Georgia by Motorbike - Caucasus Adventure on 2 Tenere 700 | Tusheti NP | Abano Pass | Shatili | 2/3

Welcome to BURNING FEET ADVENTURES. Enjoy part 6 of my off-road journey from Greece to the Caucasus Mountains in Georgia and back. It's time. It's time to tackle the high mountains in the Caucasus. We made our way from Vashluani National Park up north to Georgia's famous Vineyards in the Alazani valley, fueled the bikes up at the last petrol station in Napareuli and hit the dirt road to the far away village of Omalo in the Tusheti National Park. Goodbye crazy dansk guys! The road to Omalo leads over the Abano pass on 2860 meters. The pass had been blocked by snow and landslides and was just opened a few days before we reached the area. It's quite a dangerous road. We passed many memorial stones on our way up of people that got hit by landslides or fall with their cars of the edge of the twisty dirt road. Traffic jam. As soon as the Abano pass was opened the cowboys lead their skinny cattle to the lush meadows in theTusheti National Park. The cattle drive takes a few days and the cowboys sleep outside during this time. It's quite hard to push through the cattle by motorbike without putting too much stress to the cows or horses. But it's nice to see that this old tradition is still alive in this part of the world. Hey! At the Abano Pass on 2860m. After the pass begins the Tusheti National Park. There are a few small villages near the main road to Omalo that we wanted to explore but the steep pathes were too muddy and slippery for our big bikes. We passed the touristy village of Omalo on 2100 meters and tried to get to the last settlement on the road called GIREVI. Caused by heavy rainfalls and the melted snow where the streams fast flowing and we decided to turn around and to stay in the Dartlo, 18 kilometers north of a Omalo. Dartlo was founded in the middle age and is famous for its historic stone towers and houses. By the way: there were five hotels marked on my map but only one was actually in Dartlo, even taking only cash. So be prepared and take some cash with you if you travel the high mountains. Time for trekking in enduro boots. 300 meters above the Dartlo lies the small village of Kvavlo right on a mountain. It's much nicer compared to Dartlo and you can still find the historical ruins and a very impressive watchtower. It's highly recommended to walk the extra mile and get your T-shirt wet on this deep single trail. Traveling into the Tusheti National Park is pretty much a one-way street, except you want to hike. So we made our way back over the Abano pass and rode 182 kilometers to a free camp spot where we wanted to start in our next Caucasus adventure on the following morning. Are you good? It's still getting harder further up. The serpentines are pretty narrow for a big car. "Okay." "And you think it's more difficult after the pass or it is the same road?" If you go down there are some muddy sections but that shouldn't be a problem for you. It's more or less like... it's very narrow... like curves... You know? "Okay. Okay." I even saw something like a pickup not going around the corner. They had to reverse. Georgia was welcoming us with rain. Our goal for day seven was to ride to Shatili. To get to Shatili we had to go over the DATVISJVARI pass on 2690 meters. The road to Shatili is normally not very challenging in terms of the surface. But there was a lot of rainfall during the last week causing the Argon River to be very high and a lot of landslides went down that blocked the road. Five days after we traveled to Shatili got a female BMW GS Rider killed by a landslide at the same part of the road. So be really really careful. We waited in Shatili until the thunderstorm disappeared and the sun pushed its ways through the thick clouds in the Argon Valley. Shatili and the other settlements in the Argon Valley are only connected by a small way. Those settlements are very close to the border to Russia. They worked as a fortress to protect the kingdom of Georgia in the middle age. Shatili and MUTSO are two great examples of these old fortresses where all houses are built wall to wall. We followed the Argon River to the last by vehical accessible spot in ARDOTI village. It's a steep climb for the bikes but the views are worth it. There were more thunderstorms predicted for the following night and we decided to ride back over the pass and camp at the same spot we came from. Shatili is a nice place but we didn't want to get stuck there for a few days just because a landslide block of our way. There were still more adventures waiting for us in the western Caucasus mountains near MESTIA. But that's another episode. Hi guys, if you wanna see more about my journey in Georgia don't forget to subscribe to the channel and hit the like button.

Channel: Burning Feet Adventures

Views: 475,948

Keywords: Tusheti National Park, Dartlo, Omalo road, Kaukasus Motorradreise, Georgien Motorradreise, Georgia Motorcycle adventure, Shatili, Abano Pass, Datvisjvari pass, Motorradweltreise, Trans Euro Trail, Torgva Pass, Pshaveli Omalo Road

Id: 2QTNAr66Qw4

Length: 22min 4sec (1324 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 08 2023