Trial and Error

14 - 28 July

From the campsite we climb to the Selim Pass (2412 m) in the early morning. The descent is short as Lake Sevan is situated on 1900 m elevation. We have heard that on the west side of the lake, where we arrive, there is hardly a possibility to camp and that there are lots of mosquitoes, so we have booked a bed and breakfast in Martuni. The lady of the bed and breakfast cooks a nice diner for us, again with lots of vegetables accompanied by fish.

Caranvanserai on Selim Pass. It is constructed of basalt and has a roof with flat tiles. Above the entrance are carved a griffin and a lion

Griffin carved in basalt blocks

These grasslands go up to over 3000 m altitude

The next morning we have a flat tour to the other side of the lake. We take a shortcut and yes indeed it is unpaved. When we turn back on the main road, that is painted red on our map and really the principal road at that side of the lake, the asphalt disappears very quickly. We proceed really really slow and feel like scrambled eggs.
We want to try to camp on this side of the lake. The coast line is not privatized and has some sandy beaches. Our first attempt is unsuccessful. We follow a path to the lake and get attacked by mosquitoes as soon as we pass some bushes. It is an unfair battle, we need our hands to ride our bikes on the bumpy path, so we are completely defenseless. We go back to the main road as quickly as possible and foresee that we have to rent a big apartment on a peninsula, as there is nothing else available. While we follow the road on the peninsula we pass by a bungalow park. Not really bungalows, more huts from Sovjet times, but still a nice environment. We ask the owners of the bungalow park whether we can pitch our tent on their terrain and it is OK. And not only we can pitch our tent, we can also use the sandy and clean beach and dive into the lake. It is quite refreshing. After the swimming we are offered a huge plate of water melon and the lady owner doesn't want to get paid for it. In the evening she prepares a fresh fish on the barbecue and a big bowl of French fries for us. Life is good. The next morning she refuses any payment for the camping. Later we hear stories of campers who were asked to pay 15'000 Dram (25 Euro) to stay on someone's terrain. So, we were really lucky.
In the meantime the temperatures have really decreased quite a lot. On the west side of the lake it was 10∘C cooler than on the campsite and on the east side it is even cooler, only 20∘C, so the temperature has dropped by 18∘C (!) on a relatively short distance.

Trial and error
The next days are characterized by constantly making and changing plans.
We climb to another pass and we have the plan to cross a group of mountains and hills, following a ridge and using an unpaved road that is described as very scenic. However, when we arrive on the crossing where the scenic road starts it gets cold, it starts raining and thunderstorming. No point to ride a scenic route in bad weather, so we continue on the normal road that brings us down to a bed and breakfast where we camp in the garden. We have lost a lot of heavily combatted altitude 😢. What a shame. We were at such a good starting point for the scenic route.

Principal road along the Eastern side of Lake Sevan

Rain makes us change plans and follow a river downward. The slopes surrounding us are covered with beautiful pink flowers.

Camping on the terrain of a bed and breakfast

Now we have the plan to ride to Ijevan and proceed to the Azerbeijan boarder, but again the weather interferes with our plans and we decide to stay in Ijevan after only a 20 km ride  further downhill. The first bed and breakfast that we try is very difficult to find, on a very steep road and doesn't comply with our expectations. The bedroom doesn't even have a window. We try a second one which is much better, spacious, light and the owners are very friendly and cook a fantastic meal for us. The next day we have the plan to proceed to the border again and turn northward to make a kind of loop through a gorge with a number of interesting monasteries. The road however is very busy with trucks and cars and we later understand that it is the main connection between Yerevan and Tbilisi (capitals of Armenia and Georgia). After 10 kms we return and take a side road to a very beautiful resort. From there, there should be an unpaved road through the mountains, shortcutting the busy principal connection road. When we arrive at the resort, the unpaved road appears to be extremely steep and completely washed out, with rocks and deep spurs. Not something that we can manage with our heavily loaded bicycles (and by the way also not possible by MTBs, unless you like pushing or carrying), so after having several comforting drinks we return to Ijevan where we stay another night in the B&B of the night before. The lady of the B&B feels so sorry for us that she brings us ice cream.

In Ijevan we can observe the Armenian way of baking flatbread. Although the Armenian breads are the same as the Iranian flat breads the procedure is different. A fire is lit in a pit (usually wood, here gas) and the dough is pressed against the wall of the hot pit. After a few seconds the bread is done and is taken out of the pit.

This is how the dough gets attached to the pit wall or the bread removed from it

We feel kind of stuck now and have to make a new plan that preferably doesn't involve the busy road and doesn't involve too much repetitions of what we have already done. We decide to try the scenic road we wanted to ride a couple of days before in the opposite direction. It will bring us back to Lake Sevan though, but at least we know the road is not busy there. This plan finally works out well, but it is a very heavy variant, especially the first climb, which is 1100 m of hot altitude difference, steep and very rough road. Typically we only see here old Russian trucks and jeeps with high clearance.

Rough scenic route. Here the surface is still quite good, but we had parts that could only be managed by increasing speed and hopping over stony obstacles, like bands of rocks that cross the road diagonally.

Beautiful nature surrounding us while working hard on the rough road

Approaching the pass

After the climb we go slowly and cautiously down to a river, where we want to camp. I am a bit afraid that the surroundings of the river are not suitable for camping as the slopes around it are very steep and covered with dense forest, however, when we arrive, the river appears to be embedded in an open green landscape with some shade, so a perfect camping spot. Also Armenians like this spot, because a large family is having a barbecue party there as well. Ha, ha, these barbecue parties become predictable and almost boring but this one isn't. We are of course invited to participate in the barbecue, the volleyball play and the swimming. Martin is challenged quite a lot, he gets offered vodka and when he is slowly trying to get used to the quite low temperature of the water, he gets splashed and dragged in. Something, that when I would do it, would most likely result in a relationship crisis.

