Since our last blog things have stayed hilly. We got a nice early start (finished breakfast by midday) and climbed up to the peak above our camp, which turned out to be a mite steeper than we realised, but we were still back down for lunch.

A slightly disappointing lunch though – we’ve been having quite a few pot noodle-type things which have been really tasty, but in Barnaul we went for the budget option and ended up with essentially a cup of hot water with ‘noodles’ and msg. Yum. Still, we were able to take the taste (or lack thereof) away with some fantastic Russian bread. This isn’t fantastic in the ‘fresh-out-of-a-French-boulangerie-at-6-in-the-morning’ kind of way, oh no, it’s quite the opposite. This bread is never knowingly fresh, it’s ever-stale, but the upside is it never goes any staler! And while I’m on a food riff: one thing we’ve all learned on this trip is that east of France the most common form of meat by quite some distance is what we call danger sausage, that is some form of fatty meaty goodness wrapped in a reddish skin with no indication of contents.

Anyway, back to the hills. We had a little dip and skimmed stones in a freezing meltwater river in the afternoon before Pete and I headed back to the village up the valley to pick up some supplies for the evening. Our 30-minute trip lasted two hours as we had to find the owner to open the shop for us and every town drunk (something Russian towns aren’t short of) tried to persuade us to buy them beer. Then finally some chap came and asked (as we eventually worked out) for a lift back up the valley to look for a horse he’d lost.

The Russians are very like the British in many ways, and here was a prime example: if you don’t understand them they go for the louder and slower option, which comes across a bit aggressive! We gave him a lift and he set off down a cliff face in search of his horse.

The next day was a beautiful drive through a stunning valley where we picked up a Latvian hitch-hiker, Tom, who was working his fifth season in the Altai teaching kayaking – apparently some of the best in the world. He helped us out with our last stock-up in Russia then we set out for the Mongolian border.

Before long we’d left the trees and grass behind and were in a huge flat valley with snow-capped peaks lining the right and rolling barren mountains to the left. So we turned left. And drove upwards. To 2600m. Roxanne is amazing! The view was breathtaking, and we even got to watch a lightning storm roll in beneath us.

We camped up and hit the border the next day. The crossing was our quickest for a while at 1 hour 57 minutes (annoyingly exactly the time Pete had guessed!) Now we’re in Mongolia and very excited! The landscape is vast and barren, with hills and peaks reaching the sky in every direction, and the same sense of freedom we had in Kazakhstan is back – roads are off the agenda. It would be nice if someone could tell us what time zone we’re in though!

Finally just a couple of questions and a request.

1. Can someone send us the email addresses of the main Japanese airlines (we are after some sponsorship)?

2. What are the dates for the Reindeer and Nadaam festivals in Mongolia?

3. Does anyone know any good recipes for cabbage-based meals in a single pan? We have run out.

- David

On the iPod: ‘Heroes’ by David Bowie

We set off from our last camp and drove towards Semey. En route we got chatting to a friendly farmer who gave us some deliciously sour horses milk.

He used to be a scientist at the nuclear testing site and it was interesting to hear about it all. We had about a half hour conversation with him, despite absolutely minimal common language. His use of hand signals was fantastic!

After Semey and crossing the fifth longest river in the world the landscape changed dramatically once again to giant fields, like the ones in Ukraine.
We camped in a small copse and had a cracking few games of Flop. We also discovered that the rough roads had an adverse affect on our Landy. We’d probably driven into one too many potholes too fast and sheared off a section of suspension.

The next day we crossed the border back into Russia. The Kazakh border guards seemed interested in everything we had. We had a good throw around of the Nerf with them in their big inspection shed!

In the first town we came to we got the vehicle ‘fixed’. The garage we unwittingly chose was staffed by three cowboy mechanics. One was off his face on vodka whilst the other two welded the piece back on using a ‘Sputnik’ welder and not bothering with a welding mask! It was a bit of a bodge job but we think it’ll hold.

The next day we made it to Barnaul, our biggest city in a long time. We had a cracking few days getting some supplies and sampling the nightlife. We chanced upon a friendly Russia journalist, Dmit, who interviewed us for the regional newspaper, and the lovely Jenya, a local who kindly showed us around the city. Many thanks to them both.

Barnaul is now two days behind us. We camped last night in a beautiful glade in some hills high above the road. It was terrific apart from the incessant mosquitoes. I’ve never been eaten so much in all my life. There was a constant high pitch whine in the air as they orbited your head!

Today we drove high into the Altai Mountains, a range that many Asian cultures have originated from and believe to be spiritual. They are certainly very beautiful. For most of the day we drove along fantastic roads with forested mountains and hills rising on either side.

After an incredibly invigorating swim in the melt-water river, we turned off the road late in the afternoon and crossed the ricketiest bridge I’ve ever driven across. It was apparently rated to 7 tonnes but I didn’t really trust the Russian engineering. I wonder when its last safety check was! We then drove up a track cut into a high cliff as it rose above the raging torrent.

We’re camped up in a hanging valley, high above the river. We’re not sure but we think we can hear wolves howling in the distance. At the end of the valley stand snow-capped mountains. Tomorrow we shall attempt to climb one of them.

- Spike

Police stop count: 19 (including one friendly chap who just stopped us, asked us where we were headed and sent us on our way!)

Playing on the iPod: “Buck Rogers” by Feeder

P.S. We’re not exactly sure what the piece we broke on the Land Rover does. It’s a metal bar situated just behind the front axle and running parallel to it. If anyone would like to look up what it does and send the answer to the sat phone that’d be cracking. Many thanks!