Kutaisi

September 9, 2023

It was a pretty easy if rather wet ride to Kutaisi. Traffic was heavier than yesterday so it was a pleasant surprise to encounter a cycle path as we reached the outskirts of the city. Not that it was well designed of course. There were no off or on ramps where the path crossed streets meaning that we had to drop the bikes down over the high kerb and lift them back onto the path again.

The cycle path coincided with a short break in the rain but within a few minutes our rain gear was back on again only to cone off again soon afterwards.

We reached our hotel a couple of hours before check in but they allowed us to move into our room early and have stored the bicycles safely in a store room out of the rain.

First rugby game we watched was South Africa's neighbours, Namibia losing to Italy. Namibia has never won a match at the RWC since it started in 1987 and were never expected to challenge Italy.

As mentioned yesterday, one if the reasons for a stay in Kutaisi was to find sone decent food. All the restaurants seem to be clustered in an area about a kilometer from our hotel. We had hoped for something Asian, just for a change, but the ones we looked at seemed terribly overpriced. So we tried a more traditional Georgian eatery. It wasn't good value for money either but the wine wasn't too bad.

Chips, aka French Fries, with Stroganoff ?

Stodgy and not particularly flavoursome.

The wine just happened to be from Vani where we had spent last night. Note the lack of a label. The waiter simply topped up the bottle from some container hidden behind the bar counter.

Ultimately we were rather disappointed with our meal. Incrediby dry and tough meat and bland flavours. We left feeling hungry and had to top up with some snacks from a bakery on the way back to the hotel.

Once back at the hotel we watched another game of rugby, first Australia vs Georgia and then the first half of the Argentina vs England game. Australia predictably beat Georgia but England suprisingly dominated Argentina. Tomorrow is South Africa's first game, against Scotland. Due to the draw being done three years ago when the world rankings were very different, our pool has three of the top five ranked teams, namely Ireland (1st), South Africa (2nd) and Scotland (5th). In fact our half of the draw has all top five teams meaning that only two of them can technically reach the final. So it us critical that we win tomorrow.

Today's ride: 45 km (28 miles)
Total: 1,139 km (707 miles)

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