Your next tour Georgia (the country)

[cyclingnomad]

We have just cycled through Georgia and loved every minute of it. It is an amazing country with friendly people and we found the roads to be pretty good. It's not somewhere that immediately comes to mind when you think of cycle touring but it should be. The Georgians are trying hard to improve their tourist infrastructure. Everywhere we went was really quiet with few tourists around, apart from a couple of long distance tourers like ourselves the only cycle tourists we met were from the Ukraine. Wild camping is easy and food is good and inexpensive. Has anyone else had good experiences of Georgia? More on http://www.cycling-nomads.com/georgia-b ... l-georgia/

[ndmbike]

I like the pictures!

Saw this on vimeo...
http://vimeo.com/30601991

I really want to go there now!

[khain]

Nice blog. Do you have a link for the first post so I can read it from the start? Where are you heading next?

[cyclingnomad]

Thanks Khain, you must have some time on your hands. If you click on the map you can follow it through in sequence. I hope you enjoy it. We are currrently in Baku waiting for a boat to take us to Turkmenabashi, nothing today so another trip to the port tomorrow. Then we are heading on to Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and if we can get a visa China. Then we will see, SE Asia probably on to Australia. That's about as far as we have planned. There are so many variables, we would have loved to have gone through Iran but missed out on a visa.

[khain]

Thanks. I'm swithering whether to do a rtw trip myself. There seems to be an awful lot of visa and security hassles in southwest Asia, though I imagine that's always been the case and probably will be for the foreseeable future. I'd ideally like to go through Iran, Pakistan, India, Tibet but that doesn't seem possible. Mind you the route you're going looks good too.

Did you get insurance for the trip, and if so what sort of price was it?

[cyclingnomad]

I am afraid Iran is out of it if you have a UK passport. Since February you will need to be with a guide at all times the same as Americans and Canadians.
We only have health insurance which covers us in all countries. Bought from http://www.usaycompare.co.uk/ with a £5000 excess it works out at about £1000 a year.

[RickH]

...Since February you will need to be with a guide at all times the same as Americans and Canadians.

Have you a link for that? I've not managed to find anything, apart from unaccompanied female travellers & US citizens (not seen any mention of Canadians either TBH). GOV.uk doesn't mention anything that I can see.

Rick.

[cyclingnomad]

If you try applying for a visa for Iran you will get the the same response from all the agents you need to be on a tour. https://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/ ... ts-in-iran the policy changed in February.

[Dean]

If you try applying for a visa for Iran you will get the the same response from all the agents you need to be on a tour. https://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/ ... ts-in-iran the policy changed in February.

That is a damn shame. Iran was possibly the finest country I visited. But it's hardly a surprise, given the anti-British paranoia from the government.

Anyway. Georgia does look wonderful. Was it Eric Newby who wrote so beautifully about walking its hills?

[vinyl_theif]

We have just cycled through Georgia ....

Hi. I'll also heard great things about. I'll effectively be following your route after the recent changes to Brits entering Iran. I'm presently in Budapest and head for Istanbul next, who knows, maybe we'll meet up!

Safe journey!
mark.

[cyclingnomad]

Hi. I'll also heard great things about. I'll effectively be following your route after the recent changes to Brits entering Iran. I'm presently in Budapest and head for Istanbul next, who knows, maybe we'll meet up!

Safe journey!
mark.

Good luck Mark, I hope you have better luck getting through Turkmenistan than we did.

http://www.cycling-nomads.com/turkmenistan-in-28hrs/

Our favourite country so far has been Croatia so if you are going that way enjoy.

Bill

[TomBruce]

Georgia was the best country I passed through on my trip around the world. The friendliest people on the planet!

http://www.tombrucecycling.com/adventures/around-the-world-by-bike/blog then go to >June >Georgia

Thanks,
Tom Bruce

[Sweep]

Yes thanks to the OP (and i loved that bridge - further west that would be an art installation with a poncy name - but in situ it made me smile as a neat ready made bridge).

I was mightily impressed with Tom's description of it in his book as well - can't be any better tributes than him saying it was the best place in a round the world cycle.