but aside from being russia's second lympics city sochi is also one of the country's most popular tourist destinations people flock here for the long hot summer as the spacious beaches and the warm seas busk if you're looking for more than just a time it's also an area filled with some amazing natural highlights. so i've been spending a lot of so i'm in the city but off in the mountains there's the caucasus was a which is literally the size of finland so i've met up with one very experienced. and when you are off on a bench. it's fair to say that if you're driving up here then you're in for a bumpy ride so you might be lucky and find some tama but mostly it's just to try

to brooks fortunately alexei's wonderfully named wozzeck is up to the top. last month a live look much to suspend still miss the seconds and. we have gone up and down to crash the blasts. still going. to the cost of a full. use of it so. just a couple of days in the caucuses reserve had what my appetite for the mountains the biosphere here is filled with unique flora and fauna as 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. time on the blue one.

to get into the forest we needed to cross the nearby river but a long pause like these you need to be careful where you put in the wheels. on the. problems of. simple he's. excesses so the thing you have. to hold. and once we were open rolling it was time to head across the also. a bit wide. we're going to avoid foley and. this is. alex a work says the head of a conservation and knows almost everyone based in the coax is 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 filson take this means you've got a lot to do considering that the group is very small the season is almost over shall we help out of course sure. help is always welcome. it was great to eat some real food after a long ride i'm lending a hand in the field seem like the least we could do. take quite a lot of this place and that includes several hungry horses so the more hay we collect now. ship enough to see them all through the winter. right how much balance off could and.

i'm sure a couple of hours we've gathered a mini mountain and ranger 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'm on 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. here i thought. it. was all going to go out his role the spirits had 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 river spring the 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 sports up here in the mountains and various. companies offer trips down the river and extra crew to make up the numbers and it certainly helps with the public. 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 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 or the bottom of the cliff but prepared for the ascent. of the a couple of clothes before this is particularly steep. losses got me through

everything so. put my faith and again. first attempts to exactly inspire confidence. that it's a done this before he's having a bit of trouble and what needs. to . be. are you coming ok here goes nothing. let's see how far we will get out. it seems to do this well you have to have an. credibly strong finger it's as it's impossible with the whole hand otherwise it can be a very painstaking process but after some long breaks and the old cut and bruise we

made it to the polls above. well we've made it to the top. broken. which is a feeling sore. my shoulders. but. i don't know if. 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 started to even after bit thankfully it's been really tough so far it's the spacing. because i think it's all going to be worth it.

this trail is 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 the least i can do is do my bit for the national park. all the 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 kid you bring your own tent. she's going to try to get her out quickly before the weather changes. great.

fortunately we 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 gray caucasian mountain bees to be precise the makers 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 their residents are incredibly well behaved. that's the first time i've ever seen anybody open a hive and not use smoke. and 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 honey bees.

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. to share it with. an 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 bears today 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 i. don't want to meet any hungry. take precautions. now let's add some meat. when you camping there's always room for more calories and who can resist chicken from a can. that moment's everything because they skid. and after just four or five minutes on the boil it was time to dig in. james under full over. this is porridge or soup bowl or i don't know what exactly to call it it doesn't matter. 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 up and seat. provided and some for me. so how is it. when one of the actually surprisingly tasty i haven't eaten about eight out of. it was completely exhausted and with darkness closing in i was ready to crawl into my sleeping bag and just hope that alexei didn't smell too much.

in the in. the in. the in when the the. the in. with.

the. the international airport in the very heart of moscow. with another long day ahead in the caucasus reserved aleksei was keen to get going shortly after sunrise and i sleepily wondered down to a nearby street. for. morning.

very misty mountain day. and told me to try and wake up. and that. will certainly do the trick for. plants in 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 subtropical south the lucky russians actually have the climate that they can grow themselves this is the much 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

the plants 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 the man who's 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 taste is part of what we're going to try. of course or one of it's a little bit better because of the tan 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 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 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 you've got. to get out after that they're cooled by this ventilator they are. going to be then they're weeded out of. it but then they're dumb to be into

a roller 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 energised 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 was that 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 attempt 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 graced 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 weather was better go ahead but 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. is a 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. i have absolutely no. sign of civilized way of getting it's 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. i j that is a very good to know so i was thinking am i 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 in one place like. james looking has lived and worked in russia for more than fifteen years and he's turned his pandya into one of the area's most populous. but it's not always been easy the retreat didn't work because people will include russia they want to come on holiday to

drink. and you know barbecue specially so their idea of sharing teaching and walking in the mountains you know it wasn't very. good 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 push is one hundred degrees celsius more than two hundred foreign oil the process is all about getting rid of the body's impurities stiffening the system and having the man tell me and hold it. in this little piece and doesn't tell me. the whole experience is very intense and feels more like a tribal ritual than a sponsorship but if you find yourself getting into lightheaded there's a sure way to wake you up again.

body and soul. spitzer was less. fortunately the pain is temporary and they have an extremely original recovery method. this really felt. 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 jane

wanted something. that they are. told so this is actually see i bring back from england the time i travel the. winds. of course. enjoying. it was an eccentric but wonderfully relaxing end to my trip into the reserve the scenery up 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.

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