It’ll Hold

After a full day in town, in which we covered the whole town top to bottom looking for a fan hub, even the Toyota dealership was paid a visit as I knew they had the special oil I was after. Which, fun fact – is only available for Australia and not for sale in Europe/Asia. The Mitsubishi dealership is as all of them are…. Worthless to even pay a visit. As much as I love Mitsubishis their service centers are a joke. This also leads to the discovery that the diesel wagon didn’t really make it to Armenia as well. So, finding a fan clutch is out the window. But enough about that struggle, lets wake up tomorrow.

 

We wake early, and well, look at that rig parked next to us! What a beast. This camp ground is the main overlanding stop in Armenia near Yerevan and is filled with Europeans. Very good nights were had chatting with other couples and families about their travels. The camp ground is called Camping 3g’s

 

Packed up, since it is cooler out, I point us straight up a mountain to get the climb done before the day gets hot. The wagon does great if we ignore the fact the heater is blowing full tilt on us in 35c weather. But we push on for a stunning view, I have found a route across to our camping area, the road quickly gets narrow and sloped, let alone some of the drops we didn’t photograph. The wagon is working overtime that’s for sure. Even the cat was pissed at the steep angle.

But we push on, where we hit a snag, the bridge is no good so its time to do a water crossing. As we round the next few bends, we end up heading down into the flats, where we are quickly stopped by the guards, who want to know, once again how I got in this area from that road, and why I am there. We end up back at the ranger station, with me arguing that even their map shows I am okay as it’s a listed 4wd track and we are not breaking any rules. Either way they point me out and follow to the gate to ensure we leave.

 

Climbing back out, now its hot, since we were supposed to be doing the climb in the cool morning, and we meet head-to-head with 2 full size army trucks on a 1 car wide road. We pass with literally 1cm of clearance, oh and I have our front tyre literally dangling off the cliff edge for clearance. Luckily the bum is heavy in the car. It’s a high stress situation and you cant film the military in these areas so just the story will have to suffice. Up on the mountain top we stop for a quick drink then head north, we are going to camp at the lake, Lake Sevan. We pass a caravanserai which way back when was where traders would stop for the night, or to set up a stall to sell to locals in the area. I buy some moonshine from the local outside, that had some crazy kick!

 

Even though it was a longer day than planned, we pull up at a decent time next to the lake with no one around. Step 1, let Pina run, Step 2, Mangal. We do chicken tonight as the sun sets. We can’t complain as the weather is a slight breeze and 20c at night so acceptable sleeping conditions.

 

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