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2002 Baltic-Baikal Tour |
2002
Балтийский-Байкалский
Тур |
Contents:
It could have started better. Affi arrived yesterday from Gothenburg furious over the fact that in Sweden he could not transport his bike on neither trains or busses. So he arrived with no bike, just all his bags, hoping that Mia in Gothenburg in some miraculous way would be able to get his bike on a train today (Monday), and she made it! Apparently it was her irresistible charm which made the SJ Transport apparatchik bend the rules enough to get the bike to Stockholm around 1600. Which meant we had just about enough time – we were supposed to be at the ferry point at Stockholm free port latest at 1700...
Wonderful biking day, but I had to little time to enjoy it. I finished packing my bags at 0230 same morning and went up at 0600 to change tyres, handlebar and stänkskydd, waking up before the alarm bell, apparently all too excited about to get going! (does not happen every day, for sure!) After a final visit to a bicycle shop I met Affi on Strandvägen and we made the last few km to the port together. At last we are going and there is no need to feel stressed about all those things that I just had to do before leaving – now it is too late anyway! Fredrik, that might join us later in June for part of the trip, came down to the ferry from his office nearby. We all met yesterday at a pub with others from last summer’s Russian course in St Petersburg, talking Russia experiences and biking plans.
The boat trip was rather unexciting. After parking the bikes on car deck, where the Estonian staff advised us better to lock them to a big metal fence, we stuffed our 10 bike bags into the minimal cabin and went straight to the sauna. After the sauna, some food from the sort-of-Swedish smorgasbord and lots of sleep to regain from yesterday, there was now problems falling asleep (well, Affi doesn’t have such problems anytime/anywhere).
I just say one word: cykelvägar! We could not believe our eyes after passing the customs at the Tallinn ferry port, as there are real separate bicycle “roads” parallel to the normal road! So, around ten o’clock we pedalled our way up from the port to Vana Tallinn, the old town. Of course I have been there quite a few times in the mid 90’s when I was living in Riga, but since Affi had not, we decided to take half a day of sightseeing before taking off towards Riga. We checked the usual places, the view from above the old town, where the Alexander Nevsky cathedral stands opposite the presidential palace in the old town.
It seems that the Estonian road administration (or whoever) has decided that bicycling is something that should be promoted, so even if there are not cykelvägar all over the country, there are bicycle routes along the roads, with separate neat little signs pointing out alternative directions and distances to various places. And sure, as expected the countryside is excellent for biking, as flat as one could wish. The greatest upward hill after two days of biking is still the road up to the Alex Nevsky cathedral, overlooking Old Tallinn, which is not a big one. Great weather doesn’t make it worse.
It took some time to get out of Tallinn and finding the right way., but once we did we made our first 66 km quite quickly. We chose not take the originally planned shortest route to Riga, because we will have to wait for Affi’s visa in Riga until the 16th anyway, so we have plenty of time. Furthermore, Adam told us that there are major road remonts between Pärnu and the Estonian-Latvian border, which we would probably want to avoid (which mean that the maps on this website are not totally accurate anymore, at least not the Tallinn-Riga leg). Instead we chose the inland route through Viljandi.
The hills of Kärksi-Nuia are definitely worse than any in Tallinn! Fortunately the city is small and we just stopped for lunch at a so called “cafe” eating the third Solyanka soup and some kind of “kotlet” in as many days, while trying to avoid conversations with the Estonian drunkards at the next table. According to our maps the border crossing should be some 20 km south of the town. People told us that the road up to the borders was not too good, but after the border there should be asphalt. Ok, still better than going all the way to the next border point, we thought. What we didn’t know was the this border point was only for locals, i.e. Estonians and Latvians, so at the border village of Lilli, we had to turn around going eastward on sand roads to Törva, where we stayed in a decent Bed & Breakfast for 200 Estonian kroon per person.
Affi started worrying for a bite on his leg, which could have been from a tick, so he went to the hospital in Valka, which we reached at noon. No problems it seemed and they even knew some English. After having lunch we crossed the modern border crossing for cars and saw a little of the Latvian half of the same town before continuing on amazingly flat roads towards Valmiera. I started to feel some pain in my left foot. Normally I would never worry about this, but normally I am not on long biking holidays and the last thing I would wish would be to have a bad foot stopping us this early on the tour. I tried to take it easy with the foot but problems increased. We had dinner in Valmiera in the evening and then continuing 23 km just to reduce tomorrow’s distance, when we expect to reach Riga.
Except for the foot there are no major problems. I had expected worse physical problems (tired legs, sore bum, etc
Even if my foot was not too bad, it was still there and slowly getting worse. We made 14 km together to Straupe, but there I decided to take the bus the last 72 km, from Straupe to Riga, not wanting to make the risk of making the injury worse. I really did not want to give in, but there is no use to be stupid, forcing it when the body says no. Affi continued alone and reached Riga in the early afternoon.
Adam and Ilze welcomed us to their home and we hope we did not violate their hospitality too much by staying longer than expected until 17th of May. We had a well needed rest and were able to buy all those things that we during the last four days realised that we forgot to bring, mainly bicycle things. A very well supplied bicycle shop was just near where we stayed.
I am really worried about my foot. The rest is great and I have been consulting Adams doctor, as well as Dr Johanna in Nora. Resting is the only thing of course, but how much is necessary? I made a little city tour on bike today (16th) and it feels ok. There is something there, not very painful and if I were at home not planning any physical exercise I would not worry one second. Affi will get his visa today and we have decided to leave tomorrow.
Notable increase of speed the first 50 km from Riga, after those 6 days of rest. I feel surprisingly little in the foot, but I make an effort not to apply too much force. We started celebration of 17th of May (Norwegian National Day) before noon with some shots of Linie Akvavit, at a bus stop called Zeltini in the forest south of river Daugava. Just wonder why anyone would want to take the bus to that place... Continuing during the afternoon we encountered the first rain of the trip. The rain gear worked fine and we continued to Jaunjelgava and then crossed Daugava again to stop in the small town of Aizkraukle. Celebrations continued well into the night in a Aizkraukle bar with locals (celebrating the start of the weekend, rather than the 17th, I guess).
Great tailwind most of the day, but chilly. Since leaving Riga I have used the left foot with less force, but also in an angle which is not the ‘normal’ one. I’m afraid that I might have problems with other parts of the foot or the right leg, which I use substantially more. I do feel some signs of this already. Or maybe I just worry too much? I can’t help thinking about it almost all the time. It would certainly be a major disappointment if I would have to break this early.
Tried to find a pharmacy in Jekabpils where Affi could his second shot of ticks vaccine. Closed for the day. Continued 12 km and were too lazy, putting up the tent just 50 m from the main road and close to the railway too.. Slept well anyway.
