Couchsurfer Karim has been hosting me for the last 1.5 weeks whilst I waited for my Indian visa. He had previously cycled from Tehran to Scotland. His mum was Scottish and dad Iranian. His dad had worked in construction, building roads in South Iran.

We got on like a house of fire, having rambling conversations about just about anything, but particularly cycle touring and future adventures.

He was also an incredible cook, and I was treated to daily feasts of delicious rice, bowls of Osh (chickpea soup), and Chello kebab.

The emptiness of the desert spaces was in it’s way very beautiful with nothing to distract and nothing man-made. With no input it felt very meditative. Long trains of thought went through my head, which kept me occupied and sometimes I recorded them into my dictaphone.

My bike was set up really well and I had a strong feeling of flowing with little effort, completing long distances. It became the norm to start early, push big gears and put in a long day. I started reliably planning when I would be at the next place based on 150km days.

I spent April, May and June in Tbilisi but I’m now in UK to visit my family.

I’ve been writing up my journal into a book each morning. I am currently on 95000. I met one of my sister’s friends a couple of days ago who has just finished writing a book she wrote during university. She wrote a total of 150000 words.

I was very inspired by her ability to be that organised and find somewhere peaceful to write during university! The book is a novel called ‘We All Fall Down’ and she is sending it to publishers now.

I caught a bus full of Georgian Folklore dancers all the way back to Lyon in France via Turkey, Greece, Italy, Switzerland and France.

We spent a day in Venice and went swimming in the sea in Greece which made a welcome break from sleeping on the bus seven nights in a row!!! I must say a huge thank you to Zaal and Aurillien for their kindness, taking me on the bus.

I made a presentation on the 1st July at a CENN (Caucasus Environment NGO Network) in the New Art Cafe in Tbilisi. It was an informal event to raise discussion about climate change. The intention was to find out what the people of Tbilisi think about it and what part they might play in the solution.

Cycling is Great and some other stuff about Climate Change from Andrew Welch on Vimeo.

The weather in Tbilisi over the last 2 months has been bizarre to say the least. When Tom and I arrived in Georgia in Winter of 2008, it was the coldest winter for 30 years. I would hazard a guess this summer has been the wettest!

There were violent thunderstorms practically every day for 2 months. I experienced the full brunt of these on multiple occasions whilst out riding. In addition, I had a pretty serious disaster in my flat, caused by the rain.

I’ve been dedicating a lot of time to my passion for mountain biking. It became very clear to me, whilst meditating on my bike in India, that I should help to start a cycling project in Tbilisi. Georgia is perfect for mountain biking with wonderful countryside and many paths. Of course the culture, food, drink and friendly people are perfect for tourism.

Tbilisi, as a city, has excellent mountain biking within a 5 minute cycle from the city (could be less if you already live up the hill!). I’ve met quite a few cyclists and I think the numbers are increasing.

I have made a deal with myself to give my creative projects the attention and craft they deserve.

My projects:

• Design portfolio (andrewwelch.info)
• Organise and release music ( at http://andrew-welch-music.blogspot.com/)
• T-Shirts and artwork (zazzle.com/truefocus)
• Photography organisation (using Picasa 3, with input from Aurilien)

My new mantras:

• Be organised
• Finish one thing at a time
• Avoid distractions
• Craft
• Plan time

I’ve been inspired by GTD, 4HWW, Lateral Thinking and 7 Habits books. What impresses me about GTD is that is helps you to deal with the new phenomenon of information overload we are faced with. There is now Facebook, gmail and a million other similar websites that waste time and invite procrastination.

After leaving the Iran embassy having been rejected for the visa a second time, I cycled over to the travel agency, and booked a flight to Istanbul.

Flying is not the best transport for me because I feel that it cuts out the point of travel which is the adventure of meeting people and having a valuable experience. It is also the most polluting mode of transport.

After 1.5 months in New Delhi I made the decision based on a long process of research and yes it felt like a compromise.

What route have you travelled so far?

The trip started in June 2007 and I cycled across Europe to the Caucasus. After getting an Iran Visa, I spent 1.5 months travelling through Iran, 3 weeks in Pakistan, 4.5 months in India and 2 weeks in Nepal.

A problem with my Iran visa in New Delhi stopped my intention of travelling back overland to Georgia so I flew back to Turkey and got a bus back to Tbilisi.