Georgia - June 23  

Best Value Breakfast
Hiking in the Juta Valley 
8 Km walk - c.300m Altitude

Our Tour program read like this:

Today´s trip is to the highest situated town in the Kazbegi region – Juta. On the way, we stop by the mysterious statues that we call the Georgian Easter Island and we stop in the most important village of the region, which is Sno where the Georgian Patriarch comes from. We continue our trip by visiting beautiful village of Juta, which is located at 2200 m. above sea level, Juta is one of the highest inhabited villages in Georgia. From Juta you can see Chaukhi mountain massif, containing seven peaks with altitudes from 3400  to 3843m. 

At our breakfast table with panoramic view of the Gelgeti Church (surrounded by low cloud) we both felt a little overwhelmed as little plates appeared at regular intervals, and at one stage I even ran into the kitchen and cancelled the fried egg Renate had ordered the night before! After the best breakfast in Georgia we were looking forward to a relaxing day. 

The "Easter Island" effigies are carvings of Georgian heroes (incl. Jesus) carried out by a local artisan on very large rocks extracted from the local river. Uneventful. Lean out of the car window, take a snap and drive on. The Patriarch´s house was hidden behind trees and Sno must consist of about 40 houses. So, on to Juta. 25 minutes of some of the roughest off-road driving, but in a British car, so it was OK. The Land Rover took every bump and pot-hole that it encountered. Arrival in Juta. Calling it a village is flattery: it is a collection of buildings at the end of the road and at the foot of the mountain range. Breathtaking. To prove it:

Another hiker showed us a plant similar to rhubarb and invited us to try. We ate it later baked in one of their local delicacies. Verdict: a bit like a rough spinach. 

We walked some 4 km up the mountain trail to a small lake - Chaukhi Lake - where we rested before our return journey. Breathtaking landscape. Mountains fighting the cloud so that our photos would look good including Chaukhi mountain. Lovely alm type pastures with cows and horses at their summer grazing stations. A modern hotel and a camping site offering overnight accommodation nearer to the village; then wilderness. A variety of butterflies and flowers (so our guide often had to wait for us), larks and cuckoos warbling away, and always the roar of the river. Not large but fast flowing and we had to cross little streams that fed into it. Our guide reckoned we had climbed to 2500 m. Our bones told a different story!!

Parking is a massive problem, even at 2200m in a hamlet: Every parking possibility has its own sheriff: this was ours for the day!

Then back to Tiblis: a new trail of trucks lined up to cross the border stretching out into the farthest distance.