B - reporting
We consumed porridge, dodged mozzies, and were bitten by millions of no-see-ums. Then headed for a day of sightseeing, as back in Olgii G met a couple of Russians, who told him about stone circles, waterfalls and a prehistoric cave in the vicinity.
We think the first sight was the stone circle...but despite driving around the village we thought it was near, we couldn't find it. Never mind, on to the waterfall!
We really have no idea where this was...but we looked! Past pretty villages, full of wooden houses with carved shutters painted a cheerful blue. They all seem to have vegetable gardens, and some also had front yards bursting with colourful flowers. I'm not sure how many houses in these villages have running water, as we saw many people going to and from the pump towing large containers of water.
The roads were now dirt, in really crappy condition, with cows lurking round each bend, poised to saunter across the road in front of us. They seem to have no sense of preservation, unlike the wonderful yaks! It started to rain, so we abandoned the waterfall and headed for the prehistoric cave.
And could we find it? No. More dirt roads, suicidal cows, unexpected geese but no sign of a cave. So we decided to cut across country on minor roads back to the M52, the main road to Barnaul. This country road soon became a one lane mud track. With visions of getting bogged down in mud and having to wait for a passing Kamaz, we turned back and retraced our route all the way back, past last night's campsite, to the M52.
It was raining pretty heavily by now, so we pushed on hoping it would stop, or we'd drive out of it. We crossed a mountain pass, at the top of which a random Russian man shook our hands because we were driving across Russia. We eventually found a campsite by a river where a friendly Russian fisherman showed us a good spot. He then left, as it was raining and he had a home to go to.
It rained all night.
All in all, it was not our most successful day.
We consumed porridge, dodged mozzies, and were bitten by millions of no-see-ums. Then headed for a day of sightseeing, as back in Olgii G met a couple of Russians, who told him about stone circles, waterfalls and a prehistoric cave in the vicinity.
We think the first sight was the stone circle...but despite driving around the village we thought it was near, we couldn't find it. Never mind, on to the waterfall!
We really have no idea where this was...but we looked! Past pretty villages, full of wooden houses with carved shutters painted a cheerful blue. They all seem to have vegetable gardens, and some also had front yards bursting with colourful flowers. I'm not sure how many houses in these villages have running water, as we saw many people going to and from the pump towing large containers of water.
The roads were now dirt, in really crappy condition, with cows lurking round each bend, poised to saunter across the road in front of us. They seem to have no sense of preservation, unlike the wonderful yaks! It started to rain, so we abandoned the waterfall and headed for the prehistoric cave.
And could we find it? No. More dirt roads, suicidal cows, unexpected geese but no sign of a cave. So we decided to cut across country on minor roads back to the M52, the main road to Barnaul. This country road soon became a one lane mud track. With visions of getting bogged down in mud and having to wait for a passing Kamaz, we turned back and retraced our route all the way back, past last night's campsite, to the M52.
It was raining pretty heavily by now, so we pushed on hoping it would stop, or we'd drive out of it. We crossed a mountain pass, at the top of which a random Russian man shook our hands because we were driving across Russia. We eventually found a campsite by a river where a friendly Russian fisherman showed us a good spot. He then left, as it was raining and he had a home to go to.
It rained all night.
All in all, it was not our most successful day.
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| Camping and cooking dinner in the rain :-( |
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