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Published: September 23rd 2006
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Irkutsk city sign.
We made it to Irkutsk in one piece - Singapore, our goal, now directly south of us. From here on could get difficult... Day 113, 21st September
Kujtun - Zima - Kutulyk
Nothing else happened last night after the fight and the militia turning up - it could have turned out much worse actually, our bikes could have been stolen, I could have been killed, we BOTH could have been killed… those guys had Kalashnikovs and who would have found our bodies in the wilds of Siberia. I surveyed the early morning scene. There was blood splattered around the tents, God knows how that got there…. Then, to my horror, I noticed my flick-knife lying on the grass, open! What the f*** had gone on last night exactly? I heard the guy drive away in his truck, I’d hit him hard, I know that, did I threaten him further with my knife, did he come to the tent? Was the blood from his nose? The knife’s blade was clean. Scott saw some marks around my neck… my Tumi necklace had gone! I’d worn that every day since buying it in Peru in 1989, now it was gone. Miraculously, after searching the long grass for half an hour I found it. We decided to pack up quick, not have breakfast, and put
Good roads
Not only good roads - but clear skies and a tailwind. as much distance from this place as possible. We got on our bikes and pedaled for hours, clocking up the miles….
It was an overcast and miserable day, but in our favour was a tremendous tailwind blowing us along. We didn’t talk, we just concentrated on putting as much distance between us and the café as possible, and we became a little paranoid about every car and truck that passed us. Some trucks pulled over near us and we thought it may be the gay truck driver, this time armed! But the day was hassle free. I’d hurt my left leg last night and now had a pain in the lower muscle. The land opened out into grasslands and birch trees. We were heading south-east and nearing Irkutsk, it’s about two days ride away.
We crossed a new border: The Autonomous Republic of East Buryatia, although there was no signpost to warn you like there was for Bashkhoristan and Tartarstan. The Buryats are a Mongol people who worship Buddhism, and at our first café stop we met our first Buryat people, two traffic officials, drunk on vodka! We had problems declining their offer for us to join them,
East Buryatia
Open grasslands, birch trees, and an endless road eastwards - cycling paradise! and after eating and watering-up, we went off to find a place to camp.
The site we chose was on a small hill, next to a birch coppice, on the edge of grasslands. The view south-eastwards was of distant snow-capped mountains, looking at the map we realized that we were looking at the Russian-Mongolian border. The weather had been good today, and the sun set at 8pm. I was knackered, we’d done 88 miles, me on a bad leg. I put on some ointment and retired to my sleeping bag.
Total Miles: 6476.03 Todays Miles: 88.10 Average speed: 14.2 Time on bike: 6:12
Day 114, 22nd September
Kultulyk - Ceremhovo - Telma
I awoke to the rays of the rising sun on the back of my tent. All was silent. I opened the tent and looked out towards the birch coppice and not 30 feet from me was a lone white wolf, standing still, and staring at me. Its breath was lit up by the sun’s rays. I wasn’t scared, but transfixed by the sight. Listen guys… a ‘Quarterpounder’ is NOT awesome! A Siberian wolf in front of your tent IS! After about 20
One of the Better cafes
No, not the Trans-Sib, a cafe in an old railway carriage by the side of the road. seconds it nonchalantly walked off into the trees.
Scott, unfortunately, didn’t see the wolf, he was fast asleep. It turned out to be a good position we had for the sun to dry our tents. During the night we’d head the occasional Trans-Sib train going past, and by the time we’d packed up and left trains were running every few minutes.
Shortly after setting out, we left the autonomous Buryat republic, and continued along good, paved roads all day like we did yesterday. Scott’s back wheel rim had bust a few days ago which together we managed to botch up by strengthening the inside rim with a couple of spare spokes - it was still holding and the crack in the rim hadn’t elongated any further. There were a few hills today and great views to our right of the jagged snow-capped peaks in the far distance. The landscape was generally flat, though. The fields were heavily cultivated and we also saw a lot of industry. Was had gone was the roadside marijuana plants, maybe it’s too extreme here for them to survive a winter? However, we still had bags of the stuff in our panniers.
We passed through a few disheveled towns on the way to our camping spot near to the railway line again. In the last town, Telma, I’d bought a bit bag of potatoes and carrots for 9 roubles. We had a super mashed-potato and stir-fried carrot dinner next to our tents as the sun went down. One of the beauties of free-riding and free-camping! You can do absolutely anything you want!
NOTE: RESPONSIBLE TRAVEL; I’ve had a few emails regarding responsible and environmental issues when free-camping. I’d like to make it clear that each and every camping spot we have stayed at looks exactly the same when we leave it, as when we found it. Obviously, when you make a fire, it leaves a black mark - I don’t consider that bad, you just have to make sure the fire doesn’t burn out of control. All waste, and litter, we take away with us and deposit in a bin, usually at the first café. Besides, bike-packing by nature is low-impact, I think?
Total Miles: 6545.68 Todays Miles: 69.64 Average speed: 11.5 Time on bike: 6:02
Day 115, 23rd September
Telma - Angarsk - Irkutsk
I had a strange thought this morning… how many places can you cycle across day after day for weeks and weeks, without crossing a border? Looking at my journal I see that we’ve done over 3,500 miles since entering Russia apart from about 150 miles in northern Kazakhstan just to renew our visas. Wow! I suppose there’s only Canada, and still, we’ve got about another 700 to do before we reach the Mogolian border - unless the Siberian winter stops us dead in our tracks? Another thing - Irkutsk is directly north of our goal, Singapore. That’s a strange thought isn’t it?
It was noodles and potatoes for breakfast. The morning was misty, but our tents were dry for once. We reckoned that this may have been the result of the freshly ploughed field we were camping next to, and that the soil had absorbed all the moisture from the air? The ride to Irkutsk was along a busy road through the “well-to-do” town of Angarsk and then onto a dual-carriageway. The city even had cycle-paths, the first I’d seen in Russia! It seemed like a town built for scientists as there were many Soviet-era mosaics depicting such activity. Unfortunately, Angarsk was the place where Scott lost his journal somewhere. Despite looking and backtracking, he couldn’t find it.
The dual-carriageway continued to the big “Irkutsk” city sign where we had our customary photo-stop. Riding through the suburbs was confusing, and we eventually ended up coming into the centre from the north, crossing the Angara river, then following it until I could find a landmark listed on the Lonely Planet map I had on my handlebars. In the centre we found an ATM and withdrew well-needed money - we were both completely skint! And then we went to find the Doosaf Dorm. It was hard to find, but worth it at $3 a night each, the staff were helpful too. We tried to locate the others, but with no success, so we crashed-out in real beds for the first time in days. We’ll spent a week in Irkutsk getting ready for the weeks ahead, we need a Mongolian Visa, and besides, we have to kit-up here for Mongolia as we think this will be the last big city to get western-style stuff until we get to Beijing!
Total Miles: 6593.08 Todays Miles: 47.39 Average speed: 10.9 Time on bike: 4:19
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