Russian efficiency

Another early start - leaving camp at 6:30 meant we were at the border around 7am, a very efficient, and modern Kazak border and we were through within the hour - looking good !

Then we headed for the rough barrier marking the Russian side of no mans land. And we queued, and we waited. And we waited, and we waited. Lovely place (ahem) no shade,infact no nothing! A few bikes went through to the Russian passport control, but we remained queued up. At about 1pm we got let into the Russian passport control, where we were stamped into the country, then we entered the long process to get the bikes temporarily imported. By 3pm we were out of the border and into the insurance shop to purchase bike insurance - £16 for 12 months road insurance.

So, finally into the Russian Altai - woohoo.

The first town we entered - Rubtsovsk, was really pretty grim, and rough town full of dilapitdatd apartment blocks, knackered roads, and even more knackered cars. The clouds were black, and we experienced only the 2nd downfall of the trip - and boy did it rain. The knackered roads filled with muddy water, but we ploughed on. Almost on the outskirts of town the rain stopped, and we were onto perfect tarmac roads across wheat fields. In fact, for the next 200 miles we kept on the same road, travelling through the same enormous wheat fields, until we closed in on Barnaul.

On the outskirts of Barnaul, we came up behind an estate car containing 5 skin head blokes, the front passenger was waving around a revolver, pointing it out of the window into the fields, the car weaved behind a truck, until it undertook on the gravel verge. Needless to say we hung back, and let him go his own way.

Finally in Barnaul, we quickly located 'Hotel Barnaul' and grim loooking, huge communist hotel. Lucklily it was far more pleasant on the inside. Again with hotel receptionists on each of the 12 floors - another kick back from communist times.

So, rest day, to check the bikes over before the long haul across Mongolia, and a restock for food, and general supplies.

No more updates unil Ulaan-Baatar....

Soaring eagles over the Kazak Steppe

Today was always going to be a long day - we made it longer to try and ease the passage over the Russian border, so 760km over the Kazak Steppe was the plan.

For miles and miles across the Kazak Steppe we were swooped by soaring eagles - impressive;

Amongst the vastness there were only a handful of settlements;

a large number of dried lakes but the the odd lake was a welcome site;

The road became rougher and rougher, with plenty of big bumps to catch the unwary, and indeed the KTM pannier racks suffered, luckily a roadside garage was available to attempt (ahem) to weld the offending break.

Only one police incident today (!), whilst chasing the other Tenere Team across the steppe I was flashed by a couple of comedy coppers in a dilapidated Lada police car. The car slide to a halt in the dust on the opposite side of the road and swung a U-turn behind me. I upped the pace to 95 kph and lost them :-) It came to light later, that the 'Blues Brothers' were flashing over bikers, just to say hello. Oops.

Pressing ontowards the Russian border and we came across the largest town we had seen in several days - a horrible industrial town called Semey;

Within reach of the Russian border, we located a lovely campsite in the sandy pine woods. Tim timed a tumble almost perfectly to avoid cooking - but we all saw through the flaky facade.

So, tomorrow a Russian border crossing - place your bets as to how long it will take (and how much it will cost!!)

The Kazak interior

After messing around for an hour and a half trying to get Kazak temporary residency registration at the hotel (required for exit from Kazakstan), we got cracking across the Kazak interior. It was a breath of fresh air to see the Kazak enjoying 'proper' recreation - jetski's, offroad trail riding and lot's of camping by lakesides. A quick stop for a coke break, and we spotted the local takeaway delivery driver;

Continuing though the interior, over small hill ranges and plains, there were a handful of small villages straddling the road;

After a couple of hours, we pulled over at a yurt-cafe, for shashlik.

Eventually,we pulled over at the designating camp, and were soon met by 3 Germans who were travelling a similar route but in the opposite direction;

Finally, we located a camp by the river;

Charyn Canyon

After a great night out with our new DHL friend Almira - who went beyond the job role to get our tyres through customs, we awoke bright and early for a trip to Charyn Canyon;

Unfortunately (or fortunately) we spotted a cracked weld on one of the Motech pannier frames - so we took all the pannier frames off and left them with the hotel reception, with a note for Ian and John to try and get them welded for us - cheers!

So, a little later than anticipated we headed off for the canyon, on approach the view was a scaled down Grand Canyon;

The big difference being that we could ride the bikes into the canyon - the descent into the canyon was rather hairy - especially on tall trail bikes - Tim was on hand to help Caroline down (as he wisely decided not to attempt the descent on the bike 1200 BMW);

Once in the canyon, we forgot about the ascent we would have to attempt, and enjoyed the scenery;

With the heat in the canyon increasing, we returned for the big climb out;

Wern went first, and with the help of long legs, made it out with minimal effort, old stumpy legs here managed about 80% to the top, and then lost traction, but with a helping hand got to the top. Scott and Caroline made a sterling attempt, and with some pushing and pulling we got everyone to the top;

On arrival back at the hotel, we were welcomed with 3 sets of newly welded pannier frames - top effort !