Chilly morning outside Jekabpils when we woke up at 7 am (exceptionally, but we went to bed at 2000). Nice tailwind today, as well. My foot seems to be ok, but I must admit that I do worry much about it. We arrived in Rezekne at 1500, but Affi could not find what he wanted at the pharmacy here either. Tomorrow we will probably cross the border. Since we are on the main road between Riga and Moscow we should not have to turn around, like at the last border
Just some kilometres after leaving Rezekne Affi gets the first flat tyre of the trip, which is quickly repaired. We arrive at Zilupe, the border town, were we have our last Latvian meal. Well, it does not seem very Latvian, as almost everyone here are native Russian speakers. I’m surprised to find a Soviet monument here (hammer an sickle, but could not understand what it was about), as must such have been removed in Latvia. The road is fine, beginning to be less flat than before.
We arrive at the border towards 2100 and the procedures takes only an hour, since we were allowed to pass all the cars and the half-kilometre with trucks. No hassles, just curious questions of what this biking is about. Several told us that this was the first time “velosipedisti” crossed this border point. Russia is one time zone earlier, so it is already after 2300 when getting through. We have to go on for some kilometres since we assume that the Russians might be touchy about setting up a tent too near to it. We find a good place after 7 km. It is close to the road, but very little traffic at this time.
Affi had another flat tyre before noon, same place as yesterday.
We missed the first village on our map, but realise it too late so we continue biking without breakfast for a total of 40 km, until we reach the small town of Idritsa (first Lenin statue of the trip here). We continued on an alternative road, which turned out to be a sand road about 7 km. This time it had not been raining, but it was still pretty slow. We had been planning to continue south same day from the small Pustoshka, which is on the junction of the roads Riga-Moscow and the road to St Petersburg. However, we ended up drinking with an Estonian-Russian driver who also stopped over here, so instead of risking our lives getting out of town and put up the tent, we opted for the local hotel. As expected, no hot water. I just loved the name of the town Pustoshka = diminutive form of the word Pustota, meaning emptiness => little emptiness… almost poetic!
Affi's chain breaks just before Nevel'. Repaired, but it continues to cause problems. We were not able to register with the OVIR in Nevel', which we are supposed to do latest today (3 days after entering the country). I doubt there will be any problems, but who knows. We should have asked the hotel staff in Pustoshka to do it, but forgot. The asphalt at the end of the day was quite bad (like Dalsland...).
Today we stopped twice to mark our first 1000 km since Tallinn. Since I went 70 km less than Tallinn (bus trip just before Riga), I had to wait until the afternoon. Both times with Linie Akvavit, the bottle started on 17th of May, and a photo session. 9000 to go…
Another two flat tyres makes Affi finally change both back tube and tyre. 134 km is longest so far on during one day.
We reached Smolensk early afternoon, since we did more than planned yesterday, both feeling that we need that planned 2-day rest here. Before entering town I had a great Garspacho at a road cafe. I would recommend it to anyone who happen to pass on the main Minsk-Moscow highway, where we were rolling a few km. Even Italianos would have loved it after a week of Russian village cafe food.
Friday-Saturday-Sunday were beautiful days. Saturday was apparently day for celebrating end of the school year and the whole town was full of pupils and students neatly dressed up, boys in whatever costume and all girls looked like the were waitresses in some top class cafe. We checked out the expected memorials from the big clashes here with Napoleon and Adolf in 1812 and 1943, statues of Kotuzov and (guess who) and of course the impressive Uspensky Cathedral. Nice town, but very very hilly. We met some students who showed us around, taking us for a walk up on the kreml (wall surrounding the city) with a great middle-of-the-night view on the city. A bit scary with no fences and big holes to fall in. They told us that the reason why many young people were so short was that after Chernobyl the authorities artificially caused a rainfall here (to avoid contaminating Moscow). Then they were laughing about the enormously big tomatoes that they used to have in the late 80’s. Compared with this the kreml didn’t seem so scary after all…
We tried to get internet access, but the local internet cafe was “temporary closed”.
One spoke of my back wheel breaks and I have to improvise, with great SMS support from Olle. We reach Roslavl, which seems to be an old sleepy town with a little monastery. There is no locker at the hotel, so we are allowed to take the bikes into our small room.
No good day. Affi changes to new chain, but some problems remain. The wind was against us (what is the opposite of tailwind in English?) and lots of hills, usually uphill. The surrogate spoke from yesterday broke after 70 km, while biking and I instinctively use my (front) hand break, causing me to "tryne" (Norwegian, meaning standing on my face) in the village of Peklino. It must have looked quite funny – the first thing I saw when raising from under my bicycle was a laughing Affi. Miraculously I just got some scratches and the bike seemed ok too. I fixed the spoke again, while we were chatting with the village kids and drinking a beer. Hopefully it will be ok until the next bike shop (wherever that might be...). Went just a few kilometres after Pelekino before stopping for today.
Long sleep until 0900. We sleep a lot. No doubt that none of us have slept as much during one month as we have done since we left for many years.
More south-eastern winds and hills made the 59 km to Bryansk a bit heavy. We arrived at 1400 after lunch in a nice Russian-Uzbek road cafe. Bike shops here have, as expected, limited supplies; no spoke of the right size. We did not bother to ask for tools and chain spare parts for Affi. I think Moscow is only possible place in the country, which can be reached over the day (i.e. not biking…)
Not much else to say about Bryansk, half million inhabitants, industrial town. Not bad, not very exciting either.
We left Bryansk in the late afternoon after lots of sleep, spare part search & internetting. A back wheel spoke broke for Affi later in the day!
What I was mostly worried about before leaving was the traffic, but actually it has not been to bad at all. Most drivers are reasonable. Of course some roads are more busy than others and sometime you just have to get out of the way onto the roadside, but usually the traffic is limited. The roads could have been worse too, but sure the are bad enough sometimes. I guess I just came here with rather low expectations and got positively surprised.
As expected, people are not exactly used to see bicycle tourists. Numerous times every day we questions about where and from where we are going and from where we are. They are not always sure if they should believe what we say or not. When just passing by a village it is quite often that people turn around and they look as if they wonder “what the h* was THAT?” Almost without exceptions people are really nice.
Fast morning despite quite bad asphalt, arriving 1440 in Oryol, city of Turgenev. Affi manages to fix his spoke with help of a tool from the local bike shop, but I still lack the right size.
It is a pleasant city, but I am sure it would have been more interesting if
I had read Turgenev or some of the other authors which are associated with this
literature-obsessed town.
Affi sick. Decision to wait with departure until he is well.
Extremely good road first 50 km, like a normal big Swedish country road. Second half of the day was more familiar, bad asphalt. I, as usual, suffering more than Affi from this because thinner tyres taking less of the bumps. They are surely easier and faster to pedal on good roads, but those are not so frequent here (but actually I had expected worse, so I don’t want to complain too much!).
