgia Part 2

We left the thunderstorm as we were entering the mountains of the Svaneti region in Georgia. This is a region Georgians are particularly proud of, not least because of its incredible natural beauty and the fact Russia has so far tried to occupy almost half of Georgia’s mountains in the north, so the Svaneti is special to Georgians!

We climbed up, up and up over a 2600m pass to a small town called Ushguli. We were planning on camping up on the top but at this point a huge thunderstorm enveloped us with lightening all around. That night we very sensibly stayed in a guesthouse and struggled to fall asleep with all the rain on the roof making an absolute racket!

The next day continued on a mix of paved road (often with landslide debris covering the entire width of the road), gravel track and single tracks up in the mountains. I got my first up-close glimpse of Tetnuldi - a mountain myself and some friends are going to attempt to climb in a couple of weeks time. The face was rather imposing!

Tetnuldi in the evening light

The single track was great fun and involved an awful lot of hike-a-bike and dodging foliage whilst riding on varied terrain. The views were second to none and Jo and I had beaming smiles on our faces as we made slow progress westwards.

Walking with the bikes was a common occurrence.

But so worth it for these views!

Our objective that day was to ride up to the Tetnuldi ski resort at 3150m. This was the highest either of us had ever been on a bike. The road was brutally steep with quite a poor surface so we also had to walk large sections of this but were rewarded with unbeatable views of the Svaneti mountains and the Greater Caucasus mountains.

We bivvied outside under the (spectacular) stars and made use of a hut up there (we think used to control the ski lift) to cook in.

More hike-a-bike

And more views!

Views

And a room with a view

After a satisfying good nights sleep we headed downwards towards Mestia - my final cycling destination for the trip.

View of Mount Ushba on the way down to Mestia - doesn’t it look mean!

It feels somewhat odd saying that, and it was even more odd taking the bags off the bike and cleaning it, knowing I wouldn’t be getting back on it to tour the next day.

In honesty, it feels like the right time at the moment. I’ve had a brilliant adventure and no doubt there will be more, but I’m happy for the moment to stop and rest, and I’m really looking forward to seeing friends from Bristol when they arrive later this week.

The last blast down to Mestia involved more spectacular scenery and mountain bike/hiking tracks but was brilliant fun if somewhat tiring!

We found a lovely guesthouse and had some food before promptly collapsing and falling asleep - it’s been a tough last week!

The last couple of days have involved gear repair and cleaning and rest - it’s amazing how the body can keep going and going under stress when you need/want it to, but then when you do stop it will tell you just how tired you truly are!

I’ll be honest, I did enjoy cleaning my bike thoroughly with a toothbrush and greasing the jockey wheels etc. You have to take care of the bike if you want it to take care of you! For once, I am managing to be surrounded by beautiful tall mountains without having an immediate urge to go and climb them. I’m not sure how long this will last but for the moment I’ll take advantage of it and rest up - something I’m usually terrible at.

Reunited with the gear I sent ahead from Erzerum

Bike cleaning time!

Absolutely top day out in the mountains with Jo - mountain fever got the better of us after two days sitting still!

This is also the last day I’ll spend with Jo - after one month cycling together since Istanbul it’s going to be sad to part ways as he heads onwards to Armenia. It’s been great to have such a reliable, friendly and interesting companion with whom to share these experiences with and we’ve both pushed each other to do things we wouldn’t have done alone.

A refreshing way to cool down after a sweaty hike!

Perhaps I should have taken a machete… or at least long sleeves!

So, next time I write I imagine it will be much more focused on mountains and less so on the bike - wish us luck!

As always, do please reach out and say hello - it’s great to know who’s reading these and what you think! (Instagram @eddystoneadventurer or email me henrythemorgan@gmail.com

For those of you who pray:

Pray for Josué as he continues his journey towards Armenia
Pray for safe travels for Raf, Matt and Adam as they make their way out to meet me here
And pray for excellent conversations and climbing experiences on the mountains, in a safe manner!

Amazing Faith - if you have a Christian blog that you would like us to feature free of charge - please contact us.