The day started well with a nice russian breakfast. In fact I start to like the kascha. I quickly left the hotel and said goodbye to the very friendly people in Vladikavkaz. The guard was an ex military who was also stationed in germany for a while.
We had a good chat.

After a short drive, the Kaukasian mountains were coming very close. I reached the Georgian border in no time. Before I realised it I had already crossed it and got my Russian exit stamp. All very quickly.

The ride was a dream now – good asphalt roads full with bends and magnificient mountain views.

I got in Kazbegi or Stepantsminda and visited the local tourist info buro. I wanted to get some info about mount Kazbek.
This is an old vulcano with a peak of 5066m. It was very tempting for me to walk up the mountain as high as I could.

After doing the usual stuff when entering a new country, which is getting local cash and a local sim card for internet, a tried the local food. My stomach had to adjust a bit 🙂

Now it was time for a ride up the mountain. I found a small road, and just before starting it, I met 4 romanian bikers with lighter enduro bikes. One guy his eye was badly banged up appearantly from a fall. They advised me not to go. It was a very narrow, steep offroad full with rocks and sand. And I had too much luggage they said. So it sounded like a challenge for me and I rode up the mountain 🙂

I got to a small village, which was the highest village before the mountain path started. I went looking for a safe place to keep the bike and found a lovely lady where I could park the bike for a few days.
It was already getting a bit later in the day and I still want to walk up to the Gergeti church. So I packed up quickly and put all the needed stuff in my backpack. I lost some time as there were workers around looking at all the gear and asking questions. Goodbye motorbike now – see you in about 4 days.

The walk up the mountain was nice, I went through a small wood and reached the Gergeti church in no time. I also finished my water supply in no time as it was really hot! Luckily there is a water supply at the church so I could fill up my camelbag and thermos again. I didn’t realise it was such a touristic hotspot and there were many people from all over the world visiting this place.

At the water source I met two friendly Czech guys, who told me they were going to walk up the mountain. I walked down from the church to the grassy area to find a spot for my tent. There were a couple of tents around and I walked to the group closest to the start of the walk for tomorrow. I saw the two Czech guys again, and also there were two Ukranian guys, Sacha and Dmitry. Sacha had already been up the top twice! Dmitry planned to leave tomorrow to the top.

I pitched my tent, had some food and discussed with the guys the plans for the coming days. We all went early to bed.