Made it to Kursk at 1400, where we found another - somewhat understandably - war obsessed city, with monuments and memorials all over. Took a few photos and a few beers there before continuing towards Voronezh. Increasingly more hills to bike, making quite a difference for the legs.
Windy day and more hills made it a tough day. We also had bad luck with cafes and shops, so we only had one decent meal today before it started raining heavily in the afternoon, continuing all night. In Besedino there was no cafe either, but a tiny “magazin” (shop) where we were able to buy something to eat in the tent later (olives, sour gurkins, bread, beer, bananas and potato chips – not our usual fare!). After a few more rainy kilometres we hurried to set up the tent on the wet grass, changing out wet gear to dry night-dress before jumping down in the sleeping bags to have “dinner” and sleep.
Rain all night and whole days biking to Voronezh. Swedish national day isn’t celebrated like the Norwegian, but I still ordered a small bottle of Armenian Cognac at the cafe on the oblast road check point half way to Voronezh. We surely needed it, being totally soaked wet and cold, longing to get to a warm and dry hotel. One flat tyre each today didn't improve things (Affi’s just 6 km from Voronezh city centre). We argued if today and yesterday were the toughest days so far and probably it was (I had a few tough days in the beginning, basically because of not being fit enough, not because of road and weather)
Had a rest day in Voronezh, found a bike shop here, with impressive bikes and parts, but nothing for us expect new sunglasses to replace the ones I lost two days ago. We had a walk to a fine nuns’ monastery, visiting part of the afternoon sermon, including a beautiful female choir б (the sermon conducted by a male priest, of course). The evening we spent searching for a non-existent rock-club and ended up drinking late at night with (moto-)bikers in a street cafe.
Affi came to the hotel early in the morning after a long disco night (I left the bikers and went to sleep early), so after checking out too late we had a long afternoon bike repair session (including visiting the weekend car market, where bike parts are sold as well) and were finally able to leave town at 1800. We still managed to do 62 km, setting up the tent at 2330 in a rather dark place. We used the bike lights for the first time. Sun went down around 2200, being light another 30-40 minutes.
We woke up at 0800, 10 metres from a farmer doing his potato field. Luckily we had not put the tent on the actual field and they did not seem to mind (well, we didn’t really ask..). Three bananas for breakfast and we went off for our longest biking day so far, 171 km. Record distance this day, but we were not able to find Borisoglebsk entrance road at the main road where we came, so we went on in the dark finding a not so great mosquito-infested place. However, at 2300 there is no use to argue or continue searching for something that night be just as bad…
We stopped after 100 km at the only cafe in Novomakarovo to get something to eat, but we were informed by the Soviet-service-inspired staff that here was “nichevo njeto” (”not nothing) to eat. Unfortunately in Russian language double negatives do not indicate affirmative…
From Borisoglebsk we are on M6, the main Moscow-Volgograd-Astrakhan road, definitely better than most of last week's roads. They can sometimes be a bit tiresome, being the DDR-style 5x5 metres concrete blocks, not designed for neither bicyclists nor cars driving more than 70 km/h (well, I’m not sure they are from East Germany, but this was the first place I ever saw this kind of autobahn.
I had another broken spoke on the "wrong" side of the back wheel , which I cannot replace (lack of tool). Had to use a too long 'adjusted' spoke. Hope it will be ok until Fredrik comes from Sweden with tools and spare parts.
After lunch on a roadside cafe we had our second police check. A friendly police officer came up asking for “dokumenti”. After quickly checking Affi’s passport he asked the usual questions that we get 5-10 times every day, from where we are going, if it is all on bicycle to where and so on. Basically he was a nice guy and just curious. He ended with inviting us for vodka, but we told – not totally true – that we do not drink liquor during daytime, since we are ‘sportsmeni’ and it’s not good to drink and drive. He laughed, wished us good luck and assured us that he could drink three bottles of vodka and drive home with no problem at all! This is Russia.
Getting warm, around 26 degrees and plenty of sun. I like it. We had lunch in an old train wagon turned restaurant with air-con (!) and great lemonade and kvass just outside of it (second time this trip we eat in something reminding of Baghdad Cafe!).
Stopped for a few beers at a cafe not far from Volgograd and when finding out that I was Swedish the owner rushed me into the television to see the last five minutes of Sweden –Argentina (1-1), which brought the Swedish team to the next round and the South Americans back home.
Around 1900 we arrived in Volgograd. It was a great feeling as this has been one of the first main goals. We have surely looked forward to this day, as a milestone in our planning, as well as just for seeing thins interesting place at all.
We will leave with a two-day river cruise to Samara on Sunday and then continue to Ufa, which we should reach next weekend.
My bum has become increasingly bad the last few days. I am trying variation, biking partly with and partly without my gel seat cover. I have also tried oil, talk and tiger balm, but only resting seems to help. I should get a few days here in Volgograd and maybe it will be better when we continue from Samara on Tuesday.
Found a pizzeria with decent coffee!!
Had a sauna at our hotel and found out that I only lost 2-3 kg of weight since leaving Stockholm.
With midnight approaching and us just about to go home to Hotel Volgograd after an hour at a mosquito infested beer tent in the warm city centre, a local blonde asked us to join her to the disco at the riverside. I guess the place was not all to exciting, not even the male strip-tease, as Affi fell asleep and almost got thrown out because of it. Strange – otherwise they are quite tolerant of drunkards in this country (anyone who knows Affi probably knows he does not need any alcohol to fall asleep virtually anywhere…).
Really hot place – fortunately they make lots of good beers in the area!
Did some sightseeing, mainly war memorials and museums, including the impressive 72-metre high Mother Russia monument, memorial hall and honorary guard at Mamaev Kurgan. Quite interesting, but little else too see here if you’re not into war stuff. Nice town, stretching 75 km along the western shore of the river Volga. Being a “must” visit for any good communist during the 50 years after the war, the Russians apparently put lots of effort into rebuilding it. An entire wall at our hotel was covered with photos of well known people from all over (mainly, but not only, the commie) world who stayed there on their visit.
On Saturday (15th) we found a local bicycle club “Strannik”, 7-8 km out in the suburbs, where Volodya were kind enough to fix our wheel problems, give us new spokes and checking the rest of our bikes. Really great gut, who also followed us to the ferry to say bye on Sunday when leaving for Samara.
On Sunday morning when waiting for the ferry to let us board, we were surprised to meet another fellow volosipedist who obviously were about to take the same boat as ourselves. Thomas, a German with sustantial more experience than us, were going to Samara too and the planned to go over the Urals to Central Asia. He had gone 60000 km on that bike he had, but I failed to enquire during how long time. This time he came biking from Sudan, Egypt, Dubai, Iran and Turkey and were about to go to Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.