So, now we start the 3 day wildnerness ride North through Kazakstan, and into Russia.

Kazakstan - a new world

A realtively straight forward border crossing from Krygystan to Kazakstan - in fact you could see the petrol station and cafe in Kazakstan from the Krygy side - there was an almost non-existant no-mans land.

So, onto the road - and bliss - smooth tarmac, speed limit signs, and good driving - just like being in Europe. In fact over the 200km journey from the border to Almaty, I could count the number of Lada's on one hand, and certainly no ex-soviet rust buckets. The vast majority of cars on the roads are similar to what you would see anywhere in western Europe - I guess the black gold has been good to Kazakstan. Although similar black gold is available to the Turkemistan people, I guess that gold was converted into communist white marble and gold extravagance.

The ride through Kazakstan (although only about 50km in a parallel from the ride from Bishkek to Issy Kul) was totally different to the Bishkek to Issy Kul, the Krygy side was green and full of villages, the Kazak side of the mountain range was brown and deserted;

Fewer police checks and no hidden speed checks in Kazakstan (hoorah), although I did manage to get a warning from a police road check as I'd been caught in the radar trap at 33kph in a 20kph limit - you try riding at 20kph; I almost needed outriggers to keep the bike upright!!

Approaching Almaty, the now familiar snow capped mountains loom over the city.

Running the police gauntlet to Issy Kul

With a slight delay getting the visa's for Kazakstan, we would be detained in Bishkek for another couple of days.

So, time for some repairs - Caroline's pannier frame weld had broken (no idea why ;-) ), so it was off to find a local welder;

A quick gander through Bishkek to admire the sights;

We decided to head off to a 'Beach Resort' on Lake Issy Kul for a change of scenery, on route out we spotted this 'house' being built - out of shipping containers;

The 160km route from Bishkek to Issy Kul was a mission, avoiding speed traps - whilst not really knowing what the speed limits where (not many speed signs). We opted to follow local cars at their speed, so imagine our surprise when we got pulled for speeding - after a good old argument, and getting the copper to speed check some other vehicles (which he did not stop), we were allowed on our way - without paying a fine.

Others in the group were also stopped with varying degrees of success.

Once at the beach resort - we attempted to 'fit in';

After hi-de-hi time, a few beers, a bikini photo shoot (don't ask!!) and a good nights sleep. We returned along same road back to Bishkek. On the return leg, I counted 10 speed traps - some more sneaky than others. Again we used the tactic of hanging behind local cars - several of them getting pulled for speeding - the last one we followed that got pulled, also tryed to pull us over, but a 'heads left' meant we didn't see (ahem) the officer trying to wave us over - success !!

A gruelling day of avoiding the police, but I guess good practice for Kazakstan and Russia !!

Lake SomKul - 3200m

As soon as the sun began to rise, and the temperature began to rise, it was time to get up and get going (although, not until John had his early morning swim - brrrr);

The ride around the lake was something else, fantastic trails on the surprisingly agile bikes and jaw dropping scenery - what more could you ask for;

All too soon, we returned to the gravel trail for the ride back to the road, and eventually to Bishkek.

Next stop, Kazakstan...

Peaking at 3200m

Leaving bright and early we had a 100km gravel track ride towards Lake SomKul, it was not an incident free ride...

First John had an off on his Tenere, the engine guard protected the water pump, but still caused a small crack in the clutch case - remedied overnight with chemical metal. Then Dave suffered a sheared subframe bolt, leaving his rear fuel tank, seat, panniers and topbox precariously hanging of the footrest mounts.

Then, on the long decent down, we came across a local in a car who had cracked his sump on a rock, so whilst Dave replaced his sheared bolt with some bush-manufactured replacements, we set about repairing the locals sump with chemical metal;

Once all repairs were done, we had a quick wash and a bite to eat;

So, the long climb from 1800m to 3200m to Lake SomKul;

The trek along the lakeside (although marked as a road) turned quickly from trail to cattle trail;

But we soon located somewhere suitable to camp, then the race was on, to get food cooked before the sun went down;

And when it went down, boy was it cold;

By the time we had finished eating, the temperature had dropped to 3degC, and with a complete lack of firewood, there was little left to do, except go to bed.