A few hours drive south of Tbilisi, along the Azerbaijani border are a series of incredible 6th Century caves. The monastery of David Gareji was expanded over many years and is filled with 12th century frescoes and Soviet period graffiti. An incredible place, overlooking the semi-desert on the border between these two countries.
In support of a Cerebral Perfusion study for Dr. Chris Imray, I spent 22 hours in a hypoxic chamber breathing 12% oxygen to simulate ~4000m altitude. It was a night of strong headaches and restlessness, accompanied by a good dose of vomiting for my partner Jamie. I also spent around 4.5 hours in an MRI machine over the course of the study, which produced lots of great pictures of my brain and the blood vessels within.
...just! To compensate for a Saturday spent in t-shirts in the sun, we had an early start and soloed Central Trinity up to Snowdon. There was still plenty of snow, and a tasty piece of ice just next to the bottom of Left-hand Trinity. By the time we summited, the mist was back and we hurried down over the top of Lliwedd for breakfast.
What a bloody brilliant piece of rock Dinas Cromlech is. Basking in the sunshine, myself and Steve started on Sabre Cut before heading around towards Noah's Warning. However, after a short nap in the sun at lunch turned into a much longer rest we decided that was enough and headed down. I don't think the views across Snowdon have been this good in months.
