Over the top to Verkhovani via the Nakie-Khol pass

This year I opted to leave the girls to make their way over the pass on their own with Goggi and Irma. I didn't feel fit enough and as things turned out I had my own adventures.


Iona making her way up to the pass. Most of this trip is on foot since it's to steep for the horses.

For the record This is the last part of the trail as we ride up on to the top of the pass in 2007. Just proof I made it over the top during our previous trip. I'm the fat one in the middle with the white hat and blue shirt.

I don't have many pictures of the climb up to the pass but golly this is a magnificent place at the top of the pass with swifts, golden eagles and the girls tell me they even saw one of the extremely rare wild goats.

The girls on what feels like the roof of the world. OK its not but hey, who can tell?

Coming down off the pass the main village is Verkhovani where Patti has the very best guest house with hot running water! Patti is also one of the most hard working wonderful people I have ever met.

Patti's guest house. Clean comfortable and the end of the line.

With the girls trekking over the pass I found myself making my way up the valley driving over another pass near Shenako. However, the guys driving found they needed to change shock absorbers on the pass. No mean feat since we didn't have any tools to speak of. These guys were the best . Think for a moment, how would you change the shocks. With a pocket knife and a whittled branch from a tree, they made a tool to compress the shock rubber into the shock bar. Amazing and after an hour we were on our way.

I always feel guilty for not showing my appreciation more .

On the way to Verkhovani and the races .

On arrival at Patti's I had a swift lunch and then off to the summer festival where the horse racing and general partying is something else. The problem was I had some Chacha that could layout an Ox. The girls at this time were still climbing the pass - sober.

Patti our host in Verkhovani is in the centre sitting with her neighbours and friends.

This is the main Shrine where the race ends and offerings are made. Home of the killer Chacha.

As with all the festival races it's difficult, as a foreigner, to understand when the great event is to occur. This race started to take shape after the local lads had been testing the course at spectacular speed and agility for about an hour after lunch. The moment arrived and off in the distance the blur of activity set alight the crowd with a roar of excitement. These lads ride bareback through rivers and rough land at breathtaking speed.Have a look at this link to see the action http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOwvg7RbRdE

This lad has just won the horse race. He later rode off up the mountain to display his banner with pride and golly he deserved it.

The girls like to take their brothers or boyfriends horses and show off their own horsemanship.

What grips me about these Tusheti festivals is the total lack of health and safety, which is a good thing. Horses are galloping at breakneck speed around the crowds, and the girls and boys are all having great run. Parents are drinking copious quantities of Chacha and life is led to the full.

Gogrulta and Lily's family

After an exceptional ride from Verkhovani to Gogrulta we had at last arrived in the little hamlet we had spied upon the horizon a year ago from Docho. Our journey to Gogrulta had been fraught with problems. The previous bad weather had washed away what little trail there was, although Goggi and Irma managed to pick our way across ravines and make our way via an assortment of goat trails and dodgy advice from passing shepherds. The eventual journey we did take was spectacular. Passing through magnificent birch forests with glades of wild flowers from another world. Every so often we would break out from the forest onto soft dreamy pastures looking out over the Tusheti Mountains. This part of Tusheti is possibly the most untouched and unspoilt we have ever seen although goodness knows how on earth one would find it again.

The following selection of images are some of those we took while staying with Lily and her husband Socrat . Their farmhouse stood perched on the side of the cliff looking out across Tusheti. A great place to stay with a brand new guest house all made by Socrat. I strongly recommend it.

Lily's new guest house can be seen in the group of buildings top right in this image.

This shrine, like many others ,is off limits for women and sits at the entrance to the village close by the water trough. Such shrines play a complex role for the villages. First taking the role as a holy place, representing Christian beliefs. Secondly the ram is represented on the shrine , harking back to early beliefs where the ram was ( and still is to some degree) the embodiment of the world that surrounds the Tush . The ram is sacrificed on festival days with its blood cast over the shrine when slaughted. On such occasions bread, cheese and Chacha (local vodka) are eaten and drunk as part of the ritual. Such a combination of beliefs might appear contradictory to the outsider. To me it's the fusion between the new and old ways of life in the mountains and in many ways the symbolism of the ram holds a stronger grip than the established church.

Here is Socrat toasting Tusheti, our family and the world we all live in. Socrat is one of the most accomplished people I have ever come across. He has made nearly everything on his small holding . From the stools we sat on to the ladle and wooden bowls used to make their cheese. He made the saddle for his horse and shod his horse with shoes he made himself. For that matter he restored the guest house we stayed in making all the furniture.

Socrat takes his materials from the landscape he lives in and using his a smithy and a joiners yard he is able to be totally independent of the outside world ,supporting his small dairy farm run by Lily. Socrat is also very generous with his Chacha.

Lily making Khinkali with her grandson at her side.

Butter making barrels made by Socrat.

Lily's fireplace and the very best place to cook her delicious food.

One night a group of French travellers arrived. I don't think they knew how to party and certainly looked at us with disdain as we knocked back the Chacha. However I'm sure they loosened up later in their travels.

We had an exceptional party in Gogrulta although many of our pictures didn't come out.

Zocrat, me and some of the men from the village. This was the beginning of a long session ending with dancing over the fire.

In no particular order, the following images represent Lily and Socrat's life in Gogrulta

During our stay in Gogurlta India ,Iona and Goggi decided to walk down into the valley to visit the river where we had been the year before while visiting Docho . A very hard walk back up  the mountain. This is an idyllic mountain river but very chilly due to the nature of snow melt water. Last year we went from Docho and swam in the river while our horse guide (Zora) who ,while we splashing about and making fools of ourselves ,caught the best tasting trout I've ever eaten. 

This year the girls were keen to light a fire by the river . Perhaps this was to keep the bears away that were worrying the cattle up the mountain. Melissa's imagination got carried away with her and she was convinced that if it wasn't bears it must be blood thirsty wolves who might whisk her daughters away into the deep dark forest of Tusheti. Well neither the wolves or the bears could be bothered to turn up so we don't have any pictures of Goggi protecting my daughters from fierce beasts ,although based on previous experience we would have seen them off given half a chance with his Flip flops - Goggi traveled everywhere with his Flip Flops, as a result they took on a mythical dimension.