The miracle of the “Georgian Overtake”.
Now the Overtake, as I shall call it, is by no means unique to Georgia. It can be found in many developing countries.
But it does seem particularly common in this small but incredibly beautiful country, basically due to the slightly crazy variety of different animals, humans and vehicles on the road, pretty much everywhere you go.
Basically, this involves 3 types of road user moving down at single carriageway road in parallell, in the same direction, taking up the entirety of one side of that road - and at least 50% of the other.
So, on to the three types of road user, in order of position on the road from the near-side to the off-side….
Road user number 1: Maybe stationary or moving. It covers a number of different users, but all have one thing in common - they’re not pedal or petrol powered. Includes the following: cattle (singular or grouped, but always sharing the same look of confusion - "What are YOU doing here? Oh you want me to move? No."), donkeys (usually singular), dogs (often in packs - and with a tendency to chase if travelling less than 30 mph), people (shan’t say anything here, in the name of diplomacy) and pigs (tend to panic the most). What’s remarkable about this group is its stubborn unwillingness to move or yield to ANYTHING else on the road, even if they are on the wrong side of it.
Road user number 2: A slow-moving to medium-paced moving vehicle. This includes the standard model Ladas (older versions with few, if any, functional lights; newer versions pimped out with alloy wheels in sharp contrast to the rest of the car, but still belching a cloud of smoke), huge Russian built ex-army trucks, tractors, and 'combi' minibuses pimped out with raised suspension and fat, off-road tyres.
Road user number 3 (on YOUR side of the road): Predominantly your common or garden suicidal Georgian driver, typically in a Western-built car from 1995 onwards (it sometimes feels like you’ve walked into an Opel or Vauxhall advert from 20 years ago). Maybe a taxi-driver (on the kamikaze end of the scale) or a Russian oligarch in a BMW, Mercedes or Porsche, of dubious sobriety.
Now as you can imagine, the combination of all of these things, make Georgia an…interesting place to drive, not too dissimilar to a game of Mario Kart.
But it is also a stunningly beautiful place to visit, particularly in the north where the Caucasus mountains are. The countryside remains very traditional. And riding the main ‘roads’ in the north has been an awesome chance to really stretch my off-road wings, after weeks on the tarmac.
There’s big effort by the Georgian Ministry of Tourism to take advantage of that and the sense is that the place is just beginning to take off as the next 'cool' place to go for backpackers and hikers alike with the French and the Germans leading the way.
I’m parked up in the capital Tbilisi, for the remainder of this week whilst I wait for my Azeri and Chinese visas to be sorted. The bike was surprisingly quickly back on the road, thanks to local mechanic Niko.
Next stop - Azerbaijan , Baku and the Caspian Sea. BOOM.
