Aachen to Nord Ossetien im Kaukasus

Hi all 

So, the Landrover came back. Thanks to Ruud of Maastricht Landrover, the rig is ready. Decided to give him a new cambelt and sorted out the turbo accenturator which was sticking a bit due to not driving enough with sufficient high rpm (a common Discover fault). 

We bought some dry soups and water and lots of nappies and milk. That side of it is taken care of as well.

Now to the hotels along the way. Observations: Hungary was not easy. Lots of hotels booked up, others could not confirm as we will travel through the night and work and rest a bit during the day, so we needed early check in. After 20 or so calls to places along the road we have one. About an hour south of Budapest. Good. Fa's russian helped, as not many of those we called speak english or german for that matter. 

Turkey was easy. Amazing service and languages. Hotel booked in Edirne just an hour or so east of Istanbul.

Next stop after that will be Ordu and after that we'll cross into Georgia. Depending how long we will have taken to that point, we may stay a night in Tflisi before crossing the border to Russia. 

On the way back we will stay in Tflis for a few days, invite Fa's family over and Grandad John from Germany, who will take a plane we hope to visit us for the weekend.

Until soon.

B1 4250 km to go

"There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle." A.E.

Hello all

this is the first entry here to share with you our journey to North Ossetia, via Turkey and Georgia. 

Yesterday night we received the visas for Geor and me. 

The car will get a check up at Landrover tomorrow. The Discovery is a workhorse. Strong and versatile. It'll be ok and is made for stuff like this.

We have also bought old fashioned maps of Turkey and the Caucasus and preparations are underway to leave next Wednesday afternoon. It reminded me how good the old analogue world was. Somehow more reliable and slow. The sound of turning and folding the map and seeing so easily everything in front of you. And yes, you dont need electricity or mobile reception either.

So what to take on a ride like this and why are we doing it, if we could fly in just a few hours?

Well, good roads can be expected most of the way. So that is less of an adventure. Yet a trip like this is about the scenery, the culture and the people. The smell and tastes and the light, the sounds. All the impressions one cannot experience when taking the plane. 

Still, things can go wrong and therefore it will be good to have:

- Passports and Visa 

- Some cash and cards

- An ADAC membership and health insurance

- Car insurance / Green card 

- Spare tyre and some tools 

- A tent and a gas cooker 

- A medical kit 

- A torch

- Duck tape and platic straps

- Some reserve fuel and oil 

- Water 

- Some basic skills on how to repair some basic stuff 

So as you can see, a few more things to arrange before we leave on this 4250km trip that will take us south east through Germany into Austria and then into probably Hungary, Serbia and Bulgaria to Istanbul. Depending on traffic, we may swap Hungary for Kroatia. We will see. To Istanbul it should take us about 24 hours of driving.

We plan to cross the Bosperus to leave Europe and enter Asia to then head mainly East along the Black Sea Coast to Georgia. This may take about 18 hours of driving. Then, via Gori and Tiflis we will head north for about 2 hours, over the Caucasian Mountain ranges to enter Russia / North Ossetia. Then we will arrive and Ossetian Pies will await us )

See you and ciao