Days 173 and 174 - Lake
Teletskoe to Bisyk and then Mamontobo - Thurs 15 and Fri 16 Aug
Thurs: Raining fairly constantly. GirlRob sneezing every time went outdoors. Washing clothes, self, hair and truck before filling up with river water. Left early arvo, took road from Lake, turned off to Turachuk and then Bisyk. Guy and Cheryl had gone back to Gorno-Altaisk earlier to line up mechanic to pull apart shockies and replace parts with his spare kit. Depending on finding mechanic, they will meet us in Bisyk or Barnaul. Windstorm of yellow leaves from birch trees - mid Autumn here already. Red trunks of pines glistening wet. Followed river a considerable distance, sadly our bitumen road disappeared not far NW of Turachuk, and kph dropped accordingly. Within half an hour clean Ozzie was totally covered in mud splatters. In between towns old bitumen road remained in poor condition.
Thurs: Raining fairly constantly. GirlRob sneezing every time went outdoors. Washing clothes, self, hair and truck before filling up with river water. Left early arvo, took road from Lake, turned off to Turachuk and then Bisyk. Guy and Cheryl had gone back to Gorno-Altaisk earlier to line up mechanic to pull apart shockies and replace parts with his spare kit. Depending on finding mechanic, they will meet us in Bisyk or Barnaul. Windstorm of yellow leaves from birch trees - mid Autumn here already. Red trunks of pines glistening wet. Followed river a considerable distance, sadly our bitumen road disappeared not far NW of Turachuk, and kph dropped accordingly. Within half an hour clean Ozzie was totally covered in mud splatters. In between towns old bitumen road remained in poor condition.
Drizzly overcast also remained. Pine and birch forest gave way
to planted fields. Yellow grasses and flowering cereals ready to harvest. Light
traffic, orange Kamaz trucks and huge bales of soggy hay in lopsided loads. Uneventful drive, even police barricade waved us
through - thank goodness for wildflowers along roadside stops. All potential campsites very muddy, finally found flat raised ground
with flattened grass off "highway" next to cattle troughs -and then
the inevitable mosquitoes found us.
Undaunted, the boys lit a fire thanks to a
handy broken branch, and downed a cold beer whilst the mince sauce and pasta
simmered. Politics and world ideologies dominated the conversation leading up
to lights out...
Fri: Overcast. Farmer pulled up at camp in old red fire wagon - did he come to put out our wispy campfire?? No, wanted to see if we needed help to get out of boggy ground! Met Guy in Bisyk, no luck re shockie, they'll do without. Morning tea in pub with log furniture, stuffed boars head on wall. So many fields of sunflowers.
Fri: Overcast. Farmer pulled up at camp in old red fire wagon - did he come to put out our wispy campfire?? No, wanted to see if we needed help to get out of boggy ground! Met Guy in Bisyk, no luck re shockie, they'll do without. Morning tea in pub with log furniture, stuffed boars head on wall. So many fields of sunflowers.
Parting company with Miles south of Barnaul whilst we do Kazakhstan with Guy. Gave Marina videos of Roadie crossing suspension bridge. She wrote for us in Russian - "our concurrent passports are legal". Drove into haze (pollution? smoke?) SthEast to Alejsk, then east on much bumpier (but still bitumen) road. Eye catching advert for screws on hardware store.
Sown fields as far as eye can see - of grasses, wheat, cereals
or sunflowers. Enormous numbers of crows/ravens. Pulled off road onto track
into red-trunked pine forest at Mamontovo for camp. Heavily populated with
mosquitoes, shortened Guy and Cheryl's walk.
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