Category Archives: Russia

Altai, Russia, Siberia, Sibirsky Extreme

The Altai Republic

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09.06.09

Tony and I woke in Petropavlovskoe pretty late as we had wandered off from our hotel the last night after showering to go in search of food and drink. It having been midnight, our choices were limited. We found a general store and grabbed a cold pizza and a beer each, had the pizza microwaved and went outside to the bench in front of the store and ate our pizza and drank our beer in the darkness, reveling in the sense of being in the middle of nowhere.

The morning sun was warm and I had dressed accordingly – Summer gloves and only the vest under the riding jacket. I led the way south, and as soon as we left Petropavlovskoe, the dirt began.

This was the first time I had ridden with Tony and I didn’t really know what to expect. He is a seasoned Russia rider but I didn’t know how comfortable he was on non-asphalt surfaces or what general speed he liked to ride at, but judging from first impressions he was more than happy riding at similar speeds to me. That would definitely make things easier in the weeks and months ahead.

We rode over endless green rolling hills that could have been England, only without farmhouses and villages.

60km south of Petropavlovskoye was Soloneshnoye. I needed some fuel as I hadn’t filled up since just after entering Russia yesterday. Soloneshnoye was the last chance for fuel before Ust Kan, almost 2 hours down the road. Looking south-east from sunny Soloneshnoye was like looking from the land of the Hobbits into the darkest depths of Mawdor. It was dark, very dark. Lightning flashed over mountains in the direction we were headed. There was no avoiding it, we had to continue that way and face the music. Perhaps it would be better when we got there.

It seemed at first we had been lucky as we missed the bulk of the storm, only catching the end of it. But the storm had made the dirt road a bit of a slippery mud bath, and that reduced our speed significantly. We seemed to be endlessly chasing pockets of sunlight. The sky was very uneven. Ahead of us was sunlight so when the going was miserable we looked at that and thought just 5 more minutes and the conditions will be better. Not sure we ever made it to that promised sunlight or whether it was just an illusion designed to sucker us on into the drizzle and increasing mud.

By the time we reached the village of Chyornoye Anui, I could no longer see Tony’s headlight. The front mudguard on the G650 Dakar he was riding was not large enough to stop mud from his front wheel flying up over his headlight, windscreen and indeed face. Chyornoye Anui was the first village inside the Altai Republic and the people here were clearly Altai. The Altai are the local Turko-Mongolic inhabitants, and are similar to the Kirgiz and the Tuvans.

I stopped half a mile past the end of town to wait for Tony. But no-one was coming. He was just behind me a when we entered town. I waited for a minute or two in case he had stopped for a photo and then I noticed a couple of kids I had seen a the edge of town milling around the middle of the road a few hundred yards back. I turned around and headed back. Tony’s bike was down in some very slippery mud and Tony was picking bits and pieces from his luggage up from the mud. One of his side boxes had opened and documents and stuff was all thru the sticky mud.

I helped Tony right his bike and once all the bits were collected, suggested we head down to the nearby stream to clean up as much as we could, shadowed by the local Altai kids.

By the time all was cleaned and dried, the drizzle had stopped, the sun was back out, and the picture looked better. I led the way back across the grass paddock to the road but in the process we discovered Tony’s metal mule luggage rack had come off its front mountings. Must have happened during the fall.

After considerable faffing about we realised we were not going to be able to fix it, and Tony decided to ride on without the front attachments. By now it was drizzling again and we headed on with the roads slippery again and increasingly muddy. Our  perseverence did pay off and just before reaching Ust Kan, the sun returned, and so too did the asphalt.

The scenery had been fantastic, and had it not been raining most of the time, I would have taken a hundred photos. But cameras and rain don’t mix well. In fact, despite the rain I will put it down on the recommended roads list, because in good weather it would have been a highlight of any trip.

Just before entering Ust Kan I saw a sign saying to go beyond there was to enter a restricted border zone, permits needed! This now corresponded with yesterdays problems at Ridder (Leninogorsk). The crossing from Ridder came out not far from ust Kan, and the border zone there too had been a permit only restricted zone. I had hoped to ride further south to Ust Koksa, but the weather and the restricted zone put an end to that. Tony and I refueled and headed east towards the M52 – the Chuisky Trakt.

What started off as a promising asphalt road from Ust Kan deteriorated as both the asphalt ended and a severe storm came out of nowhere drenching us. But yet again persevere we did, and we made it to the M52 at Tuekta, and turned south. I had been told there was a decent sized town at Ongudai, 25km south of the road junction and decided we should head there for a late lunch and to dry out.

