Balakan to Seki - 109km

It was downhill for a long time out of Balakan, the first town in Azerbaijan, which was great...we descended into the falt plains that stretch between the Higher and Lower Caucasus. It was easy cycling so we could really admire everything around us, and it was great to be in the shadows of the awesome Higher Caucasus and to think that the top of the mountains mark the border with Russia.

In this area it is difficult to define in what continent we are, it isn't Europe, but also not quite the Middle East or Asia, the Caucasus are a bit lost in their identity and because there are so many disputed borders all around they isolate themselves even more. The border between Armenia and Turkey is closed, as is the Armenia - Azeri border. Georgia welcomes everyone and anyone and I saw more EU flags there than in Europe, in the vague hope that they might be accepted one day, but the visa process for Azerbaijan is so difficult that they hinder any chance of promoting tourism for anyone but the most dedicated travellers and cyclists!! It is a bit of a maze of bureacracy around here, and very much off the beaten track of travelling routes.

We slowly simmered away in the plains, stopping often to get some shade from the relentless sun. So when we saw a very inviting river we jumped in...I of course went in fully clothed, but knew that it would actually be a relief to cycle in wet clothes. It was an idyllic spot, with a few horses lapping at the water further along and only us and a couple of Azeris for company. Although I was quite conscious of the 'wet t-shirt' competition look after I emerged and beat a quick retreat from the gawping stares. Having cycled a little further in this area, I have noticed that women don't swim at all, even fully clothed.

Soon after we faced a decision, carry on along the long but paved road or take a left on a shorter but less well paved road. After a long discussion with the locals, in which we used a mixture of Russian, from Humphrey, and Turkish, from me, to communicate and we decided to go against all advice and take the shorter road. During this conversation I was able to admire the local fashion trend of pulling out, or letting your teeth fall out, and replacing them with a full set of Golden Wonders!!

The road started off manageable, and we had to fend off a few more drivers who stopped us and said don't go this way...but blindly we carried on. It progressively got worse, and we were reduced to travelling at 10kph over the terrain. Low and behold, Humphrey's poor tyre gave up again and exploded in the heat. It took a long time to get to good roads again but it wasn't so bad as we were looking up at a picture perfect mountain range. To add insult to injury as soon as we hit a good road, we started to climb on a very long straight road up to Seki. We climbed for, perhaps, 6km...so we plodded into town hoping to stay at a Karavanserai, us being silk road travellers! It is a place where people of the silk road could rest, replenish and trade their goods, and as this one was, they are normally wonderful buildings filled with arches and domes with big courtyards. Unfortunately this was full for the night, so we contacted Ilgar from the guide book, who organised a homestay for us with a family. We decided to stay one more night so we could rest and stay in the Karavanserai.

The next day we rose early to have breakfast with Ilgar and his family, and I tried the most amazing jam, it was made of rose petals and was heavenly. Humphrey and I gorged on this sweet nectar! I must make it at home because it tastes so good. After breaka we marched up the hill to the Palace complex. As we entered and looking a bit lost, we were swarmed with young azeris all wanting to have their photo taken with us!! They hardly said hello, we were stunned especially as we didn't even have our bikes with us which normally draw the crowds! We saw the Palace which looked very Persian in style and we felt like we had finally made it to the East. Inside it was covered in intricate and detailed paintings.

On a break at Ilgar's tea house we saw a passing cyclist who we hailed down. He had panniers but only on the back and they were open with stuff spilling out of them, so I thought he was jsut going to pick some shopping up...but when he came over I realised that he had come from Croatia like that, he was travelling light, but not quite light enough to pack everything into his panniers and keep everything waterproof, which his Ortlieb bags are prized for! Will came over and he was the first other Brit we had met on the road, we convinced him to spend the night in Seki with us and we trooped off to the next village to do some more sightseeing. After a long wait for the local bus, which is really a very small van with seats, we hailed one down. I went first and told the driver there were three of us, he waved me to the back and opening the door I was not sure how we were possibly going to be squeezed in but he and everyone in there seemed convinced that there was space. We all crammed in and crouched down, grinning through gritted teeth at everyone whilst whispering to each other how much pain we were in! One women took a fancy to me and flashed her golden smile at me alot, which I returned with my pearly whites. At first she jsut pinched my cheeks and stroked my hair talking loudly at me in Russian, then as my discomfort started to show she insisted that I sit on her lap!!! I refused again and again until she had had enough and hauled me onto her lap by my tshirt, to which there was no relief as I spent the rest of the journey hovering on her lap so as not to actually 'sit' on it, from one stress position to another! We fell out of the bus and trudged up to the Albanian Church that we came to see, but hungry and tired we got a taxi back to Seki pretty soon afterwards not wanting to risk another bus.

We had supper together that evening, and after we went to the rather touristy cay house. The man serving us had taught himself English, but in spoke in such a way that everything came out as if he was barking an order, 'sit down, please' 'be at home' 'eat well', there was no choice but to do as he said! Cay is served here with a selection of jam, just eaten with a spoon no bread or butter jsut syrupy jam in a little saucer to eat with your cay, it mafe me understand a little why they all have gold gnashers.