Right, this will be fun... due to techy shenanigans beyond my knowledge I can't access Blogspot in the normal way on my tablet so this post is being composed on my phone so my fingers and eyes will soon give up on me...
After the Sulak Canyon I dropped back down to the main road after finding the water tap from P4N even though a helpful local had left an SUV right in front of it.
Heading east towards Makhachkala, a large port on the Caspian Sea I took a short detour on 4 miles of very rough and muddy track to visit a bizarre and enormous inland sand dune.
A planned stop on the Caspian Sea at the small village of Sulak was as far removed from the golden beaches of Cephalonia as you could imagine. There was no sign of the water just an endless mud flat strewn with litter at the end of a muddy track.
With plenty of daylight left I headed north with a border inspection at the line between Dagestan and Kalmykia providing some interest as it included a whole vehicle X-RAY rather like the one at Tangier Med. All the border staff were courteous and friendly and I was soon on my way.
Artezian just off the main route provided a quiet stop with flocks of sheep returning at sunset followed by a herd of galloping horses. Two local policemen stopped and were fine and I slept well.
In addition to an intermittent data signal, which caused the VPN to fail regularly, as you got near any town the GPS accuracy went off the scale rendering Google Maps etc and my Sat Nav unusable again. However offline Mapy.com enabled me to take a visual snapshot of the routes and I found the park up on the bank of the Volga where one Italian coachbuilt and a 4x4 truck were already in situ.
The promenade along the river was vibrant and lively in the evening after I had spent the afternoon searching for a bank as I decided more rubles would be useful. It took me a while to realise that the search results for bank included ATMs which led me to all sorts of unlikely shop interiors. Anyway eventually on Lenin Square I found a large imposing building that was indeed a bank and soon had my first $100 changed.
'Latte i tort' in a smart cafe fuelled me for a look round the imposing kremlin (fortified citadel) that contained some stunning churches before I returned to the van and a walk on the prom, amused by older VW vans being used as coffee bars, each complete with a mock red telephone box. That evening I ate in the restaurant opposite and apart from ordering a whole bottle of vodka instead of a beer (fortunately happily rectified) all went well.
F and I left the following morning after another good meal and stopped on the outskirts of the city for fuel with 80l costing £40.
As we followed the wet and muddy road east to the border we had to pay a small toll to cross an exciting floating bridge of hinged steel plates and within an hour were overtaking the HGVS lined up approaching the border.
We were soon waved through for first Passport Control and then Customs and Vehicle Export which took perhaps an hour and a half in total. One guy was collecting our phone numbers and the IMEI numbers of the device but eventually we were on through a muddy nomansland of the wider Volga Delta.
At the Kazakhstan border the process repeated and again the staff were polite, helpful and thorough. Once through we stopped for insurance at a small yellow hut on the right : Category B vehicles costing about £20 for a month : 12,500 tenge.
Before going in a very smart lady had approached offering to change money and offered 460,000 tenge for $1,000. About right with perhaps 1% commission and very easy... I attempted to count the 90 or so notes but failed although checking later it had all been fine.
Another small shop provided a BEELINE SIM with 30Gb valid for a month for £15 although she struggled a bit to get me set up, in the end it was just down to accepting the new settings and we were good to go.
We moved on but stopped for lunch off the road before moving on over the flat steppe with a good surface, camels and horses appearing and a few trucks to be overtaken so plenty going on. The donkey oil pumps began appearing as well and when we stopped at a motel a friendly group of geologists explained that oil was easily found throughout the region. Unfortunately they thought the motel was shut to other guests so we moved on 20 miles and found a quiet park up by a turgid river. After a busy day we both slept well although a light rain made me worry a bit about getting away.
It was a bit sticky but doable and I slid back on to the tarmac for the quick hour to Atiraw on the Aral river. P4N suggested a plumber's merchants would provide water and indeed they did free of charge which seemed very kind, they were all really friendly, wanted a selfie in the van and then helped F fill his Jerry cans after which a large expedition truck also turned up. I gave them some chocolates and then moved on to park inside a large meander of the Aral.
A long walk down the river was very enjoyable and I crossed over to view a stunning church before heading back admiring all the shiny new apartment blocks, with dozens more under construction.
Unexpectedly in a burger bar opposite a large white monument and fountain my Visa Debit card worked fine so I will try it elsewhere as if I can save enough dollars it will enable me to possibly return home through Russia, Belarus, Poland and Germany which would make full use of the visa.
Anyway I'm off to see the nearby suspension bridge that should be lit at night and my digits are knackered.
Great experience in Russia of consistently lovely people and the same here in Kazakhstan: 6,000 miles since leaving Brecon in late December, many more to come...
Two albums
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