Run for the border

With Jack running around most of Thursday trying to get the Azerbaijan visas, the latest status was that he had to return at 10am, then 12pm, then 2pm. Finally at 3pm he returned with the visa's. We stirred from our hotel camp;

Then it was a dash to the Azerbaijan border (we thought it may have opening hours to adhere to)

At the border, we had a message;

We arrived at the border at 6pm, and after some initial gesticulation we started border processing one by one. By 10:30pm, the bikes were all processed - by which time it was pretty much dark. 4 bikes went ahead to the next town to check out dinner possibilities (tonight was meant to be a camp, but the support truck was stuck wasy down the border processing queue).

When the last rider came through, we headed off to meet up with the others.

On arriving in Balakan, we were mobbed by excited locals;

The others were no where to be seen - they had been moved on by the police, in an attempt to avoid creating a crowd.

There was much arm waving by the police, and the a police car arrived to give us a police escort to the town limits !!

Time was pushing on now, so we headed to the next large town, to a similar reception, but this time managed to avoid police attention, and sneak into a diner to eat. 3$ each for a quick dinner and beer, thne off to find a hotel. Bed at last - 1am.