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Published: October 4th 2006
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Lake Baikal
Rory dips his pedals into the water of Lake Baikal, and so do the rest of us. Tobes even paddles in the freezing water - the guy has guts! Day 121, 29th September
Irkutsk - Šelehov - Shamanka
There was a discussion this morning and the result was that Scott has decided to stay another day or two in Irkutsk. He still wasn’t feeling that well, and Kathryn had been trying long-distance Reiki on him too. I think, that in all reality, he had a promise from one of the teenies from the uni? Anyway, we all packed and went round to the Brit Council for our send-off, a TV company wanted to film us and to do a short interview too. I used the internet before I left and received a very short cryptic reply to the long and loving email I’d sent to Kathryn yesterday - which pissed me off, again. I’m getting the feeling that Kathryn may be too complicated for me to handle - I hope not, though!
We had our send-off and were on the road for midday, Scott left us after a mile with the usual arrangements of leaving messages on mileposts along the way. The route out of the city took us past the airport and over the dam. It was a good ten miles before we left the suburbs
Outskirts of Irkutsk
From the first hilltop after leaving the city was this spectacular view of the vast collection of wooden houses that made up Irkutsk's suburbs. of Irkutsk and were in the countryside. We found the road much hillier than anything since the Urals. I was back cycling with Toby and Rory again after months, and Tobes was having a bit of a hard time, having not brought any supplies he had nothing to snack on too!
The day was sunny and warm, but after 50 miles of hard work, we called it a day and found a spot to camp in the forest at the top of a hill as the sun went down. I made noodles, the other two made a fire and did some baked potatoes which took ages. Having spent a week in Irkutsk we had no idea of how cold it was getting at night. It went really cold an hour or so after sunset, and then - it started to snow! Oh Shit!
Total Miles: 6651.24 Todays Miles: 58.16 Average speed: 10.8 Time on bike: 5:21
Day 122, 30th September
Shamanka - Bajkal’sk - Murino
The night was windy and cold despite being in a thick forest, and when I awoke it was still snowing, the tents were white, I looked at the map
Baikal shoreline
The snow had gone at lakeside level, but the going was still very wet. and worked out that our altitude was around 2000 feet. I left the other two to sleep a while while I fried up my potatoey things from last night and made teas.
By the time we’d packed up our tents and got on the road the snow had gotten heavier and my hands had begun to freeze and become painful. The Siberian winter was upon us now and we had to head southwards as soon as possible. The going was really tough and on the downhills my brakes began to fail. They had worn down so quickly to metal on metal, both front and back, at the same time! There was a final big downhill stretch with switchbacks to the shores of Lake Baikal, and as the others were in front of me, I was desperate to catch them up. I used my super Russian boots to slow me down on the bends. As I descended, the snow became slushier and then my boots failed - the soles began to come away and fill my boots with icy slushy water. My first view of Baikal was through mist at the top of several hairpin-bends. By the time I reached
Strange monument
At the lakeside was this weird monument to what appeared to be a Soviet Cosmonaut. Any suggestions? the others at the bottom I was covered in snow along with my bike, I was wet, cold, and shivering.
Luckily, we found a shop where a kind old lady let us sit down and warm up with several coffees. It wasn’t a food shop or café, but a weird kind of furniture shop filled with 70s era stuff and a big stuffed bear. Outside, I fitted my new brakes with Rory’s help, and shortly afterwards were on the road again.
Now, on the maps, the road seems to follow the lakeside closely, but in reality it is up and down - the railway lies next to the lakeside. There were some great views of the lake though, in parts it appeared like a sea to us. We stopped at one café to stock up, then carried on along flatter roads. The sky was clearing, and ahead of us we saw a superb range of snow-capped mountains. We ended up camping in the forest again, in an idyllic spot next to the river Murino which flows into Baikal. I cooked rice, Tobes stir-fried some veggies, we all ate. Later on, we partook of some resin that Tobes had acquired earlier from a motorist at a coffee-stop, for free. Rory, the smoker, has promised that he’ll give-up tomorrow, 1st October. But I think not - he’ll always be puffing away.
As we sat there, we realized that we’d accomplished our second milestone on the trip, reaching the shores of Lake Baikal. The other three respectively are; Beijing, Hong Kong for Christmas, and finally Singapore around April. We went to sleep knowing that we were about half-way there now. But, we now have to beat the Winter - this will probably be one of the most testing times of our lives….
Total Miles: 6713.28 Todays Miles: 62.03 Average speed: 10.8 Time on bike: 5:41
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