the more populous lowlands. The
road still dirt, the villages through
which we pass still poor.
Having been warned that the
province of South Ossetia has closed
its borders and won't let us through,
we head further south to Kutaisi, the
road now good tar switchbacking be-
tween valleys in the Great Caucasus
Range, almost traffic free. Loving the
freedom of good tar, we ride... well,
not idiotic fast; not even stupid fast;
perhaps silly fast would best describe
it - that speed when you have to think
a little before each bend to get the
speed and line right, especially if
there might be a rock fall in an unfor-
tunate place on a bend to make life
interesting. This wasn't back-wheel-
slipping, knee-scraping stuff - just
good, old-fashioned fast riding that
brings a smile to one's face, for about
an hour.
And then I had what Gareth calls
my "encounter with death" when
a suicidal cow skittishly galloped
across the road in front of me. I
couldn't stop in time so accelerated
hard to get past it, heading onto the
grassy verge just ahead of the cow,
and then scrambling back onto the
road before I hit two large rocks in
my path.
We rode a little slower after that.
Just a little. LB
Lawrence Bransby is an award winning
author of several novels plus non-fiction
travelogues that follow his many adven-
tures on both two and four wheels. His
adventures are something to behold and
almost all are documented ... something
we at Traverse love.
After a lifetime of teaching Lawrence
has found the time to indulge in his
passion for travel and adventure and
shares it through his books, all available
at Amazon in ebook or paperback form.
Lawrence's piece on Georgia is ex-
plained in greater detail in his book The
Wakhan Corridor , it too can be found on
Amazon.
TRAVERSE 46