Peculiar camping experiences
We then continue to Lake Sevan and explore the east-northern side, which indeed is almost all privatized and not accessible for us. But at the very north, in the neighborhood of some super ugly huge, unfinished, partially burned down, Sovjet flats/resorts, we find an area that is designated as free camping area with a sandy beach and enough shade. We pay 3000 Dram to stay there and it gives me a feeling of being protected, which is a good feeling to have in this situation. It is Saturday evening, so we have the next peculiar experience. Many families are picnicking but most of them leave in the evening, only to be replaced by young Armenians that come to chill out and stay the night. Lots of vodka and loud music, but we sleep quite well and indeed no one comes to harass us.

We find many old Dutch and German cars in Armenia

There are also lots of fresh water springs along the road. Very convenient for a thirsty biker.

Following the scenic road along  ridge in the opposite direction as originally planned

Surprised cows 

At the end of the ridge road we find a juicy camping spot. We are surrounded by cows, sheep and horses. In the morning one of the farmers passes by galloping on a horse.

From now on things go again according to plan. We follow the beautiful valley of the river Hrazdan, visit the Sevanavank monastery, which is an utterly touristy place (Sunday, at the boarder of the lake) and finally end up in someone's fruit orchard. We are having a little bit of trouble this afternoon to find a good spot. We ask a farmer but he wants to have 10 Euro, so we go on. We then have the possibility to camp in the yard of an old abandoned hotel in the middle of a village, which doesn't feel good. We finally pass this beautiful orchard and a friendly mama greets us. I try to explain to her with hands and feet what we want and it is immediately OK. Her husband gives us a tour in the orchard (apricots, apples, pears, cherries, a calve and some chickens) and offers us apricots and cherries. We get invited for a cup of tea, are given a big jar of yoghurt and finally also the use of their shower. The niece of the family who is staying with the family for vacation appears to be an opera singer in the National Opera Orchestra and since she is travelling quite a lot she speaks English rather well. The next day we say goodbye and give them one of our last remaining souvenirs, a small wooden shoe.
It is a hot ride to camping 3G, which is quite a bit off the route, the landscape is bare and dry, no trees. The road to the camp site is busy as at its end is a famous monastery. The campsite and bed and breakfast is managed by Sandra, a Dutch woman from the Westland. It has a small swimming pool, is on a very beautiful location and has a couple of shady camping spots. It is here where we will take a  vacation of a week. The third heat wave has just started, so it is time to relax, swim, read books, update weblogs and wait for a spare part for my bike being sent by Santos from The Netherlands.

Lake Sevan

Sevanavank Monastery. Because it is Sunday and the monastery is located near to the lake the place is extremely touristy and somewhat crowded.

These carved stones are called khachkars. You find them in and around churches, monasteries and cemeteries, in the middle of fields, mountains, everywhere,... These are on the Sevanavank site.

Some church, somewhere,...

Hrazdan river valley

Camping in the fruit orchard in Arzakan

Don't know what this is

In Yerevan we are back in civilisation

One week of vacation on Sandra's campsite

Visit of Geghard Monastery
We made an excursion to Geghard monastery. The churches are partially carved out of the basalt rock.

Geghard monastery is located in a gorge

and partially hewn out of the rocks

These Armenian churches are very dark and the decoration is mainly carved out of the rocks

Everywhere khachkars

We were lucky enough that in one of the churches, that is completely hewn out of rocks, to have the opportunity to experience the excellent acoustics through a live performance. Realise that that the pillars in this church are not built, they are an integral part of the mountain and the space around them has been removed by hard labor.

Visit of the Symphony of Stones

From the camp site we make a hike into the Azat Gorge to visit the Symphony of Stones. These are basalt structures formed while the basalt was cooling down and crystallizing into hexagonal structures. Since I like geometrical patterns, there are a lot of pictures. It is nice to watch these pictures with some church organ music in the background. Enjoy!

Trout cultivation basins in the Azat gorge

Mjummy, it is blackberry time

Small accidents
And finally the small accidents we had: When we cycled to Ijevan suddenly my Rohloff shifter didn't work anymore. It was in gear 8 or so and would stay there forever, which is not that practical in this country. After having a look we discovered that the complete gear block had loosened, because the screw that keeps it on its place had disappeared. It must have been loosened because of all the shocks and tremblings. Actually, this shouldn't happen because the screw has a lock mechanism. When you remove the rear wheel you will have to loosen this screw and remove the gear block to get the wheel out. But in fact the screw should never get detached from the gear block. We already knew that the lock was not working (from the beginning) but we had never guessed that it would spontaneously loosen itself. So, what now? Well, the gear block was attached again easily by using duck tape and it held actually very well. Still we didn't want to take a risk and asked Santos to send us a new screw, which arrived 5 days later on Sandra's camp site.
On the camp site we had another accident. One of the gas tanks exploded spontaneously because it was exposed to sun light (and maybe because eastern European gas tanks are not explosion proof). Anyway, Martin and our neighbor almost got a heart attack and I noticed a faint gas smell at the swimming pool. Fortunately, our neighbor was not smoking when the gas tank exploded.

On Martin's bike (red) the screw is still there. On my bike (blue) I have fixed the gear block with tape, which was quite tricky because there is not much space between the gear block and brake disk.

Exploded gas tank. Tricky situation in this hot weather.