Taraz - Hail stopped play

Day 34 187 Km ( 10723 km total)

 

Today's lesson - read the signs & trust your instinct. If I had done that this morning, I wouldn't have ended up shivering uncontrollably & trying to hug a hot motorcycle engine.

- - -

 

Out of the bedroom window at the back of the hotel this morning, it looked like something was brewing in the distance. I had a feeling this might be a cool wet ride.

 

But out the front of the hotel, everything was warm & sunny ... Still, I had the presence of mnd to put my waterproof overtorusers & jacket liner in an accessible place, just in case, before we set off.

Half an hour or so down the road and it was getting cooler & more overcast, with the odd spit of rain. So I stopped for some fuel and put the liners on. Just in time, as I pulled away, the heaven's opened.

 

The next two hours were probably the most uncomfortable I have ever felt on bike. It was belting down, these were big tropical raindrops like we used to get in Thailand & Indonesia .... but much much colder!

Still the gear seemed to be doing its job, apart from my hands (perforated gloves) I wasnt actually wet inside, just a bit cool. In any case after that petrol station we were on open plains and there was no shelter at all, so no point in stopping.

After about an hour of torrential rain, it started to hail and these were big hailstones - i was worried the lights might get smashed, so slowed right down, even so the noise as they smashed into my helmet was a bit scary. Cars were pulling up at the side of the road, but there was no point in doing that as there was no shelter, so I carried on, hoping to ride through it soon.

Eventually I think I must have broke through the front of the storm, as the hail suddenly gave way to rain & then stopped and I was in sunshine. I pulled over for a bit to let Russ catch up, as he was a several minutes behind me. When I got off the bike, there were still some hailstones left on the seat.

 

The view back down the road where I had come from (the mountains are obscured ny the storm)

 

Russ caught up and after a brief exchange we started off again just as the rain caught up with us.

Now, up to this point I was reasonably happy with my gear choice, my legs were fine, the waterproof overtrousers were doing their job. My hands were very cold and wet, but the heated grips just about kept that at bay. My feet were also a bit damp and cold which was a shame as the boots are supposed to be waterproof. My body was dry but quite cool, and here's the thing ....

The jacket I wear is designed to be well ventilated (good for riding in hot climates), but of course, ventilation also lets in water. So the jacket comes with a zip in goretex waterproof liner for when it rains, this is what I had fitted earlier. The liner stops water getting onto your body, but of course the jacket itself and the outside facing of the liner become soaked. What I had'nt fully appreciated was what happens when you take this situation and start riding again back into cold wind & rain.

Under my jacket I just wear a thin nylon sports top. So basically, almost next to my skin was a thin jacket liner, dry but very cold due to its wet outer face and beyond that a completeley soaked outer jacket. Now add cold wind & lashings of cold rain or hail & you have basically created a fridge.

I felt this effect almost as soon as I set off again, but thought nothing of it. As we ascended and were once again on the open shelterless roads and the wind & rain came back on full force, I could feel my body temperature rapidly dropping. After half an hour I couldnt stop shivering & so had to pull over & do what I should have done much earlier - put my thermal gear on.

The reason I had not done this sooner was it was packed inside my panniers, which meant unstrapping the spair tyre, dry bag etc from the top first. The process takes about 10 mintes, which in driving rain is no fun at all, then of course I have to take my jacket off in order to put the thermal gear on.

Anyway, lucklty I saw a small shelter in the distance, so pulled up at thst and put something more suitable next to my skin. Problem solved, but it was an hour or two before I really felt comfortable again.

Lesson learned!

 

 

Half an hour or so late things were beginning to look a little brighter

And you could actually see the scenery.

 

We stopped to discuss what to do next as time was getting on. Our planned destination was across the border into Kyrgystan and to the Talas valley. However that was in the direction of the right hand half of this next picture - yes the bit in the middle of the storm clouds. Neither of us fancied a border crossing in the rain or more mountain roads in hail, so we decided to stop instead at Taraz in Kazakhstan and do the crossing in the mornring.

So after a quick circuit of the town, we found an OK hotel and checked in for the night.

 

and I finished the day with a hearty kazak soup and meat wrap and finally felt properly warm again.

 

 

 

Shymkent - closed border, police & rain

Day 33 307 km ( 10536 km total)

 

A plan to get to Taraz in Kazakhstan today was thwarted by a closed border, a long crossing, police checks and rain.

 

- - -

Not many photos today due to the weather, & frankley not much to take photos of.

We headed down the main Tashkent to Shymkent highway to the border, an easy hour away. But when we got there found it was closed to vehicles, (pedestrians only) and were re-directed to another crossing an hour and a half away!

Just after leaving Tashkent, I should add, we accidentaly went through a Police checkpoint without stopping ...oops! We only realised when there was some commotion and whistles blowing behind us, but we pretended not to hear it & carried on. So not wanting to chance going back through the same crossing, we cunningly plotted a route around the outskirts of Tashkent..

Feeling pleased with ouselves we rejoined the main roads and ran straight into another checkpount! Howevere these guys didnt seem aware of our previous transgression and just wanted to chat & look at the bikes for a while.

Finally arriving at the border 2 hours later than planned, at least it was quiet so should make for a fast crossing. Wrong!