On the boat we met theatre group “Rok-opera” from St Petersburg, on tour to the cities along the Volga. We were invited to their Russian version of “Jesus Christ Superstar”, but could unfortunately not make their scheduled fit into ours. However, we did get to hear some of their singing, during late night drinking in Yura’s and Lena’s minimal cabin, not by them, but by their colleagues dropping in. Affi contributed with Norwegian song (don’t ask me what it was).
In Saratov we stopped four hours, which seemed to be enough. Had a morning stroll along the main shopping street, bought some fresh strawberries, cherries, an ice-cream and a bad coffee before heading back to the ferry. Later in the afternoon we stopped at a river bank for bathing – cold (17?), but refreshing.
Ferry arrived at 1600 in Samara, which is in the time zone one hour east of Moscow (which is two hours east of Sweden). There was nothing of the town in our guide book, despite it being the 6th biggest in the country. We went through town with our bicycles before finally deciding to leave in direction Ufa. We had thought that the ferry would arrived earlier, giving us a full biking day, but now we only managed 56 km, leaving time for a great fish shashlik dinner at a good Armenian restaurant in the city outskirts. The Armenian chef organised the band to play some music from his country only for us, which was, well, interesting. Anyway, definitely a nice guy. On the very long way out of town we also saw a Soyuz rocket (manufactured here) and several groups of racing cyclists.
When being ready for sleep we came across a “camping”, which in Russia seems to mean a very basic cheap hotel along the main roads, with guarded parking, 2-3 people in every room and bath in the corridor. It was reasonable, so we stayed overnight instead of tenting. Lots of mosquitoes in the yard and the attached cafe, but fortunately none in our room.
Mostly up and down all day, but not as steep hills as near Bryansk and Voronezh three weeks ago, the longer ones being between two and five kilometres. There are more cafes and more traffic that we had thought. The traffic can be a bit tiresome when the road is not broad enough, but it ensures frequent access to food and beverages (mainly cheap fruit juice, tea and water). At today’s first cafe they reported that Thomas had been just hours before. We left him in Samara as we had not yet made up our mind whether staying in Samara or not. Anyway, he is probably too well-trained to want to go with us (he should be after biking most of the last six years).
Then, at the next cafe we met another cyclist, Fritz Kaufmann from Stettfurt, Switzerland. He told us about his first cycle tour 39 years ago, from Singapore to India (still riding same bike!), as well as about the road condition from here to the Baikal Lake where he had started on the 10th of May. He had also met Thomas, about 40 km earlier, and was as surprised as us to meet several other cyclists in such a short time span.
More hills, making this day to one of the tougher during the trip, but nothing much to note otherwise, except the confusing time zones. After leaving Samarskaya and Orenburskaya Oblast (Moscow time +1) into Tatarstan Autonomous Republic we were back on Moscow time (despite going eastward!). Then, 30 km later, when entering Bashlortostan, we were on Moscow + 2 h. Luckily we are not very dependent on the clock when on the road. The explanation is, of course, that the time zones are not exactly according to geographical boundaries, but rather to political divisions, i.e. Tatarstan is actually stretching from north-west to north-east of Samarskaya, and the main M5 Moscow-Chelyabinsk road happen to cross them all.
Went up early in the morning after another night at a roadside hotel. It started raining and we got quite wet before reaching small Bashkir village which had a cafe, but unfortunately not working. Waited an hour for the worst rain to stop before continuing to the next place where we could have breakfast. Another three brushes of rain didn’t help, but it wasn’t too bad.
We were invited by some local bisnismen and a police for dinner and drinking, which we tried to avoid, as we wanted to arrive timely in Ufa same evening. They were pretty drunk already and at the end their driver convince them that they would have to leave, but only after swapping shirts with us and a photo session. While eating, my back tyre exploded, but I had bought one extra in Riga. I had inflated to a higher pressure on the advice of Thomas, the German cyclist, some days before, guess I should not have done that.
Passed 3000 km since Tallinn!
Were met by Olesya upon arriving in Ufa and had nice game meat at a Bulgarian restaurant with her and Ira later in the evening.
Had a look on town and later had a nice picnic and bath at a small river with Olesya, Ira, Alexei. Olga and their daughter Angelina, Julia and Rail and their son Vlad. Rail excellently managed the shashlik (shish kebab) and the ladies made great salads as usual, leaving us to enjoy the sun and play with the kids.
Went up early for an excursion to the south of town, first to have a morning bath with Ira and Alexei near a nun’s monastery, in holy water, smelling of sulphur and bubbling too. Very refreshing indeed, and I had some difficulties to do the required three dips with the head into the water. Alexei is going there at least once a month! After that we had a tour further south for a picnic. Unfortunately it rained somewhat, but we still had a nice day. Nine-year old Angelina had brought some of her English books and seemed to enjoy practising with me. She also thought it was amusing to her me reading from her Russian text book.
Quiet day on town, some shopping and internetting, with Olesya guiding us. Later dinner with Gostni Dvor vodka at Julia and Rail. In the evening we had a long relaxing sauna with Olesya and Ira at the hotel.
The sauna yesterday must have been long and exhausting, because I woke up only at 1130 by Olesya’s telephone call, wondering if we were ready to leave for the countryside. After spending some time in town during the afternoon, we finally left Ufa to the dacha (summer house) belonging to Julia’s parents. Rail organised our bicycles to be driven out there, so we could do some maintenance in the evening, while Rail prepared the banya (Russian sauna) and his wife and Olesya made the food. We had a great dinner (drinking beer and, yes, guess what?). It was getting dark towards 2300 and we went for a refreshing walk before the banya was ready.
Men first, and it was Rail who orchestrated the banya activities. First some warming up with the help of plenty of water on the big wooden fuelled oven. When on the brink of bursting we went out to cool down a little, then Affi was the first to go under the birch tree whip. Little cool water at the head, then whipping all body. Rail made a great job and must have been just as exhausted after doing a great job on us. Very relaxing. We slept very well that night, but I am not envious on Rail, who had to get up to his work at the police office next morning.
On the road again. The stay in Ufa was longer than expected, but it was a great stay, so it was worth it. Now we will have to keep our eyes on kilometres and calendar if we are going to make it to the Sea of Japan. This first day after Ufa was less exhausting than we had expecting. Since we do not have any experience of bicycling in the mountains we thought it must be at least as hard as three weeks ago around Kursk. However, here the hills are not as steep as those valleys and of course we are more fit now than then. Maybe it will get worse tomorrow.
