Distance travelled: 278 miles – Temperature: 15°C, clear skies, high winds – Miles on the clock: 3,204 – Departure: 0750

Chateau Bruale, Tkhilistskaro, Kakheti region, Georgia

It would be wrong to deny that we both felt more than a little trepidation as we set off. It had been a major job to get the car fixed and we had put our trust entirely in two young men with initially no notion of their scruples. They had turned out to be deeply honourable, committed and kind to a fault. With those thoughts in our head we drove off in surprisingly heavy traffic out of Baku on the top road (M4) towards Georgia. Foremost in our minds was the fact that we still had 3,500 miles to cover and a pressing deadline to be in France towards the end of the following week.

The engine was sound and all seemed well although the clutch pedal was very soft with a lot of free play before disengaging the clutch and would probably need some adjustment. Murray drove through maniacal city traffic, I volunteered to drive once we were on the highway. However, after 20 minutes or so the clutch started to play up, changing down into lower gears was becoming problematic. Murray felt it was simply a case of the car having to settle down and so we pressed on out of the city into the suburbs and the surrounding reclaimed Gobustan desert and then up into the rolling hills above Baku.

Roadside stalls

Vacuum packed grape sweets – sort of flattened strawberry shoe laces!

The rolling hills of north western Azerbaijan

The police check points were becoming an issue as gear changing was steadily becoming worse and setting off in 3^rd gear up hill under the scrutiny of an Azeri policeman does not induce a relaxed drive. Vacillating between deciding whether to return to Baku (not something either of us wanted to do) or to find a local mechanic on the roadside we pressed on in silence for half an hour before pulling into a service station and expressed serious concerns. Murray was convinced that we didn’t have a serious problem, but all that was needed was a tweak! We tried to raise Elmir, but we were conscious it was his much needed day off. We needed him to speak to the mechanic and seek his advice. A number of men at the service station poked their heads under the bonnet and within about half and hour a local mechanic arrived with an 8mm spanner in his pocket, Elmir had called the mechanic and the air that had accumulated in the clutch fluid had been expelled by vigorous pumping of the clutch pedal!

We set off again, now knowing that we would periodically need stop and release the air from the system – I felt this was something I would not have needed to do if Toyota Salisbury had done the job but since they were thousands of miles away I kept the thought to myself!

We pressed on but were plagued by ninja traffic police who seemed to appear from nowhere in our rear view mirror to pull us up and impose a traffic fine. On the first attempt Murray sat in the police car for 15 minutes schmoozing his way out of a random 100 manat (£50) fine, claiming honestly that he had no manat other the 3 in his pocket, the policeman reduced the fine to 50 manat and eventually gave up! Subsequent stops (four in all over a 60 km stretch) were met with measured outrage, a wave of the diplomatic passport and English dismissiveness. It was clear these guys were out to make a fast buck, something we had been warned about.

Taking the northern route towards Georgia we were going on to Sheki, a popular tourist spot up in the Azerbaijani Zagatala Reserve hills, and then planned to cross the quieter border post into Lagodekhi, rather than the more direct Red Bridge route towards Tbilisi which we knew to be busy. We were so keen to make some progress to make up for the down days in Baku. Sadly the day was tinged with an undertone of anxiety, not quite knowing it the car would continue to perform.

Sheki was a little suboptimal – although interesting with its impressive caravanersary and old Shah palace, it was full of hawkers and rather extraordinarily groups of women trying to coerce us into various tiny museums situated within the walls of the old town. It was all a bit down at heel and we did to have the metaphoric rose tint required for sight seeing. It was time to press on with an Army ration picnic on the go.

Sheki caravanersary

Familiar architecture seen along the Silk Route through Central Asia

The Shah’s Palace

The roads had been good to a point but we suddenly hit 20 km of unpaved road  just northwest of Balakan, leading to the border, in the process of being graded. It was not good on the nerves but we were committed. We were following endless heavy lorries and the dust was abysmal but there were no more police – the upside!

First sighting of Dagestan – a no go area for us

Beautiful deciduous trees – the first we’ve seen since the Northern Areas of Pakistan

A Christian church!!

A hint of autumn

Balakan gate, very like Playmobile!

The unpaved road to the border with Georgia

We swiftly crossed the border into Lagodekhi in little more than 30 minutes – fantastic! We had booked a night at a vineyard only 25 km from the border. It was interesting to note at this point that the roads were great, even though we were very much in the countryside and in the shadow of the Dagestan mountains – we had been lead to believe that once we were in Georgia it would all go to ratchet. Not so.

Within half an hour we had arrived at Chateau Bruale, in an unpronounceable village (Tkhilistskaro – we were beyond tired to even hazard a guess at how to combine so many consonants before a vowel!) and our day was close to an end. With neither English from our host nor Georgian or Russian from us we managed through an intermediary on the phone to order a delicious supper before collapsing into a very comfortable bed in a rather spartan but perfectly adequate room.