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!!)
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