Refuelling with coffee, keeping an eye on our bikes through the autumn harvest window display.
Pumpkins queuing up for the dreaded halloween hollowing…
comment 1
Romania
Footage of our journey across Romania.
We really enjoyed Bucharest and ended up staying way longer than we had envisioned. Our planned time-frame was quickly forgotten about when we were distracted by all the cafes, bars, shops and markets. We were lucky enough to catch a music festival and a wine festival on the same day! We got the bikes fixed so they’re in tip-top shape ready to cross Europe.
The Altai Republic
Having battled off road conditions for over 800 km through tough corrugated tracks and desert paths on the last leg of our Mongolian trip, we were greeted by Tarmac once we crossed the border into the Altai Republic, Russia. To myself and Laura it may as well have been a welcoming red carpet unfolded out for us!
The road, the Chusky Tract, we travelled on, from the Mongolian border through the Altai, was a cyclists dream offering some exhilarating downhill stretches. Considering we started at an altitude of over 1500 mts at the border town, Kosh Agach, to our current position of just over 100 mts at Barnaul it’s possible we may have dented some Russian pride as we occasionally whizzed past labouring Ladas as we took full advantage of the downhill decent.
Gradually moving from the open steppe of Mongolia to the forested hills and mountains of the Altai. There is no greater joy than freewheeling at speed down a hill!
My tyres (Schwalbe Mondial) were on their last ‘legs’ as we crossed into the Altai Republic. To save weight we only had one spare tyre between us, perhaps a bit risky considering the terrain we were up against, but generally they held up well, despite what the above picture may suggest. The sidewalls of my tyres were quite weak and prone to rip and tear, so whenever there was a weak spot I would reinforce the tyre from the inside with old fabric,sugru, parts of an old tyre tube and super glue, crude but effective!
Bye bye Mongolia
A quick video summary of the trip through Mongolia. We were overwhelmed by the kindness and generosity shown to us in Mongolia, we hope to be back again some day.
Living it up in Russia now! We’ve been stuffing our faces with cheese and cake, Laura dropped to her knees when she saw cheese in the shop, a heavenly apparition in the dairy aisle, it’s been 40 cheeseless days, she really misses cheese!
We got through the Mongolian/Russian border in record time but minus one of Laura’s panniers. We even went back to the border to check after we realized it was missing. Laura had to sit through 1 hour of cctv footage to see if she could figure out where it went. Still a mystery. So now we only have one sleeping bag, sleeping mat and pillow between us. She also lost her down jacket, so it’ll be a chilly introduction to Russia.
Mongolian food
Mongolian food is very much a meat and flour based cuisine with not much room for fruit, vegetables or spices.
A typical meal at a Mongolian restaurant, noodles and meat washed down with milky, salty tea. Read More
Mongolia-Tosontsengel to Ulgii
An inviting gate on the way into Tosontsengel. A quadrent of hanging horse sculls.
Idillic campsite, we thought we were in the middle of nowhere in this wooded hillside until an old man came rolling silently on his motorbike and offered us blueberries he picked in the woods and then just as silently rolled away. Read More
Mongolia-Tsetserleg to Tosontsengel
Tsetserleg!
A Buddhist monastery in Tsetserleg that over looked the town. Read More
Mongolia
Ulaanbaatar to Tsetserleg
We were kindly hosted by EK and his family in UB who helped us hit the ground running. EK chauffeured us around to pick up supplies and extend our visas. We had our first taste of marmot and fermented mare’s milk. Thanks EK!
Mongolizing…
We had paved roads out of UB so it was free sailing for the first leg of the journey. At night we followed a dirt track off road to find a quiet place to camp. Read More
Last minute preparations and packing (Japan).
From this…
To this!
We spent the guts of two days packing our boxes and gear for the flight from Japan to Mongolia, and about an hour freaking out at the airport as we were told the boxes were too big! We were eventually given the all clear and boarded the plane. Hopefully we won’t have the same experience as we fly from Novosibirsk, Russia, in six weeks time.
Planning and Gear
Over the last 18 months we have spent a lot of time researching and experimenting with equipment for our trip. It can become a bit of a bottomless pit as you dig the internet for more and more reviews, summaries and conclusions. Plans, routes and equipment change as the route evolves. With 17 days left to our departure date I think we are finally happy with what we will be taking with us.
The gear I will be carrying, excluding food and water.
Crank and Cog 