Another weekend, another trip…we were with Adrenalin Hiking Club again. But there wasn’t to be much hiking. We went to the Algeti National Park, 60 km South West of Tbilisi, where a number of hiking clubs were celebrating the beginning of the hiking season. Our transport was a mix of Ford Transit Minibus over the roads, then a Mitsubishi Delica for the off road part.

We made a brief stop en route for those who wished to pick daisies, before heading to the campsite.

I hadn’t camped since my first honeymoon in Norway, way back in 1992. This would be interesting. The clouds, when we arrived looked grey and ominous. As the tents went up the rain started to come down slowly at first, then more heavily. The campsite felt a bit like a music festival, plenty of mud and a bass beat could be heard in the background but the only live music I saw was from singing and acoustic guitars.

ominous clouds putting up the tents, Giorgi makes a ditch next to the tent t better allow the water to run off the rain gets heavier

The first task was to fetch wood, a reminder of my scouting days, where one of the prime duties at camp was “wood and water”,

fetching wood chopping wood

The Algeti National Park stretches over the woody southern slopes of the eastern Trialeti range. There was plenty of wood mostly Caucasian Spruce and Nordmann Fir. The rain did look pretty on the pine leaves.

Club Adrenalin trips are known for impressive supras and group photos. Three new members were welcomed to Club Adrenalin: Natali, Mariam and my wife, Khato. The new members were given badges and a T Shirt and had their photo taken with other members.

The rain didn’t deter the fire makers. The fire was essential for the requisite Mtsvadi (Sashlik). The smell of woodsmoke reminded me very much of Scout Camps a few decades ago.

fire preparing the Mtsvadi Grilling the Mtsvadi Showing off the cooked Mtsvadi

The rain got heavier, the thunder rumbled, the lightning flashed. We went to bed. The tent walls were damp, a lot of our stuff got wet. In the morning the sun shone and we hung out our wet stuff to dry.

More feasting this time including grilled mushrooms with sulguni cheese.

grilled mushrooms and cheese

There wasn’t much hiking but I did wander about having a look in the forest and at the views.

We left for Tbilisi, early in the afternoon in our trusted Delica.