We arrived in Sim around 2200 and since it looked like it could rain during the night, we opted for a hotel which happened to be there. Looking on it from the outside I thought it had somewhat peculiar windows, looking like being taken from a passenger train, but did not think much about it. When entering I realised that is actually was a train wagon, which had been sealed with ordinary red bricks, with holes only for windows and doors at each end. We paid 80 roubles (2.5 US dollar) each for a bench in a cabin, which could have been taken from any old Russian train. I just wonder how they got it all up on that hill…
This day started with leaving Sim a few kilometres downhill, followed by a few sunny kilometres uphill. More hills to come, but if just not rushing it is not too terribly hard. Beautiful views and there was some snow on some distant mountain sides.
Affi had three spokes on the same side of his back wheel breaking (first two, later one more). No apparent reason.
The cafe/food shop frequency is still high enough for not having to worry about food. Usually we try to carry some fruit and chocolate when there is not obviously a village coming up soon. In the evening we had bad luck both with finding a cafe and with finding place to put the tent. After exploring and discarding some potential tent sites we picked a site half way up a four kilometre hill. Not the cleanest place but nice view.
More great mountains, still managing it better than expected. I had a flat tyre, which made a great excuse for a break in the middle of a 6 km uphill road.
Passed the Europe-Asia landmark around noon. After rolling 7 km we reached the road sign to Miass (10 km north of the road). After lunch Affi was feeling dizzy and we decided to go to Miass, stop there for the rest of the day to continue tomorrow.
I tried in vain to find any place to go out in town, cafe, bar, whatever – after all it’s Friday. Found two “cafes”, but they were already closed. Surprising, for a town with 166000 inhabitants and their own truck factory! People told me there was none, except a disco 20 km away, that might be open. I opted for my bed.
Affi still not completely ok. Staying here one more day, writing diary at the local internet cafe. As we sat in the park earlier in the afternoon, the old lady asking to get our emptied bottles informed us that there was more discipline during the reign of Stalin. I kind of understand her, but won’t get no more bottles from me.
At last we got to leave boring Maiss. We made the 122 km quiet fast and arrived in a big grey Chelyabinsk in the late afternoon.
Got quite much done in Chelyabinsk
before leaving, hair cut (I look like a school boy again!), cash withdrawal,
buying bicycle accessories and ticks vaccine (encephalitis is said to be common
in Siberia). Got a “hotel” in Shchuch’e, with bath but no water (!), but at
least the bed sheet are clean. It seemed that the small town had seen better
days. Before going to bed we got out to see the town square with its obligatory
Lenin pamyatnik, bought a beer in a small shop otherwise mainly having drunk
customers and volunteered for some photos with some curious Russians who had
seen us arriving, asking the usual questions.
We had headwind all day and at noon we
had only made 35 km, but we still managed to make 184 km, which so far is
furthest distance during one day.
Headwind in the morning, but less during
the day. It’s very very flat here, rather boring landscape, and supposedly it
will continue for a while. There where very annoying “Paot” flies, which are
rather big fat flies (similar to Swedish “broms”), biting us when having a
chance, sometimes making me bleed. They followed us most of the day (less in
the evening) and stopped us from having any meaningful breaks. Sometimes they
are biting even when biking, but usually not. We came across these beasts in
the area around Smolensk too, but they disappeared after one or two days. This
time it just seems to get worse. It is extra annoying, now, as it is quite warm
and one would want to have more breaks. Some breaks we had to take, e.g. the three times I repaired the same hole in my
back tyre (I finally changed to my last extra tyre). The heat and little access
to water made us make the extra 30 km to Lebyazh'e to buy food and drinks in
the evening, since we would not want to risk to take the 50 km to next town on
the map without finding anywhere to refill our bottles.
Since the main road from Chelyabinsk to
Omsk crosses Kazakstan and we do not have Kazak visas, we will have to make a
detour north of Petropavlovsk, crossing through country roads to the main
Yekaterineburg-Omsk road, which will mean an extra 220 km compared with the
shortest route. We tried to enquire about possibilities to get a Kazak visa in
Chelyabinsk, but since Russians and Kazaks do not require visas there is no
consulate around. We were afraid that those country roads might be bad, but to
our surprise they were quite ok. Just about 10-12 km were under repair and we
had to bike on gravel and sand. However, there were definitely less cafes and
shops, so we had to plan our water and food supplies carefully. Generally this
is has become an everyday issue after crossing the Urals – Siberia is, as
expected, bigger and notably more sparsely populated. These last few days have
been dry, no wind and quite hot compared with earlier. We have performed less
than earlier too, also because of the heat, I guess. It is not too bad, but we
take longer breaks than before. Yesterday was worse, with this thought “ when
do I get water next time?” constantly lingering, until we finally found some.
We reached Ishim late, which in a small
town on the main Yekaterinburg-Omsk road, on Friday evening, and to our big
surprise the hotel had hot showers – very welcome indeed! The first café we
went to after the showers was full, so we had to go for the next, which
happened to be at the railway station. When people told us to go there (or
rather, told us that it was the only alternative in town if we wanted food), we
expected the worse, but were positively surprised. There was quite nice food,
not too bad music and some nice people. We ended up in some club, where Affi
fell asleep (no guards told him to leave this time) and the morning after we
were very slow. We skipped our original plan to cycle all day and decided to
start in the afternoon instead. We went out to Gory Liobvi, a favourite local
hill, where bride couples come to take their compulsory pamyatnik photos after
the wedding, which had a nice view of the surroundings, and then after loosing
our way and getting delayed in a small café in the nearby village we had to
change our plan again, leaving on Sunday morning instead.
Headwind again. Arrived late to
Krutinka, at midnight, but got cheapest hotel so far on the trip, only 58 R
which is less than two dollars, but you get what you pay for, hot and flies…
Unusually fast day, with limited wind
and good flat road, with by far the highest average speed during one day so
far. I had a feeling from the beginning that my legs would regret it later and
at the end of the day I was proved right, I was quite tired, but it was great
as long as it lasted. It is amazing how big the difference of performance is
with just a month ago (not speaking about two months ago!). If we had just not
slept so long in the morning, until 1000, we would have made the 200 km to Omsk
today. Well, tomorrow is just another day.
We are HALFWAY to Vladivostok! After 50
km, including 20 km suburbs, we found Omsk city centre and a decent hotel near
the river. The extra kilometres north of the Kazak border summed up to 218 (751
km instead of the 533 on the main M51 road through Kazakhstan). We will stay
here two night and then go on to Novosibirsk (700 km), where we expect to meet
Fredrik.
Hot shower at the hotel!!
