Ushguli

We weren’t lucky with the weather on the day we drove the endless 50 kilometres (32 miles) from Mestia up to Ushguli, Europe’s highest permanently inhabited cluster of villages, situated at over 2,200 metres (7,218 feet). Normally that wouldn’t matter too much but in June, after weeks of non-stop rain, the dirt road that leads up the Enguri River gorge – which is anyway only open three months of the year – was even more perilous and uncomfortable than usual. We bumped and gasped as rivulets turned into gushing torrents and washed over the rocky, narrow road before dropping steeply to the river below us. When we finally made it, the big views of the peaks that people rave about were hidden in the clouds. (On a clear day, they include Georgia’s highest peak: Mount Shkhara, at 5,068 metres / 16,628 feet.)