They decided it was multiple illogical offices & form filling time, followed by pannier emptying time.

Anyway, well behind schedule we were eventually through and back into Kazakhstan.

Usual roads

 

My satnav was saying we wernt going to get to Taraz until about 19:30, and then we had to hunt around for accommodation - not looking good. And neither did those clouds, the drop in temperature & growing wind.

 

Not long after it started to rain, nothing particularly dramatic but enough to make the thought of riding unto the dark looking for somewhere to stay rather unapealing. So after confering, we were both of the opinion that we should head for Shymkent and stop in the first place we saw.

So that we did, arriving wet & dripping in the foyer but keen to hit the wifi & find out how Alan had got on.

 

Atyrau to Beyneu - in search of a bed

Day 26 435 Km ( 8326 Km total)

 

A long ride, camel spotting & accommodation hunting

 

- - -

Leaving tye centre of Atyrau, it was easy to forget what xountry I was in. Pristine buildings & manicured flower beds.

 

But a few km outside of the city, it all changed.

 

The road surface was pretty good though & so good progess was made.

Not much to see apart from the marker posts

And the odd camel, keeping watch.

More marker posts, this one favouring an wild cat of some sort.

 

 

More camels ....

... And then a different sort of camel, must have been ostracised by his mates ala ugly duckling, as he was all on his own.

The road went in almost a perfect straight line for maybe 300km ... With on,y these minor distractions to break the monotony ...

occasionally there would be a cemetary

 

 

Pretty clouds ... Hum tee humm tee humm ...

Then we reached Beyneu, the last town & chance of accommodation before the Uzbek border some 70km away. No hotels were listed anywhere, so it was a case of riding around looking & asking ...

No joy at this place ...

 

This one was a newly built motel but not open yet ...

After half 3/4 of an hour we found this place, that was open & had rooms ... It was a little "physco" like inside, but we had been on the road cor about 9 hours by this time so would take more or less anything .... Plus it was the only one in town, which provided an added incentive. The building behind was a restaurant of sorts, where we went to eat.

 

Bed for the nights - good enough

 

 

& lots of camels walking past outside.

 

An early night tonight as it had been a long day. Tomorrow its off to the Uzbek border, which should be intersting. The road to it is supposedto be very rough & the border problematic.

Early start required.

Sorry Mr Putin ...

Day 25 - 371 km ( 7891 km total )

 

A long, bumpy but actually uplifting day into Kazakhstan,

 

- - -

 

The new packing regime seams secure & stable. OK carrying two tyres had added maybe 7kg to the weight,but I had thrown a few things away and been able to get more into the panniers so the weight distribution wasn't too bad.

Ready for off...

 

Back over the Volga, to turn East towards the border.

 

 

About 30 km later there was another river to cross, but this time by pontoon (floating bits of bridge,cabled together)

 

An interesting experience as it was constantly moving around underneath you, especially when traffic came the other way. The metal floor was also quite slippy.

Then another small river, not long after, but with a real bridge this time.

There was then a stretch of the open plains we saw yesterday running up to the border.

The exit from Russia was easy, curteous & fast - after that its just a 7km stretch of no-mans land before you reach the Kazakhstan entry post, where we had to queue for a while.

The entry process was quite easy (no visa for Kazakhstan required at the moment) and the guards were really friendly.

 

Then we were in Kazakhstan, just insurance to buy before we hit this police check pount a few hundred metres down the road. The whole border process both exit & entry only took about 90 minutes, much better than the 3 hours that everyone had advised. Good start to the day.

The policeman did stop me, but only so he could have a go at revving the Tiger, then waved me on my way!

 

 

The next nice surprise was the roads away from the border, actually pretty good. I was beginning to like Kazakhstan, it certainly felt more relaxed than Russia.

 

A local school

 

And petrol station ...

and houses that appeared to be made out of mud blocks

Open straight roads with little traffic ...

 

I'm in Kazakhstan, & I like it :-)

 

Then the road surface deteorated dramatically. Pot holes every few metres, some very big and a continuous line of deformed tarmac, somethimes a foot higher than the rest of the road.

But traffice was light so I was still able to travel at between 50-90 km/h, just needed to concentrate hard and move around the road a lot to avoid the worst bumps. The 21inch front wheel certainly helps on this terrain.

 

 

Occasional monuments dotted the area.

 

And what I presume were cemetaries

Occasional distant views of settlements, very few actually on the road.

 

Most of the journey the view was just like this

 

 

Camels! ... Time for a whole series of 'hump' jokes

A camel train ...

another one of those marker posts we saw yesterday

 

She looked like she was waiting for a bus ... Nothing around for miles!

Cars would suddenly appear, usually behind a long dust cloud

 

and finally after about 5 hours riding, arrived in Atyrau, a thoroughly modern city in the middle of dessrt scrub - oil money I assume as there were a lit of oil related works around.

Overall, so far in tems of people, roads, police, & even scenery I much prefer Kazakhstan to the part of Russia that we went through. Sorry Mr Putin, it just feels nicer.

 

Tomorrow its off to Beyneu near the border with Uzbekistan. No accommodation avaialble online and its only a small place so may be camping or in someones house. So probably no wifi & blog for a couple of days.