Rain in the Russian Altai

In the rain again we camped under a handy telegraph pole where we could use our tarp as well as the tent. The local shepherd came to visit us,first on his horse,then 10mins later in a car with his wife [she could speak some English!],young son and friends.Within 2 mins they had made us a blazing fire,using diesel and wet larch branches.We went to the house to say thank you in the morning.How typically kind.

Just in case you have’nt quite realized how much mud and rain there was.The kazaks are sometimes quite embarrassed about the state of their roads.They should see their neighbours’,the mighty Russian’s,then they would’nt feel bad at all. The mighty Kamaz truck is still king out here.. but on the smaller scale the Taz is the vehicle of choice for most people who can afford to step up from the Lada.. But the Racing Lada still wins on speed!!

Mud..Those of you who,ve done a 24hour british mtn bike event will know what its like when there’s so much sticky mud that everything stops turning.Jon’s bike with its Rohloff set up was a bit better than mine.At times I was pushing my bike downhill…..After slow hard kilometers on muddy dirt roads we detected why the Russian altai is so greenly beautiful…..it rains nearly all the time.Each day the scenery got more and more impressive…we also visited an archaeological dig in a cave where they have discovered a “new “early man….it was quite exciting…..

From left to right..Nina, the next door neighbour who is a journalist and interviewed us for the local Russian newspaper.Yuri,Vadim’s father, a lovely kind man who fired up the family “banyo”for us to use later {we did’nt have a clue though,and did’nt do it right at all.,]…..and he showed us all the vegetables growing in the garden [we ate lots of strawberries]. After us is Vadim,who found us cycling along in the rain and mud as he was driving back home after an all night drinking session. He is finding his feet again after a recent divorce….hence he’s living back home with his parents. …very lucky for us.!He speaks brilliant English,and insisted we partake of some Russian hospitality.Missing from the picture is Vadim’s Mum,Tamara,who was feeling shy.She is a great cook,and a wonderful hostess,so we had fantastic traditional food,and a very comfy bed for the night.It was hard to leave the next day.Hopefully we will meet again ……..

Things are really wearing out now!! Since getting a new rear rim on my bike even more has gone wrong…. First… the quality wellgo pedals we got in Almaty failed after only 1200km.. so they may as well-go straight in the bin.. it has been replaced by a 2 pound replacement Russian model, which has already done over 1000km…. heavy, glows in the dark but as strong as a Kamaz truck.. The next thing to go was the gear cable on the rohloff… not a straightforward repair but sorted in ½ hr and back on the road… what will be next? Watch this space…