What a night we had in our sand crater, without moving a muscle. In the morning, we set off to get closer to the Katskhi Pillar. Although as the crow flies we were right next to it, the path took a detour of about five kilometres, so we went by car. Arriving at the bottom, the rock is incredibly impressive. It is a limestone column about forty metres high with a tiny church on the summit. To get up, there is a metal ladder hanging from the stone that gives you vertigo just looking at it. They say a hermit monk lives up there. Certainly, climbing that is harder than getting me to like bath time, and for a dog with four legs, I don’t even need to tell you; visitors don't have it easy to get permission, either.

We left the sacred rock and headed straight to Chiatura. This city is one of the most curious things I have ever sniffed. It is tucked into a deep valley and is famous for its manganese mines. Before heading down, we stopped at a viewpoint and then at a huge Soviet monument, the Chiatura Memorial, dedicated to the Second World War, with gigantic stone figures looking out at the horizon.

Once down below, we parked and went to explore on foot. The most mind-blowing thing is the cable cars. In the fifties, they filled the sky with cables so that the miners could climb the cliffs without tiring themselves out. We saw many of those old, rusty cabins, which look like hanging matchboxes and are a bit scary, but also the new cable cars, which now function as modern public transport for the townspeople. The city has a total Soviet vibe that drives Daddy Edu mad.

After tramping around the centre, we drove up to the cable car station at the old Sanatorium. There, we visited the ruins of the old Palace of Pioneers (Pionertsa Sakhli), a huge building that was once for young communists and is now devoured by vegetation. On leaving Chiatura, we saw even more mining structures and abandoned cable cars, as well as a mining area that is still active and kicking up dust.

To finish the day, we took the route heading east. A good part of it was on a dual carriageway and we were quite surprised, because they are paved brilliantly and we didn't remember them like that from our trip three years ago. We drove past Gori without stopping, because we already know it from last time, and looked for a place to spend the night.

We stayed in the middle of nowhere, in a green field near the Kura river. The wind is blowing with tremendous force, but we are quite well protected. The map says the closest thing is a place called Kvakhvreli, but here there is only the camper, the river, and us. A perfect end to a day of exploration.