much of this is spin spin on this the seconds and. we have going up and down to crash the blasts. still go. up it's. just a couple of days in the caucuses reserve. it's only for the mountains the biosphere here is filled with unique flora and fauna some of the best hiking trails in the country. but getting to them wasn't going to be easy especially as there are plenty of places that even the wozzeck can't go. james take this one place it'll be my bike. i'm on the blue one. to get into the forest we need to cross the nearby river but a long road at paul's like these you need to be careful where you're putting your wheels. on the.

problems of. simple he's pretty easy to puncture. and excesses of everything you have. to do to hold. and once we were up and rolling it was time to head across the also . the bit lloyd. we're going to avoid fully and. this is. alex a work says the head of a conservation knows almost everyone based in the coaxes national reserve he gets to go home most nights but they're all forest rangers that live here with their families three hundred sixty five days a year and their little enclave was on a stone. the rangers are here to police the reserve and keep it as unspoilt as possible. and even though it's still late summer they're already preparing for the

winter. the area comes a total of fifty four thousand take to us that means we got a lot to do considering the group is very small the season's almost over shall we help out of course we're here and sure. help is always welcome. it was great to eat some real food after a long ride and lending a hand in the field seemed like the least we could do. take quite a lot of this place and that includes several hungry horses the more hay we collect now. ship enough to see them all through the window. right how much i can balance my focus i could and. i'm sure a couple of hours we gathered a mini mountain and range alexander took us off to collect all reward we still had

a fair way to go and i was pleased to have someone else doing the hard work. ok in the stirrups. so i won but here. which i guess means that i like says on sunday. hoping that it should make going up the hills a little easier anyway oh boy. was all going to go out his roll the spirited mountain to control we rode off into the forest. got the calm one here the pulse here can be a little treacherous and i was glad to have alexander leading the way down to the water's edge. we managed to cross over but with the pathway getting narrower alexander was forced to turn back with the horses and alexei and i were on foot again but not for long. we're way past the ms

into rivers spring a high point but the water here is still fairly blowing so alex and i going to need something quite sturdy we're going to get down in one piece and i think. that mission do the trick nicely. as i'm. ranting is one of the most popular summer schools up here in the mountains and various. companies offer trips down the river and extra crew to make up the numbers well it certainly helps with the paddling. but it wasn't exactly white water as you can probably tell because of the fact that i'm still dry but we made it with down here and now. we get to tackle

the cliffs themselves. i was expecting a nice hike up in the reserve and apparently one does exist you just have to climb up to it. but i'm worried about. is that this is supposed to be the easy. grabbing a helmet and harness from the group at the bottom of the cliff but prepared for the ascent. going to a couple of close before this is particularly steep. hill has got me through everything so. i'm going to put my faith and that's again. first attempts didn't exactly inspire confidence. and that's

a term that's for sure he's having a bit of trouble i might need some. day . are you coming your way here goes nothing. let's see how far we will get up. it seems to do this well you have to have an. credibly strong fingers as it's impossible. with the whole hand otherwise it can be a very painstaking process but after some long breaks and the old cotton brews we made it to the polls above. well we've made it to the top.

broken. feeling sore. my shoulders say but. i'm annoyed. i. finally we have mountains all around us and a clear road ahead and i could start our trek into the middle of the reserve we still had a long climb in front of us but at least it wasn't vertical this time. the trails just stuffs it to even out of it like it's been really tough so far it's the spacing. because i think it's all going to be worth it. this trail has only been created in the last few years and it's made the tough journey up into the reserve considerably easier meaning more people have

a chance to enjoy it but there's still plenty of work going on up here to make the area more welcoming for tourists. something like a four hour hike into the mountains followed immediately by some construction work but as kindly guiding me up here three i think the least i can. do my bit for the national. building is done using ecologically friendly material and the team up here are busy creating two new houses for those visitors who prefer not to sleep out in the elements but for now. it's a case that if you want a decent kip you bring your own tent. she's going to try to get her out quickly before the weather changes. great. fortunately we've brought a modern tent with us and it was only a few minutes before everything was staked out and ready to go.

home sweet have. time to think. it wasn't exactly going to be haute cuisine but as long as it was hot and there was plenty of it it was fine by me. here take this you can warm up with some tea. i recommend drinking it with some honey from our local bees because it's naturally effective. in the meantime i was enjoying a brew with a good dollop of honey and it's a bit of a local specialty here. the reserve is full of beautiful flowers like these and

that means millions of be nice grey caucasian mountain bees to be a site. of the tastiest honey. in the region. has been a beekeeper in this beautiful spot for more than twenty five years and has dozens of hives in her back garden and the residents are incredibly well behaved. that's the first time i've ever seen anybody open a hive and not use smoke. told me that the bees were quite friendly and it. seems to be the case. the bees are perfectly adapted for the mountain flowers and supposedly have the longest tongues of all honeybees. all of them serving her majesty the queen. breeds the queen specially and uses them to start new hives here and across the region. the highly prolific and it doesn't

take the workers long to produce a honeycomb like this just don't expect them to give it up easily. or in energy the honey was a great start but i was ready for my main course. there are many wild animals out here. we could even see the day for lucky. they might come to our tent even. because there aren't any berries. for food because there hibernation is. so let's not leave

any empty cans. to meet and. take precautions. let's have some meat. when you camping there's always room for more calories and who can resist chicken from a. moment's everything's going to taste good. and after just four or five minutes on the boil it was time to dig in. jim's hundred pull over. this is porridge or soup or i don't know what exactly to call it. we just need to eat it up with food we eat out here needs to be filling with lots of calories so you have plenty of energy to. get all uppity. and some for me.

so how is it. that anything about eight out of. it was completely exhausted and with closing in i was ready to crawl into my sleeping bag and just took that alexei didn't smell too much.