As fate would have it, the rain stopped and we pulled into Ongudai in bright sunshine. This day was all about on-again / off-again weather. We feasted on pretty mean rations (the Cafe’s here don’t seem to have awe-inspiring menus) and as it was now after 7pm, we headed on. There was a decent sized town called Aktash, 150 km down the road, and we should find a hotel there.

This was my first taste of the Chuisky Trakt, Tony having had experienced it downstream while waiting for me at Gorno-Altaisk. Its a lovely road. Good asphalt surface, dramatic scenery thru rugged rocky mountains, and yet very very green. Perhaps that was the recent rain?

We reached Aktash 15 minutes after darkness and found a hotel. This time we were not so lucky re wandering off to the centre of town for some food and beer. The hotel was not in the centre and the town looked very very sleepy. We showered and went to bed.

– – –

10.06.09

Rain stopped play. For the first time in the trip, I canceled biking due to the weather. Tony was happy with that too and we headed off to Aktash’s mechanical guru, who happens to have the same name as the President, Dmitri Medvedev. Looks like him too! ‘The President’ washed and fixed a number of niggly things on the bikes, a rivet here, some soldering there, and manufacturing some new parts for Tony’s luggage system.

We took advantage of the halt in travel to wash a few loads of clothes. Not sure how they will dry in this weather – maybe flying off the back of the bikes tomorrow.

Brunch and dinner was a similar meal (again very limited menu) in the towns one cafe.  For the benefit of those who understand russian menus, it was kotlet c makaronom, i pirozhki.  For the others, I wont bother translating, but will try and score a foto tomorrow to explain.

Its been at least the third day in a row of rain. I saw rain the day I arrived ino Russia in the distant Altai Republic, then Tony and I hit it yesterday, and now again today. This has me worried for the days ahead, specifically the crossing into Tuva. 150 km of dirt tracks plus about 80 km of almost no tracks.

The day was rounded out with a couple of local beers, both at the cafe and then in the hotel room.

Caucasus, Crimea, Kalmyk, Kazakhstan, Khwarezm, Russia, Sibirsky Extreme, Ukraine, Uzbekistan

Route Thoughts

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Tashkent:  09.05.09

(note track maps now updated in the Trip Data section)

One of the principles behind choosing the overall route was where possible I was going to try routes that I felt were lesser travelled or untravelled by western motorcycle travellers … in doing that, documenting them will expand the knowledge base on sites like Horizons Unlimited.  I also had the chance to explore some regions that have had a long standing interest to me, like the North Caucasus, Kalmykia et al.  So this is a chance to review some of those routes as alternatives for those planning on heading out on the great trek east, to Mongolia, Vladivostok, Magadan or wherever.

Lets start with the Balkans.

Its a bit out of the way for most people heading east thru Ukraine, but our experience in the Balkans was very good.  Inexpensive food, accomodation, great biking roads, plenty of good fuel and a real sense of adventure going thru places like Albania give the Balkans a real thumbs up from me.  Sure there are a couple of highlights heading thru Czech Republic and Slovakia, but in general its all over very quickly and its all very tame.  The Balkans was better preparation for conditions in the CIS, while still remaining very close to EU countries in case of problems.  Borders were no problems at all … very quick, and the only  point I would make is definately take a green card from your insurance company.

Crimea:

Certainly more interesting that the Ukraine in general.  Ukraine lasks the diversity of Russia and for me is just one of the countries I push thru on my way to Russia, tolerating the overzealous cops and border officials as par for the course.  (in terms of dodgy cops and border officials, recent years has seen a marked improvement on the Russian side, while the Ukraine is still dodgy as you like … such that Russia is notably more transparent, open, efficient and less corrupt than Ukraine)  Perhaps the main areas of interest in Ukraine are the Carpathian mountains in the east and Crimea in the south.  I missed the Ukrainian Carpathians (having seen them in Romania) and the interesting scenery and ethnic history of Crimea definately helped break up the Ukraine.  Travelling that way also allowed me to head pretty much directly into the Caucasus once I entered Russia.  Also found a cracking bike mechanic in Yalta … that alone could be a reason to have Crimea on a route east.  Any teething problems can be nipped in the bud there at Valera’s place.

North Caucasus:

This has largely been avoided by western bikers, partly because of a lack of knowledge about what is there and to a lesser degree a fear about safety.  I hope this blog has shown how much interesting peoples and cultures can be found between Adegeya in the west and Dagestan in the east.  On top of that you have Europe’s highest mountain range.  Considering how dull a long ride across Russia can be if you stick to the main routes I personally thing taking in interesting regions like the North Caucasus should be compulsory.  The last thing you want from Russia is an endless chore of just eating up miles for the sake of getting across the country … one of the most interesting counties in the world in terms of both peoples and geography.  If I could only recommend one thing from this trip so far, its to go to the North Caucasus, with a bit of knowledge about the region and you will get a hell of a lot out of it.