We had a great sauna too, in a quite
nice newly renovated place, where after studying the menu we were quite puzzled
what it actually meant “TV 9000 Roubles, door 3000 Roubles” etc. It turned out
not to be the menu, but the amount to be paid if damaging the various items on
the list. They had beer prices on a separate list and it was quite reasonable…
While walking back from the sauna towards our hotel in the city centre we met
some young students having an evening vodka on a park bench, curious how come
us foreigners would ever want to come to Omsk. We answered the usual questions
until their mother turned up and told us about [can’t remember what, except
that it was very much], where after she gave us a big glass of homemade
blackcurrant jam.
Raining already when leaving Omsk, but
it soon stopped. We stopped for the evening already at 1900, because there was
a hotel at the roadside and it looked 100% certain that it would start raining
soon. We had stressed the last few kilometres to get there before the rain
would overtake us. It did not rain that eve (not there anyway), but we could
use that early sleep anyway..
Tailwind, fast day, but tired after 160
km (one of those efficient day when you feel tomorrow will be hard). Plenty of
mosquitoes as soon as we stopped, so pauses were limited today, but at least
there are almost no paoti flies here (see 3 July).
We stopped at one of those roadside
hotel-cafes, this one having only six rooms and toilets outside (not water closets, if anyone would think
so). When about to take our dinner before bed, we met Yuri and Andrei, two
truck drivers from Omsk, who insisted on inviting us for dinner. Unlike most
others, they did not insist that we drink plenty of vodka with them (well, just
a little…). Nice guys, they bought their Swedish Scania truck in Kaliningrad
for $25000 some years ago and seemed to live well from it (and virtually living
in it too).
Stopped again because of the approaching
rain, this time in front of us. Not longing for setting up the tent in rain and
waking up wet, wet opted for the nearby hotel, planning to get up early
tomorrow and cycle the kilometres we lost today, by finishing early. The sauna
and a promising café seemed more attractive than the approaching rain. The
sauna was fine, but the café kitchen ni rabotat (not working) for unknown
reasons, but at least they hade cold pirogs and drinks.
Feeling little bit of a cold, not serious.
Went up early hoping that the weather
would be better today, but it was not. Colder and rain most of the day, as well
as worse road. Not that it was very bad but worse than the road from Omsk so far,
which has been quite good. In the evening we reach Chulin, which seems to have
had better days. It is the region capital, but the central square (Lenin
square, I suppose), where the hotel is situated, looks more like a mud track
after the rain, and cows are pondering around and leaving their marks all
around it… Unless it had a station along the main Trans-Siberian railway line
it would probably not had a hotel either. No open cafes, but we found a shop
with fresh milk to have with the big glass of black currant jam we got in Omsk.
After two days of cycling in rain, I feel I am about to get a serious cold.
Only about 150 km to go to Novosibirsk.
Monday morning, the cold is serious.
Tried to keep dry and warm, but still no wonder, I guess. Tried this morning
for 30 km to make it to Novosibirsk, before giving up. It is just stupid to
risk a serious flu. We caught a ride the remaining 120 km with an empty Zil
truck, after only about two minutes of hitching.
Hotels are expensive here, but we manage
to arrange a private nicely renovated one-room flat for half the hotel rate. I
go to bed immediately, while Affi takes a look on the city.
I’m in bed, not feeling too bad, but
definitely not in cycling condition, hoping to get fit until Saturday, when we
will leave. We finally go tin touch with Fredrik who has managed to book a
flight arriving on maximum inconvenient time for us, despite being given
detailed planned dates. Since I am sick, I will try not to complain too much
and try to use the time to get well instead. But sure, I would have preferred
to leave on Thursday as planned.
Fredrik called at 0400 to wake me up to
open the door for him. After chatting over a beer an hour or so, we went to bed
to be waken up again by the phone at 0900, this time by Affi, coming home from
the mountains south of Novosibirsk, where he spent two days. At 1200 we got
thrown out, as agreed, by the landlady and started assembling Fredrik’s bike.
He had not actually tried to put on neither front nor back racks and after
seeing the final solution, with help of scotch tape and “slangklämmor”, I can’t
help wondering how far this will last…
We left the city late afternoon, after a
visit to the ‘Trial-Sport’ bicycle shop and a dinner at the start of the M51
main road between Novosibirsk and Irkutsk. It was a very hot and sunny
afternoon and maybe not so bad that we did not bike much. My cold is not
completely over, but it feels ok to cycle. We got the 75 km to Moshkovo when it
was getting dark, but had a hard time finding a good spot for the tent.
Probably there is a small hotel in the rayon
capital Moshkovo, but Fredrik wanted to try out the tent. It was definitely
different from when being two in the three-man tent. Plenty of mosquitoes, as
usual and just about enough space in the tent to house us three, all quite
tall, guys. Strong thunder and rain in the middle of the night.
==>> Affi speaks while sleeping
for the first time during the trip. What he says? “Осторожно!
Двери
закрываются!”
(“Caution! Doors are closing”, i.e. what the automatic voice in any
Russian metro / underground wagon says just before taking off from the metro
station!). Of course he had no idea about it next day. Myself, I thought I
dreamt it, but apparently Fredrik had heard it too. Quite funny!
The rain from the previous night slowed
down a bit, but continued with some breaks all day, a very fine, but annoying
rain, and very hard to know what cloths to put on as it changes all the time.
After a long search through the little
town (big village?) of Bolotnoe we found the hotel, but no café for eating, so
we bought foodstuff in the local shop and took to the room. Fredrik went out
for a last cigarette before sleep, but was abruptly advised by the hotel
administrator to be so kind as to please smoke inside the hotel, so that she
would not have the hassle of waiting to lock the main entrance door after him.
At last we are getting little speed. I
had been a bit restless with poor performance the last couple of days and even
if today was not that great it is improving. Part of the reason is the weather
which was ok today, i.e. no rain. We met a Kenyan and a dwarf at a roadside
café who were working for a circus (though their minibus was painted as if were
they belonging to a children’s NGO, to
avoid police hassles…).
Kemerovo seems like a quite pleasant
town with the Tom river making a nice spot to walk along, watch from our hotel
window or just sit down and watch while sipping a beer at the numerous beer
tents. Affi got caught by the police while relieving himself in the wrong bush
after one too many beers and paid an outrageous 100 R ($3.3), which indicates
he really had one too many. I’m sure
the police was happy.
Resting in Kemerovo. Fredrik and Affi
thought it was worth a day because it was such a nice place. I agreed it was
pleasant, but had wanted to continue. After all, it’s usually enough with an
evening in most of these pleasant places and we did not really have any need
for resting. We still had a relaxed day, searching in vain for the place where
the visiting circus from yesterday on the road were about to have their show in
the evening.
Little town of Marinsk consists of a
very long street. We came in at the wrong end, needless to say, and at last
found the little hotel around 2200. A drunkard outside wanted to help us to
arrange the rooms and we made our best to avoid his help, until we understood
that he actually worked there. After meeting his co-workers we also realised
that his was the least drunk of them all.
