Day 129 Ararat - Yeghegnadzor

A day full of interesting meetings. Shortly after waking up at an impossible looking but very comfortable camp spot some cow herdsmen visited me. One of them considered it very funny that I was sleeping out on the fields with a town being nearby. Nevertheless all three were very friendly, asking me if I slept well, where I came from and where I am going to. Finally they gave me some grapes before waving me goodbye.
After a short ride I had to leave the Arax plain and go up the mountains. In soviet times getting to the Iranian border from here would have been very easy - I could just have followed the road along river Arax. Now the Arax plain is divided between Armenia and Azerbaijan (to be exact: the exclave of Nakhchivan) - two countries that are not on particularly good terms for more than 20 years now, with no signs of improvement. Sooo, instead of easy cycling through the plain I will have to go over several 2000+ passes to reach Iran.
From the turnoff of the road up the mountains one can see 4 countries: Armenia, Nakhchivan to the left, Turkey in front and to the right and Iran behind the small strip of Turkey that touches Nakhchivan.
During the ascend I actually drove through Azerbaijan - at least officially. The main road winds through Tigranashen which is an exclave of Nakhchivan, thus being an exclave of an exclave of Azerbaijan. It is fully controlled by Armenia and nowadays has only Armenien inhabitants (most of them refugees from Azerbaijan). On maps it shows up as part of Azerbaijan. As both countries have much bigger problems than this this is not gonna change soon.
After leaving Tigranashen I reached the first peak at 1800m - there was already a pretty ugly cold wind up here. I had my last look at Mt. Ararat, went down through a wide valley, climbed another peak and finally started the long descend. On a short stop something very unlikely happened: another cyclist crossed my way! We both were astonished to find someone else crazy enough to cycle this mountains so late in the year. Chris is doing the real thing: he started his trip more than 2,5 years ago in Sydney: www.cyclestrongman.com .
We had quite some information to exchange (he confirmed that it would get freaking cold where I am heading to, ugh!). Now I am the proud owner of a map of Iran and an Iranian Sim card, yeah (and Chris obtained the same items for Turkey). As it was getting late we both cycled on in our respective directions. My way led through a canyon - on the turnoff to the monastery of Noravank I passed a restaurant were my dad and me were taking lunch two years ago - it is nice to cycle on grounds that trigger memories (though the ascend seemed much easier in the car back then :o) Shortly before reaching Yeghegnadzor the setting sun staged a fantastic play of colours on the mountains. In Yeghegnadzor I had to go up some more hills to reach Gohars guest house - a very cozy place which fortunately had one last room for me. Most of the other rooms were taken by a German (exactly: Saxonian) tour group on their way to Karabakh. In the kitchen I found two other tourists: Kasia & Darek, a polish-dutch couple living in the Emirates who straightaway invited me to visit them once I am there, wow. :o)