It was raining as we were driving east along the Black Sea coast towards Georgia. A light drizzle had persisted all day and later, as we tried to sleep, we could hear the rhythm of the rain on the truck roof. The previous week Tony had spent several hours up on the roof trying to find the source of a small but persistent leak. We wondered whether the problem had been solved. So far, so dry!
It was still raining the next morning when we switched on our Dometic generator, only to find there was a problem – it was running, but on a reduced voltage output, not enough to charge our batteries. Tony was in and out of the truck trying to solve the problem but he could find no obvious cause. Our generator was essential to keep our batteries charged when we were parked up. But the problem would have to remain unresolved for the time being and we would have to rely on being connected to mains electricity when we were stationary.
We reached the Georgian border mid morning; the place looked chaotic but the border staff were friendly and helpful. In an hour or so our passports and vehicle had been checked and, after buying car insurance (£100 for one month), we were on our way to Batumi, the second largest city in Georgia.
The minute we crossed the border Starlink sprang into life! It made an huge difference with download speeds of up to 450 Mb per second (average in UK homes was 223 Mb).
Our first impression of Batumi was that it was a bit third-worldly, little shops and stalls lined the busy streets, traffic was coming from all directions and a herd of cows added to the confusion. Once in the city proper it was every driver for himself, junctions and roundabouts were snarled up with honking vehicles. Tony morphed into a Formula One racing driver and, being bigger than most vehicles, we managed to cross the city and find the car / coach park where we planned to stay for a few days.
