Reflections.....

The long haul north (with a side trip) has occupied the last week and the long days of steady driving have given me time to reflect on this trip so far, the next stage of returning to the UK and my plans beyond that.....

After Taras I stopped once more near the abandoned city of Sauran where a useful steel canopy provided some respite from the sweltering temperatures aided by the wind that usually blows across the thousands of kilometres of empty steppe. Train spotting was also possible as passenger and freight trains rumbled through the night not far away. A night in Qizlorda saw the overnight temperature staying above 30°C after spending the evening in the air conditioned mall.

The Baikonor cosmodrome was a rare feature on the horizon in the otherwise desolate landscape before I passed Aral once more. Turning off on to a side road at the junction in Qarabutaq I found a quiet place amongst trees for a peaceful, but again very warm, night. I could enjoy a shower as the hot water tank was heating up due to the high van temperatures as the aircon was only really effective up front.

There was no need to return to Aktobe itself so the road veered south west towards Russia and I trundled on at a steady 50mph achieving 48mpg on good roads with light traffic. There were far fewer trucks than a couple of months ago so I wondered if much of that traffic had been backlogs clearing once the road from Georgia was open after the winter. I had been in at least two minds as to the wisdom of doing a 1000 mile detour down to Mangestaw and Aktaw but with plenty of time in hand veered south and eventually stopped out in the wilds as the sun set. 

Surrounded by camels the next morning I was soon away to stop late morning at Beynew where I found my way in to a large grassy park surrounded by trees that provided the all-important shade. Later on two guys turned up asking how I had got in and I explained that a man near the gate had said it was OK. They seemed happy with that and were joined later by a number of others for a barbecue. One came over to borrow a sharp knife and invite me to join them - it turned out they were all from the local police force and their chief had put on the barbecue for them. Delicious grilled lamb, beef and a salad with bread was washed down with Czech lager although I called time on their vodka. It was a memorable occasion and followed by a quiet night. Signs to Uzbekistan only 50 miles away to the southeast were frustrating as that border is still closed and coming this way and then on to Chiva would have saved a couple of thousand miles....

During the long haul south west to the coast (300+ miles) I spotted a lone female cycle tourist heading north east in a very hot and remote area with little chance to escape the heat or obtain food or water. A couple of hours later I saw two guys also cycling that way but doubt they were all together. The huge distances, sweltering conditions and limited stops available would have made their challenges beyond arduous. Down at Aktaw which is situated over a large oil reserve and littered with donkey pumps I found some shade in a dusty carpark on the sea front and walked south along the coast following a boardwalk beneath the limestone cliffs to a small marina.

A wedding party were doing the photo shoots and away in the distance lay the commercial port - the Caspian Sea is the largest landlocked body of water on earth and to my surprise there were some huge tankers and other merchant shipping out at sea. I knew there were no passenger or vehicle ferries across to Russia or Azerbaijan so I began to retrace my steps as reaching the best sights of the area required many miles of rough access tracks. With the huge distances involved in getting home I decided to minimise the demands I am making on the van and really should not have bothered with this diversion. Whilst heading back towards Atiraw I saw a young guy walking on a parallel sandy track with rucksack and flag, showing no sign of asking for a lift and could not understand how he was going to survive the task ahead of him. 

After another long day I stopped near the football stadium at Kulsary and found a decent restaurant for an excellent meal before a hot night dealing with a few elusive mosquitoes.

Yesterday I returned to Atiraw the final city before Russia and parked where I had stayed with Fabrice back in late April. I walked over the illuminated suspension bridge remembering that last time I had needed my down jacket and enjoyed a good meal in the fairground after walking through the Memorial Park. A thunderstorm just before I arrived had left standing water in the car park which the local youths seemed keen to drive through at speed but eventually it all went quiet.

Today I returned to the plumbing supplies that are normally happy to top up your water tanks but being a Saturday they were shut so I resorted to using my 8l bottles at a drinking water dispensing machine. I stopped at a car accessory shop for two 10l jerry cans as I'm aware of potential fuel shortages in Russia following disruption of their refining capacity. If I fill up before the border then I would have almost 800 miles of range to cover the 500 miles across Russia, over the Caucasus and back to Stepantsminda in Georgia which is a healthy enough margin.

Thus I am now an hour or so from the border which I hope to cross tomorrow and have parked up on the edge of Krasilovka much to the delight of the local kids. It is cooler thanks to the cloud cover so I have dealt with this post as the internet may well be restricted over the next few days. Certainly mapping and my sat nav will be disrupted as on the way through and I will need to change my remaining Kazakh tenge and perhaps a hundred dollars in to rubles as my bank card will also be temporarily redundant.

So.... Reflections.

This post marks the end of the portion of this trip that covers the Stans and a rather daunting 9,000 miles of travelling over 9 weeks. The vastness of Kazakhstan (9th largest country in the world) has accounted for the bulk of that but the side trip to Chiva in Uzbekistan added a fair bit (see comment earlier), Tajikistan didn't happen and the loop east almost to the Chinese border in Kyrgyzstan added yet more miles.

I have seen the most amazing sights both natural and man made and the latter both ancient and modern, met some inspirational fellow travellers, and covered roads ranging from fast smooth dual carriageways to mountain tracks that tested the van almost to its limits. The van has not missed a beat and performed beyond expectations in areas where had issues arisen breakdown and recovery options were in effect non existent.

This exposure and isolation is a constant at the back of your mind and despite meeting hundreds of truly warm, welcoming and friendly locals from all the countries visited I have spent many hours in my own company and had time to look back at this trip, the many others before it, my 15 years on the farm in Wales and the cycling trips to India and Nepal in '86 & 7. Right across these last 40 years I have amassed a host of memories, experiences and learning curves combined naturally with a raft of highs and lows.  

My conclusion to all these reflections is that I have been hugely privileged and extremely fortunate to have had the health and means to follow my dreams. So many of the people I have met will never have those opportunities and many live lives of hardship and endurance that circumstance dictates is unlikely to change. The huge majority of people though are decent, approachable, intrigued and interested and share what little they have to a humbling degree which where possible I have tried to reciprocate.

I have a couple of months to cross Georgia and Turkey before returning to Europe and my exact plans and route are as yet uncertain but the outcomes will continue to be reported here. In Tbilisi I will spend a couple of days cleaning out the van, servicing the largely unused bike and dealing with an accumulation of laundry : as ever there is a lot of dust to be addressed.......