The Greater Caucasus in Azerbaijan is a wall of limestone and shale that rises abruptly from the Caspian lowlands, and at its heart lives one of the oldest and most isolated communities in the country. The Khinalig people speak a language found nowhere else, farm and herd at over two thousand metres, and live in stone houses with flat roofs that sit so close together that you can walk from one yard to the next across the rooftops. The village is among the highest permanently inhabited places in Europe, and in winter the snow can cut it off for days.
Shamakhi is an ancient town, once the capital of the Shirvan khans and a famous centre of silk and wine, and it keeps a large Friday mosque, an observatory on a nearby hill with a good view of the night sky, and a hillside of old domed tombs. The road toward the mountains leaves the plain in gentle curves and then climbs into wooded valleys where the air changes, the temperature drops and the smell of pine and woodsmoke takes over.
Riding conditions change quickly with altitude. Lower roads are paved and generally fine, with the odd pothole and a lot of sheep, while upper roads can be steep, narrow and patched, with long drops at the edge and no barrier worth the name. The weather is a serious factor. Mist, rain and sudden storms are common, even in summer, and from late autumn the high road can be snow-covered or icy. Late May to early October is the usual window. Early morning gives the clearest views of the high peaks, including Shahdag and Bazarduzu, the latter sitting above four thousand metres on the border with Russia.
Fuel and food are best taken in Shamakhi, a town of about thirty thousand people twenty-two kilometres away, since the hamlets in the hills have little more than basic shops and tea. In the villages, bread, cheese, honey and strong black tea are served with a hospitality that can make you late for the next stop. Carry a warm layer, enough water, and a map that works offline, because mobile signal disappears in the valleys.