We were not killed and eaten by wildlife tonight, much to Nina’s surprise. As a last straw, the grazing cows were suspected to harbour murderous thoughts this morning. Regardless, we made it out alive. Not before using the surprisingly good mobile data at this place to work a bit more on the blog.

From here on, it would be a steady decline towards the sea. About a third of the way in, the scarring in the valley started. The river has recently been damned and a lot of the work sites were still pretty jarring. It will heal over in 10 years or so, but for now the 50 km to Artvin make for the least scenic bit of the route.

Artvin is a bizarre provincial capital. It is basically build on a mountain pasture 400m above the river in the valley below, but has since outgrown that space. Now, there are buildings all around the valley, along the zig-zaging road up the the city center and even on the opposite hillside. Overall, it looks like the worst Sim City map possible. Add to that a massive 100m high concrete dam in one of the three gorges that make the city site and you have a very unique arrangement.

It was time for lunch though. After failing to find a restaurant that appealed to us, we filled up on groceries at a supermarket instead and set ourselves up in one of the covered view / rest platforms sprinkled along the access road to the city center.  Lunch was delicious, with fresh bread, local cheese, honey and hummus. Topped by a dessert of melon, cherries and a chocolate pudding for Nina.

Right after the city, just in time for our re-fueling stop, we hit another magical milestone: 40,000 km! Almost ten months ago, we started this journey and now we have come this far. Maybe 5,000 km more and it will be over. We had a tiny celebration, got into our rain gear and back on the road.

The ride changed quite abruptly when we hit the sea. The nice but slow winding mountain road gave way to a beautiful two lane highway in perfect condition. The remaining 150km to Trabzon just flew by. The views were great and we really enjoyed the different pace.

After a bit of looking, we found our hotel. It was more expensive than expected, but still doable. We need to base ourselves here for a bit to sort out long overdue maintenance work on the bike. For now, we can only think of a shower and bed, though. We did manage a small walk over to the central square for dinner, but soon after crawled back to the warmth and comfort of our hotel bed.