St Petersburg – The Urban Side – Photos

I’m now back in the UK. Again. It’s wonderful with the warm sun and green fields, leafy trees and chirping birds. What a contrast to Magadan in the Russian Far East. And the girl in me is rather enjoying having a choice of clothes to put on in the morning, conditioner as well as shampoo [...]

Read More

Kolyma Highway Photos – Winter Biking – 2000km Yakutsk to Magadan

Well, there are many stories to tell from the last couple of months. The 2000km from Yakutsk to Magadan was a fantastic ride, made all the more memorable by the incredibly kind, generous, hospitable people I met along the way. My journal is full! But this blog post is not for telling those stories with [...]

Read More

Too Cold – Winter Biking Yakutia Photos

Oh where do I start?! I think for now, I will just show you the photos from the last couple of weeks. Mostly it was too cold to stop and take photos… sometimes when I did, the camera wouldn’t work anyway. When it’s -40C and colder (when I woke one morning from the bivvy, it [...]

Read More

Biking to Lake Baikal and Olkhon Island

Just over a week has passed since leaving Irkutsk… and now I’m back. Briefly. Tomorrow I take a train to Neriyungri to begin the very cold cycle to Yakutsk. But back to the last week. It seems a lot has happened. Firstly I cycled to Lake Baikal – it took five days. A bit longer [...]

Read More

Into the White

Time for a long-awaited update… After a few weeks back home, I’m finally back out in Russia – in Irkutsk, near Lake Baikal. The first 3 weeks at home were spent indulging in the guiltless excesses of good food and drink over xmas, safe in the knowledge that I’ll be...
Read More

In Search of the Aral Sea – From Khiva to Moynaq, Uzbekistan

Rather than retrace the direct route to the main road via Urgench, cycled along the smaller roads for a short cut towards Nukus. Riding through small towns and farmland. Uninspiring. But I was quite happy just pootling along. No particular rush. I thought again how this countryside reminded me...
Read More

Elliq Qala – A tour of the 50 Fortresses (well, 6 to be exact)

Because it had taken three hours for the taxi driver to find 3 other passengers, it was well after dark when I arrived in Tortkul. So rather than cycling out of town and camping, I found a place to stay. From here I was going to start a mini tour of the crumbling ruins of [...]

Read More

Photos of Samarkand

Samarkand was founded around 700BC by the Sogdians. It became one of the greatest cities in the world at the time due to it’s central location on the Silk Road, connecting China with the East. Later it became a centre of learning for Islam. In 1220, Chinggis Khan swept through and...
Read More

The Golden Road to Samarkand

Time is flying by. I have so much I could write about, but too little time to do it justice. That has been the trouble with this trip… not enough time to simply sit back and relax. Now I’m in Central Asia and no longer need to rush against the wintery weather, the 30 day [...]

Read More

Get On With It – Getting to Dushanbe and Visa Woes

So this was the plan… cycle through the Pamirs and on to Dushanbe, pick up my Uzbek visa and be on my way to Uzbekistan to see the Silk Road cities, make a brief detour to the remains of the Aral Sea and cycle on into Kazakhstan and fly home in time for Christmas. It [...]

Read More