Ulan Ude to Irktusk

Day 107 Sunday 17^th July 2011

We survived the night OK and set off from the hotel at around 10.30am. We stopped for fuel on the outskirts of Ulan Ude and bought drinks and some biscuit snacks to keep us going. The road to Irktusk was well signposted and after 20 or so miles we found ourselves back at the hotel where we had started. We started again but the signs took us on the same route. We saw Graham and Brigitte in their LandCruiser going the opposite way on their way to Mongolia. We got back to the hotel again and did the route in reverse in the vain hope that the signage would reveal the secret of escape from Ulan Ude but there was still no indication of where we should go so we used common sense, a map and a compass and took what we thought should be the right turning and just a half kilometre down the road was the sign for Irktusk – we had wasted over an hour and a half and 50 miles of fuel trying top get out of Ulan Ude- what great adventurers we are !

The road surface was not great, constant vigilance to avoid the bumps and potholes plus the inevitable sections of roadworks to further sap your strength delayed us making good time.

The journey to Lake Baikal seemed to take forever and when we got there the mist was hiding much of the scenery and we found that the towns surrounding this southern section of the Lake were hovels and devoid of the sort of hotel that we were in search of – one with wifi so we could contact home.

We decided to carry on to Irktusk and then promptly got stuck in a 5 mile traffic jam which we gingerly went up the inside and outside of until we were free to make the last part of the journey through the winding roads and forest not out of place in the foothills of the alps but coming complete with police speed traps which we managed to avoid.

We arrived in Irktusk at around 8pm and rode around for a good hour searching for a hotel or signs to a hotel before we found the Hotel Irktusk on the waterfront. We showered and had a meal in the restaurant before crashing out and sleeping solid through the night.