Rough Camping

Day 101 Monday 11^th July 2011 

We got up early and gave breakfast a miss, got on our bikes and said a firm goodbye to Belogorsk – if you are ever near this town just keep going and give it a miss unless you want a real Wild West experience.  I was glad to get away and an added bonus was the fact that we were now on the newly constructed road and riding was good with only the odd one or two obstacles. 

A much improved road

On the Road

The fog soon cleared to reveal a pleasant day for riding. We checked roads leading off to small towns along the route but they were all dirt tracks and we were trying to save the bikes for the stretch of road beyond Ulan Ude which we had heard was washboard and would take its toll on the suspension.  

We stopped for water at a cafe and saw a couple who were travelling thousands of miles across Russia on their way to Vladivostok on scooters loaded to the gunnels and we had a short chat and wished them well on this the last leg of their trip. Things were not so good for us as we discovered that the water we bought was carbonated and the cafe had no still. Don’t really fancy cooking with mineral water so we drank the carbonated and kept our existing supplies of the good stuff for later.

Now that's extreme motorcycling

Knowing that we would not be getting near to any big towns along this section we chose to look earlier than normal for a good camping spot and we were rewarded after 300 miles or so of riding with a spot about 100 metres off the main highway.

We set up camp and lit a fire to try and ward off the mosquitoes and any other living creature that might want to find its way to our sleeping quarters.  A small meal of pasta and meatballs was cooked and we enjoyed each mouthful of our only meal for the day.

Rough Camping

We only had one visit – a large truck had broken down and was being towed. The occupants three young lads, Dmi, Artur and a name I can’t recall plus a slightly older guy named Alexi came to see and speak to the English bikers. We made out that we were camping because we were poor and had not much money just in case they thought about relieving us of our cash but they were perfectly OK. They did warn us about bandits on this stretch of road and that maybe it was not a good idea to camp but we ignored their advice and set to sleep on what was to be our quietest night since we arrived in Russia.

Alex and the lads in their luxury sedan