Day 24

It was our second day in Azerbaijan with just under 200 miles to do today so a relaxed start was on the table for some of us. However, the support van had to leave at 6am in order to get one of the bikes to the BMW dealer in Baku for essential repairs.

Another motorcycle casualty that happened today was the Harley as not long after leaving the hotel the clutch went leaving it stranded and waiting for a recovery truck to take it to the Harley Davidson dealer in Baku.

My main mission today was to get my bike washed before I enter Turkmenistan and fortunately I found a small car wash  place as I was riding along the route. There were three youngish lads there, with Ali as the one in charge.

I negotiated a rate, haggling them down from their first price, although actually I would have paid the first price but thought I would give this haggling lark a go. I got the usual questions of, 'How much did your bike cost' and 'How much did you pay for your iPhone' etc. We had a laugh and they done a reasonable job of the bike. Yet again and it was my highlight of my day.

 

The one thing that has struck me so far about this country is how green it has been, and today scenery was no exception.

The Baku traffic was busy at 2pm when I arrived in town and luckily for me I caught up with another one of the group so I just followed him to the hotel but still kept an eye and ear open for sat nav instructions which matched his perfectly.

In the evening, most of us went out for an Azerbaijan Banquet meal which was good, and as usual with the group, the comradery was great too.