Evening meal at the local street café
opposite the hotel consisted of pirogues and tasteless microwave pizzas. I went
to bed earlier than Affi & Fredrik, so I missed the incident when a
neighbouring table of drunk (do I need to say?) 20-yearolds started throwing
sausages (!) at them.
The day started with an orgy of
raspberries and 6%-milk for breakfast. The lady (well, woman) at the market
refused to sell half her big can of berries, so I bought them all, knowing that
we would probably not be able to finish them. Anyway, delicious they were!
A Russian travelling from the east by
car had already heard about us, asking if we were those Scandinavians cycling
from Tallinn.
Except for some roadworks, the roads
were in exceptionally good condition. One would wonder if Alexander Lebed had
some hidden interests in the local construction business, as most of these road
projects going on must have started during his time as governor in Krasnoyarsk
Krai (before his fatal aircraft accident not long ago).
Reached Bogotol in the evening, were the
local hotel had turned to other businesses, but there was a nice guest house
for railway workers were we could stay for 155 R, including free usage of the
basement hot showers (most small town hotels do not even have showers, and
certainly not hot water).
Nice day, but disappointed on
performance today, because - should have made more getting up as early as 0700.
We had to get out of the guest house early, or rather, we had to move our bicycles
from the temporary storage in the laundry room before the dayshift. If we had
not taken numerous long breaks we would have got much further. Tenting on a
mosquito-infested forest road.
Half day of biking to Krasnoyarsk, where
we plan 1.5 day of rest. The river-cruise-boat-turned-hotel is nice, but basic.
Lacking showers in the cabins, we opted for the closest sauna, which was not
exactly new, but filled its purpose. They had a nice old pool, gave us
eucalyptus oil to throw at the oven (or whatever it’s called in the sauna) and
served good Siberian beer, so no need to complain about those two hours.
Long sunny lazy Sunday in town and its
big park. Lots of sailors in town and this was the reason, we later found out,
that this particular day we were not allowed to buy beer in bottles. All
vendors were ordered by the local police department to sell only cans, serve
beer in glasses or in mugs (for an additional 6 R!). The sailor had some kind
of important annual holiday and were expected at some point get too drunk,
start fighting or throwing bottles…
Met Vera and her 10-year old daughter,
who told me that she was about to take her driver’s license in a few days. If
she would fail it was no catastrophe, as she could afford the 800 R
(25 USD) to bribe the inspector and get the license anyway.
A man stopped us (again) while driving
out of Krasnoyarsk, asking the usual questions about from where, whereto and so
on (happens daily). He also told us of a Norwegian on bicycle who were
supposedly a week ahead of us, going to Madagan for some reason. Too cold, if
you ask me, even in the summer.
Hilly day, but ok for me. Vera and
Polina passed us with car and stopped briefly 80 km from Krasnoyarsk, on their
way home to Kansk.
According to Lonely Planet the city of
Kansk was “once so predominantly Jewish that it was called Siberia’s
Jerusalem”, but didn’t seem to be of much interest for us, so we planned to
pass it, but the road taking us around the town after our evening meal was so
long that it was dark before actually leaving town. At the eastern outskirts we
met some fellows also here just for the night, who promised us space in their
“hotel”, which was actually a flat. Left with this and the option to leave town
and find tenting space in the dark we thought we might check it out. Their boss
said no, but we were allowed to but up the tent at the grass beside the
backyard and then could not really say no to those three guys (same name,
Sergey) offering vodka and snacks (no surprise), embarrassed that their planned
hospitality had not been successful.
Good tailwind, but long breaks today.
Few cafes, so not much hot food today, just the fruit, yoghurts and bread found
in village shops. We reached Taishet, in Irkutsk oblast, which means another
hour time difference, which could mean one hour less to cycle, but not really –
the sun sets the limit more than the clock. We reached our goal for today a
little before dark, after a day with much hills and some roads with no asphalt.
Taishet is were the Baikal-Amur railway
starts (ends?), i.e. the railway
running partly parallel to the Transsiberian, north of the Baikal Lake, being
the life line for quite a few holes in the middle of the taiga.
As expected, the asphalt took an end
some time after Taishet, which made progress considerably slower. There was
also less café’s, which made us have to rely on what we could find I village
shops – not bad, but not the same as hot food.
We met two Austrians on motorbikes,
coming from Mongolia, heading towards Kirgistan. Later in the day we met a
Russian from Vladivostok riding his horse to Krasnoyarsk in a very calm pace.
Worse than the roads was that I felt
another cold coming today. When getting up in the morning I felt that my throat
was not really as it should be and it was getting worse during the day. As we
went quite slowly on the bad road, it took some time for the fever to break out
- not until the evening, at the end of the last unpaved road. We stopped early,
at 2030 for me to get a break and sleep, which I did 12 hours, while my
compadres had an evening picnic watching the sun go down and chasing
mosquitoes.
The 12 hours of sleep probably did well,
but it far from enough to cure me. I felt sick and tired as we left heading
towards the next little town, Nizhneudinsk. Fortunately there were not many
hills so it was not much of a problem to slowly get there, even if it must have
been tedious for my fellow travelling companions, but they did not complain.
On the road we met another cyclist, a
Russian police who was cycling from Ulan Ude to Moscow. He had no tent, as he
put it, it was not necessary, as he could always pop in to the local police
stations and have a sleep there.
We agreed that I would rest in
Nizhneudinsk while they continued to Irkutsk, which would be a much nicer place
to have a break in. I would come after on bike if well, otherwise on train or
hitching.
Affi & Fredrik left as agreed, but
only in the afternoon, due to seemingly major hangover from too much Friday
partying yesterday. I had been staying at the hotel taking care of my throat
infection.
I rested, visited the local hospital,
where the doctor gave me antibiotics. To feel better, and to have someone to
talk to, I called my doctor friends in Nora, and Johanna assured me that it
seemed ok, even though the dose seemed a bit strong. In the local café I was
surprised to find Riga Balzam in the bar, but when asking I was told
that it was not served by the glass (or by gram, which is not the norm for
spirits here), but only by the [relatively small] bottle. Maybe that was just
as well, as I have my doubts about what Latvians will always assure you, that
its secret recipe will cure most diseases and is good for just about anything.
I’m tired of the hotel room and the city
since long. There are at least two places to eat near enough to the hotel, one
typically new Russian café/bar and one typically old-style Soviet hotel
restaurant which has been improved by fresh food, drinks and service, playing
hits from the Brezhnev era, and the interior has probably not been changed
since it was privatised. Anyway, they certainly had the sweetest waitress in
town, who even spoke some English, which is just as rare in a town like this,
as finding a sick Swedish cyclist in the local hotel.