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should. see him. with another long day ahead in the caucasus reserve aleksei was keen to get going shortly off to sunrise and i sleepily wandered down to a nearby street. for. morning. very misty mountain day. told me to try and wake up.

and that. will certainly do the trick oh. lots and a decent cup of tea of course and around here it has to be some of the local brew. one thing that the russians and the british certainly share is a great love of tea and here in the sub tropical south the lucky russians actually have the climate that they can grow themselves this is the tea plantation and it will be hard to believe that it's the biggest in the country it's been here since the late one nine hundred forty s. but the whole operation was restored and modernized back in two thousand and six blocks themselves are extremely robust and able to survive winter temperatures which can drop below freezing but they have to be harvested carefully and one man

who knows all about that has worked in the tea business all his life. with this not . just the tips that the we make green tea from these leaves why don't you try some of the best and very healthy the healthiest and tasty is part of what we're going to try. of course when. it's a little bit better because of the turn and. i think i prefer mine in a cup. becoming an expert tea pick it takes time and experience but they're always looking for new recruits. each plant has to be harvested up to eleven times a season they certainly entity jewel. like of us come out of one of these issues in your absolutely so you can see why you need these sort of clothes but. when you

think what about whole way each one of these sacks weighs around forty kilos and they're delivered daily to the new processing plant. is part of all the load from the fields and we going to see how it's turned into the sea. might seem works only automated production line and that's a two man job. plus the boat but if. they hear they go to the steamer the temperature is ninety degrees to get up but if you got. in you know after that they're cooled by this ventilator. which is then they're weeded out of. it but then they're dumb to winter older which whips them. what they teach on the tealeaves then subject it

to easing with. the results look a bit like this. the process to use send to the packing factory and it's ready for the show. that is the team making process from start to finish that will the remains is for me to sample the goods myself. and i have to say that drinking mountain tea in the mountains takes particularly good and enjoys to alex and i packed up and settle for again ready to make our way right into the center of the reserve. bank of james check this place out. it's very interesting because it is here about the russians german troops operating in the mountains i was that young that was during world war two otherwise known in this country is the great patriotic war. the germans were aiming to break through to the black sea and seize its oil deposits there. the fighting in the mountains

was a tough job considering the local terrain around us. that there weren't any tourist routes back them. and nearby was some considerably older landmarks. or the you more these stone structures might well date back a thousand years people began breeding livestock here in the tenth century shepherds use these structures as shelters if these twelve ruins are anything to go by a dozen shepherds would stay here at a time while their animals grazed up in the mountains or. as we moved forward into the mists we passed on the travellers making their way towards camp and they told us we were close to an oasis. you can swim here.

thinking about having a swim. every few weather was better go ahead. it's not cold. this is the round lake it's fed by six surrounding springs and it's clear waters team with wildlife that is you know this lake formed as a result of glaziers making depressions in the ground it's likely to be hundreds of thousands or even millions of years old. and just beyond its banks there's a view that's worth all the effort it takes to get here. so i said i want to see the most beautiful parts of the mountains and i think definitely counts it might have taken on with the bay of walking on

a pretty uncomfortable night and finally made it right at the heart of the course there. isn't been an amazing journey but i wasn't relishing the thought of lugging my pack down the mountain on foot but one of sorties a limb. development's was about to come to my rescue. obviously you know. to find a civilized way of getting. about the best thing. in the last twenty. and. i said goodbye to alexei and prepared to head down back to the city of sochi but before i did i thought i deserved a little or no the only thing that i want to do now is steal away my aches and pains in the banya or the bath house and it's probably one of the most russian thing you can do. or in this case is it.

l.o.l. i mean it's the british band yeah that's right can i come in thank you very much. that is a very good now so i was thinking i'm going to see pictures of the queen on the wall the old cricket bat here in there so what's british about the british. while leaving only very british and. the to do with the fact that it's like a british tradition to get. them everywhere in one place like. james looking has lived and worked in russia for more than fifteen years and he's turned his banja into one of the area's most popular spot but it's not always been easy to retreat didn't work because people into russia they want to come on holiday to drink. and you know barbecue especially so their idea of vegetarian teaching and walking in the mountains you know it was very. well but in the end we built

a body in the banya works and it all went from there. and as i went away to get changed the first room was heated up well wait and see what. the temperature inside the banya pushes one hundred degrees celsius more than two hundred foreign oil the process is all about getting rid of the bodies impurities stiffening the system and having the man tell me and hold it. and it'll be saying that some chemical. the whole experience is very intense and feels more like a tribal ritual than a sponsor but if you find yourself getting into light headed there's a sure way to wake you up again. body and soul.

space was that's all it's. fortunately the pain is temporary and they have an extremely original recovery method. the story said. ok so being covered with honey beaten with sticks and then boiled in a large pot might not be traditionally british but some things never change so they wanted something. so

this is actually a cd i bring back from england. when i travel the. winds. of course. she is. enjoying. it was an eccentric but wonderfully relaxing end to my trip into the reserve the scenery out here is incredible and a stark contrast to the bustling city a short distance below it is another side of sochi that no one should miss. dangerous experiments on prisoners they want to make money and they have these

healthy guinea pigs in the regular society and i label be used prisoners i mean they wish they could. drug tests on human guinea pigs. hate to deadly pills to get in some way he was killed. he didn't pass away and let him die. is pharmacy really about helping people.

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