The Beyneu Route:

The two main routes to  central asia for western motorcyclists are to go via Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan or to go down Kazakhstan thru Aktube to Chimkent.  There are plenty of reasons to look for alternatives, such as the Beyneu route I took.  (a) the ferry from Baku to Turkmenistan has no schedule.  Its not unheard of to wait 3-4 days for the ferry, spend a day or more on the ferry and then wait in harbour at Turkmenistan end for another 2 days before unloading.  On top of all that uncertainty, Turkmenistan may give you a 5 day transit visa, and may insist on a tourist visa.  The Tourist visa requires you to be escorted thru the country at great expense.  in any case, the visas are not that easy to get, and the only thing worth seeing in the country is the Darvarza burning crater, I can think of 100 reasons not to travel thru Turkmenistan.

(b) travelling via Aktyubinsk (Aktube) means you miss the highlights of Uzbekistan.  You wont see Khiva, Bukhara or Samarkand.  You wont see Khwarezm or the Karakalpaks.  Of the 5 central asian republics, 3 are countries I reckon you definately want to see … Uzbekistan for the culture and food, and Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan for the mountains and mountain roads.  Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan are (in my book) “missable”.

Putting that all together, and the route through Beyneu should be the main route.  The route of first instance !  I would recommend it.  The Kazakh side is pretty dull, but you do get to take in all the interesting bits of Uzbekistan without going out of your way.  And it is a route that is reasonably well used by Russian and Kazakh bikers!

Kazakhstan, Russia, Sibirsky Extreme

Kazakhstan – Part 1

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29.04.09, Atyrau, Kazakhstan

Today was a really boring day on the road.  Basically I spent 2 hours crossing a border, and 4.5 more hours riding 365 km on some mind numbingly boring roads that can only be descibed at “transit roads”.   There is no other reason to be on them.

I would have gone further but decided to stop in Atyrau, a wealthy Kazakh oil city, as its the last sign of civilisation for several days.

Since the scenery was pretty boring, and the only thing that stopped the roads being boring was the terrible state of them making it impossible to relax or travel at more than 90 km/h … and the 50 km/h constant sidewind blowing in across the Caspian Sea.  I was kept amused by odd thoughts and listening to a mix of Swedish group Kent, Mongolian group ‘Altan Urag’ and Kate Ryan.  Strange mix to say the least.

On a day where the travel is so boring, my mind began wandering and several bizarre thoughts crossed my mind.  The first was … how did I get to be riding a modified X-Challenge?  When I first thought of this trip, the F800 had just been announced and I always assumed I would do it on one of those.  3 things turned it all around in favour of an X Challenge.  (Well 4 really … as I was surprised how heavy the F800 weighed in at – might as well stick with the 1200.)

First .. about this time last year I was following the blog of Niccolo and Cyril – a couple of guys who packed it all in and took off on very short notice from London to Mongolia.  Niccolo (not the tallest man in the world) on a 1200 GSA and Cyril on a Transalp.  At the end of their Blog (eurasian motorcycle adventure link on the right) Niccolo commented “next time I do something like this I will do it on an X Challenge” … or something to that effect.  I had always looked at the X Challenge as a dirt bike and was thinking “What is he talking about? – he must be mad.”  But the thought stuck in my mind because subconciously I was looking out for X-Challenge stories.  Next step was hearing Simon Pavey taking one to Beijing on his transorientale rallye and planning to use on in the 2009 Dakar.  The bike finished easily and reliably and I spoke with Simon on his return from the transorientale, learning he had no mechanical problems.  Third, as I searched for information about the bike, one guys name kept coming up again and again on forums.  A chap out of Holland calling himself “MaxKool” … So I wrote to Max and asked him plenty of questions, and Max had plenty of answers, mostly all positive.  So the decision was made.  A BMW X-Challenge it was.

The other thing I worked out today while puttering along in the wind, on the Kazakh Steppe, was thanks to some information Max gave me.  I worked that even assuming I travel the whole 45,000 km in 5th gear, my one cylinder is going to have to do its funky little thing 108 million times, pretty much faultlessly, to get me to the end of this trip.  That’s a lot of jiggling about.

Other news from today … I am over 50 degrees east now.  I have entered my 24th country.  I clocked up the 9,000th kilometre of the trip today.  The oil leak attended to yesterday morning by Zhenya the Kalmyk Biker is sorted.  The animals out on the steppe are changing – on the Nogai Steppe there were cows and sheep.  On the Kalmyk Steppe there were cows, sheep and horses.  Now on the Kazakh Steppe there are horses and camels!