It turned out that the waitress, Xenia,
was the daughter of the owner. She was born in Oymykon in northern
Yakutia (Sakha), the place that holds the world record in coldness, -71°C. She
lived there 13 years as her father searched for gold and diamonds, which seemed
to have been profitable, considering the restaurant business and the various
travelling she had already made, a bit more than the average 18 year old
Russian. She had summer holidays from her studies in Irkutsk, which made it less
surprising that her English was so good.
When asking Xenia – without really
believing in an affirmative answer – if there were any internet connections in
town, she in true Russian manners, left all she had to do at the restaurant, to
guide me around town until we found it. At her first choice, the post office,
the was a corner called Internet
Salon with one computer, but unfortunately with no connection at the time
being. They recommended the local TV station, where Xenia also had an
acquaintance (it’s a small town). The journalist made her best to get her
dial-up connection working, but in vain. After inviting for coffee and waffles,
and asking if her colleague could make an interview with me later in the day,
we continued to the city museum, where it might work. The museum guy was really
nice, showed us around in the museum and tried his best with the computer, but
by then it was all to obvious that they all relied on the same internet
provider and that that was where the problem was. Anyway, he let me write my
mail and promised to send it later, which seemed to have worked.
Xenia also gave me the answer to what I
had wondered for a few days, where the ubiquitous Lenin statue was, if it was removed
or what? I had walked along the main street and this is where it should be. I
actually was, just that the trees almost covered most of him and apparently the
city budget did not give priority to any gardener freshening up around him (or
anywhere else it seems). She also told about those Austrians from last
Thursday, who had also visited her restaurant, and about a Danish family she
had met, who were bicycling from Denmark to Korea, mother in the car, father
and kids on bikes!
Later in the afternoon the TV crew came
to the hotel. I had dressed up for biking and packed my bags, even though I was
not planning on leaving until tomorrow. Questions were the usual ones and how I
liked their town and so on, + detailed close-up pictures on the bike. Unfortunately
I never got to watch it.
After leaving Nizhneudinsk at 0700,
breakfast at 0800, I had a surprisingly good biking day, until 2200 in the
evening, when I reached the small town of Kaitun. The averaged speed was only
18.8 km/h and I used a record 10 hours and 20 minutes to make it, but I did not
feel that I had been sick and not even the 30 kilometres of unpaved road or the
headwind bothered me too much. It was tough, but I liked being on the road
again. Loneliness made a difference too, shorter breaks and no pushing me to
continue when getting tired. Still I had enough of motivation anyway, don’t
know from where – maybe just wanting to show myself that I could do it on my on
too. I somehow knew that I should take it easy after being sick, but it was
going so well and I could not stop, going on all the way to Kaitun.
I cycled 50 kilometres before realizing
that today was not my day. Yesterday was just too much, or whatever… I was not
only tired, but feeling feverish from time to time too, so there was nothing
else to do then stop biking and taking the train (resting was not an option
since I had to get to Irkutsk at the agreed time to meet Affi and Fredrik). I
took the afternoon elektritschkaya train the 300 remaining kilometres to
Irkutsk, cycled 10 km through town all the way out to Affi’s & Fredrik’s
hotel just to find out that it was full (after spending quite some time to find
it). I met Viktor and Misha (father and son), who helped me finding their hotel
and when not having room for me they went out of their way to help me – at
eleven in the evening – and actually managed to find a very central
“Russians-only” hotel for the night and followed me there (“it’s not safe for
you to go alone after dark”). I was not officially allowed to stay there, but
the administrator would let me if Viktor registered instead of me. In some
towns, including Irkutsk it seems, hotels must have a special “license” to
house foreigners, probably to squeeze out as much money from tourists as
possible. Counterproductive, if you ask me…
Short bicycle sightseeing when changing
hotels. I have been here before, so no big surprises. No big changes since August 2000, but
certainly since January 1995, when one could hardly find a place to eat (not me
at least).
Sauna with Affi & Fredrik first
evening.
Decision to split with Affi and Fredrik
who wanted to stay longer in town. I bought a light one-man tent and a new
light sleeping bag, as my old one was stolen. After a late lunch at a Caucasian
restaurant, where ate far too much, I left Irkutsk 1530. Very hot, at 30°C.
Now I understand why the 19th
century Russians chose not to build a railway around the Baikal Lake, but
rather to ship the wagons over the lake, or to but temporary railway tracks on
the ice at winter – the mountains! First small hills for about 30 km, then two
major upward hills of about eight kilometres each (with an equivalent downwards
in between). Efter det är man inte
så kaxig.
Used my tent for the first time, nice
conditions. Now I own two one-man tents – bought another one just before
leaving Sweden, before Affi changed his mind and decided to join. Anyone who
wants to buy one?
Breakfast at the same place as where I
had my evening meal yesterday, another 20 km of up and down hills before a long
long downhill road with great views took me down through the forest-covered
mountains to Kultuk at the shores of The Baikal Lake. Along the roads at Kultuk
and neighbouring Sliodyanka there are numerous locals selling mainly smoked
Omul (fish), but also fresh berries, mushrooms and some souvenirs. Many people
from Irkutsk come here during the weekends.
There are some hills along the Baikal
too, but not at all as much as yesterday. I met three Russian bicyclists, who
said that I definitely passed the worst hills on my way to Ulan Ude, which
should be another two or three days from here. However, the mountains are not
far away – just four kilometres inland are peaks of 1000-1500 km.
I left Irkutsk oblast in the evening and
entered The Republic of Buryatia at a river near the village of Vydrino. Before
finding a place at the beach to put the tent, I stocked up with Omul for the
evening and blueberries and milk for tomorrows breakfast. Calm evening,
delicious fish, watching sun go down on Baikal while brushing my teeth in it –
romantic indeed, if I hadn’t been alone ;-)
well, life could certainly be worse.
Tough and slow first 80 km, then getting
better for some reason. Still nice views along the lake and he surrounding
mountains. Have now made 7000 km since Tallinn.
Fine cycling day, despite very very hot
and another 8 km upward hill just 25 km before Ulan Ude. Quite flat after that
following the Selenga river from Baikal all the way to Ulan Ude.
Saturday 10th of August I left Irkutsk and went ahead of Affi & Fredrik. Throat infection seems to be cured. After four very nice days along the southern shores of Baikal Lake I reached Ulan Ude on the 13th, planning to rest on the 14th. After serious stomach pain in the late afternoon and all night, I went to the local poliklinika on Thursday, where appendicitis was diagnosed. I was transferred to a hospital and I was under the knife on in the evening, after promising to pay 8000 roubles in a few days. Yes, I would get a receipt. All went well and I was up walking next day (though it will take a little while before cycling again). Planning to stay in the hospital one week.
All is fine, except big disappointment with having to break the tour.
Back in Sweden again.