Some bad news.  The screen on my Eee has a problem.  It was jammed up against a bolt in one of my panniers and I guess the pressure of the bolt against the lid on the laptop has created a leak in the LCD screen.  About 5% of my screen is a black splodge.  I can live with it … but its a pity.  I have been very happy with this little beast.  I should have packed it better.

Nasty surprise when i went down for breakfast at 9:15 am on the 30th … I have moved forward another hour… breakfast closed at 10am.  it was now 10:15 am.   I am 4 hrs ahead of London now.

Kalmyk, Russia, Sibirsky Extreme

Astrakhan

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28.04.09 Astrakhan

I left the White Lotus Hotel in downtown Elista about Midday, for the ride to Astrakhan. First stop was to pop into Elista Lada and say thanks to Zhenya, the Kalmyk Biker for all his help and to wish him luck for his ride down to Pyatigorsk on the weekend. There is a big biker meet there for all of southern Russia and the Caucasus and apparently hundreds of bikers will be converging on Pyatigorsk, including all the boys form Elista.

Zhenya took time off work and decided to ride with me to the edge of town. At the edge of town he spotted that a small oil leak that I had since eastern europe, was getting worse, immediately identified the problem as probably beieng a loose engine bolt, and zoomed back to his workshop to get a couple more tools. I had suspected it was a dodgy gasket, and had been preparing to order a new gasket to collect and fit in Tashkent or Almaty from a BMW dealer, but here at the side of the dusty highway, on Elista’s outskirts, Zhenya fixed the problem with some silicon gasket goop, some serviettes from a nearby cafe and an star head allen key. Once done he assured me it was not a problem, just vibrations had made the bolt loose and thats why oil was seeping out before patting me on the back and sending me on my way.

The road from Elista to Astrakhan can only be described as featureless. I dont know what was more featureless, the grassy treeless Kalmyk Steppe or the endless cloudless blue sky. The view for most of the afternoon was of just two colours, the sheet of green on the bottom half and the sheet of blue above. There were two or three towns on the way but only the first one, Yashkul,  seemed to have any life. The others barely had petrol, let alone any somewhere too eat. I pressed on towards Astrakhan. I had a little off road detour planned and was happy enough to eat up the miles till then.

That is except for my little detour …  todays “special stage”  … while planning back in London I had spotted what looked like a good 40 km detour off the main road that wound its way through the dunes, lakes and waterways of the Volga delta, only 50-60 km from Astrakhan.

Back on the highway I spotted the start of the detour (an unmarked pair of wheel ruts off to the right across the dunes). The first 6 km was a simple run into that looked like an abandoned Soviet village. There were a few abandoned industrial building and the houses all seemd to have the windows smashed out. Tumbleweeds blew down the dusty rutted dirt streets, yet there was astrange feeling that this village (marked as Prikaspiysky on one of my maps) was not actually abaondoned. Sure enough I did see a couple of old Lada Niva 4wds parked around town, but I couldnt imagine what the owners of them did there.

7km further on down a sealed road was a more normal town, Buruny, where I had to find another unmarked turn off into the dunes. This track from Buruny back to the highway at Kurchenko village was a great track (sandy in places and rocky in others) and worthy of my road highlights. All the dunes and waterways were pretty much east west, and the first part of the tracks was onto of a 20km long dune, with a finger lake on either side. It was a fun track and an interesting landscape. When the dune and the lake on the left ended, the the track wound its way northeast around smaller lakes and a few small (high speed) salt pans before eventually rejoining the highway.

I was now only 40 km from Astrakhan and Nogai hospitality comes into the story again here. Shamil, the guy I stayed with in Terekli Mekteb, had a sister Sofia in Astrakhan who works in TV news. She was planning to meet me on my arrival in Astrakhan with a TV crew. All I had to do was call when I was 30 mins away … which was now. But alas, my phone battery was dead. I tried charging it on the bike with my cigarette lighter to USB adapter I had bought before leaving and had used once in Austria when faced with the same problem – but it seemed the charger had not survived a month of severe vibrations in my baggage. I had no way to contact Sofia (who’s number was also in my dead phone) and so I rode into Astrakhan out of contact and privately kind of relieved that there would not be a TV welcome and the hassle of interviews.

I found a mobile phone shop in the centre of town and charged my phone. As soon as it had power, I tried calling, but as it happens I also had no balance left on my Russian pay as you go sim card. And I had no cash with which to top it up – until I got to a bankomat. I called with my UK number and Sofia and friend picked me up and took me to her friends place – a Kazakh grandmother with 10 grandchildren, many of whom seemed to live in her enormous new house near the centre of town. As you could by now expect, I was fed more and more and more food. The first 3 weeks of this trip had seen me lose weight and gradually take on a decent fit shape, but the weeks I have been in Russia have put an end to all that. I am almost back to my departure size.