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Day 22 - A jolly nice day

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Following on from the previous blog...

Last night was a good night - a very good night. We didn't get smashed, tipsy was all our feeble exhausted bodies could manage, but we ate well and caught up a lot with other rallyers, both ones we knew and undiscovered friends. Hitting the sack at 4am, I woke up without any sense of time whatsoever. Not having my phone, a watch, or a clock in the room meant I was completely confused about when in the day i'd decided to awake.

I lay in for a bit, or as best I could with the thought of being the last one up hovering over me like a storm cloud. To keep your team behind is one thing, but to hold up an entire convoy was another. I felt refreshed enough though, showered and sorted my bag out, and headed down to see if they were waiting at reception.

It was 7.30am. Damn. Ah well, I was up and no point in going back to bed, so had a little wander around the area and updated some blogs using the free wifi, obviously perched on the red leather sofa in front of reception and attracting a few looks accusing me of being too cheap to pay for internet in my room. Which of course couldn't have been further from the truth - nothing would have made me happier than to pay the £2 to get wifi from the comfort of my own bed, but trying to work out which Cyrillic option on the laptop to actually pay for it proved to be a fruitless 30 minutes of my time.

Eventually though, people did stir and began to join my lonely awake party, the latest getting up at 11am. The plan for today was to push towards the Altay Mountains, the fabled mountain range many have deemed the most beautiful part of the entire rally. Everyone checked out by 11.15am, and a rally party was formed in the car park; more chat, lots of repacking and even a bit of cleaning. 

Mackey decided to have another look at Ed's exhaust, his previous attempt at a fix failing after 1km. He needed a few parts - some jubilee clips and other such hardware, so myself, Will and Emma headed into the city to try and find the Russian B&Q. Food was also on the agenda - stocking up every few days so we could survive in our camping wilderness (those days where we don't find ourselves in a cheap hotel of course).

Driving along the main road, we spotted a supermarket. Which turned out to be a hardware store. And a supermarket hidden next door. What fantastic luck. The three of us, deeming ourselves Team Supermarket Sweep (little things like that keep us entertained) entered and marvelled at yet more foreign products to buy. We ended up filling an entire trolley, and more, with essentials (such as water). Lunch was on the menu as well, considering it was now midday and Mackey's repairs usually take a few hours. We bought food, and a rotisserie chicken for lunch, and headed back armed with edible and hardware goodies. 

Being the first time we've ever done something like this, it's always a mystery what to take with us from home, and we've learnt from the errors of our ways. Some of the things we've bought from camping websites, convinced they'd be essential, have remained untouched. On the other hand, teams have little bits and bobs that we are amazed by. An example - Ed & Emma have the most amazing camping table. Just a little table, that folds into the size of a tent. But having a table is the most underrated thing in the world. I think Emma's mum got it for them (Hello Heather!). 

Once back at the car park, all the teams were still enjoying their few hours off by re-arranging and cleaning the cars. We set up the table, and Emma & I made lunch for our convoy. Nothing overly complex - bread rolls, freshly roasted chicken and some salad leaves. This turned out to be the tastiest, best lunch we'd had the entire rally. Something about us all coming together, fixing each other's cars whilst some others went for supplies, already used to very foreign food by missing the very simple home comforts, and the chicken rolls received rave reviews. Here are some:

Mackey (Scilly Mission): "The best thing i've eaten in my life probably"
Paul (Two Mongoleers): "My only orgasm of the rally"
Will (Scilly Mission): "First proper lunch since we started the rally"
Ed (Mongol Mongrels): "Best lunch since Goodwood"
Laura (Two Mongoleers): "Absolutely magnificent"
Tom (This Is Our Everest): "Damn that's good"

Emma & I felt jubilant. They were that good. The car park had transformed itself (or rather we had transformed it) to both a workshop and a cafe, all done in the stunning Russian sun. The hotel were good - they didn't come and tell us all to buggar off once, although I doubt they'd have wanted to what with 24 people enjoying themselves.

Mackey continued to work - Nick Shiles, once again you'd be proud of him. Not only did he fix Ed's exhaust (take two) but also got about looking at the Two Mongoleer's sump guard issues. Mackey spent the best part of 3 hours on the floor, head underneath various engines, and was filthy. Team Supermarket Sweep continued the fantastic rally teamwork by walking along to a nearby clothes shop and picking him out some new threads.

The clothes shop was a strange one; a cross between a Russian Primark and a Russian TK Max, but we were there to shop. Of course, we still have the fun game of "I buy, you wear", so I had a little fun picking out some new garments for our resident repair man. My favourite would have to be the bright pink wife-beater, complete with hood. That's right, a pink hooded wife beater. With strange Russian phrases down one side. He's tried it on, but not sported it quite yet. My guess he wants to look extra good in it for the finish line. Also in Mackey's bag of presents was the Man Utd kit, complete with BERBATOV along the back (for £5), some hideous lime green tourist t-shirts with RUSSIA on the front, and a new belt. We thought we grabbed the right size, but this was disproved not long after in the hotel carpark/cafe/changing room, when two people easily fit into it.

Next door to the clothes shop, we found another shop; this time stocking regular budget clothes, and also a wide range of camping equipment. What sheer luck, and this time bought some plain black tshirts for Mackey (which of course wouldn't be revealed until he'd first sampled the extra special purchases). Will also spotted some tents - some actual tents that were larger than the average man's coffin. They weren't the cheapest things in the world - in fact, they cost more than their UK counterparts. But a small price to pay for the ability to get dressed/undressed in the relative comfort of your tent. We picked up three, despite toying with the idea of leaving Mackey with a coffin tent (as he loves them so much).

Emma, Will & I got a text as we were leaving the shop (several times actually. It seems their security systems are a little bit too keen, and Emma was accosted on multiple occasions by the shop alarm going off after bringing in something she'd bought at the first store) and were informed the convoy were waiting for us. We walked the 5 minutes back to our temporary base, and indeed the majority of cars were preparing to leave. Mackey was black - covered in dirt and oil from spending the lovely day with an engine block but inches from his face.

We finally left at 3pm - no doubt the hotel over the moon to rid their precious car park of a handful of teams and their faithful drivers. Our convoy of 7 now headed south east, towards the mountains. We were joined by the Super Compact Pussycats 3 (in a rather fetching graffitied Hi-Jet), Skinner & Little and another Saxo.

With a convoy that large, you only go as fast as the slowest team. Luckily though, all teams were happy to push on at the speed limit. By this time, we'd conveniently forgotten about the 43mph rule (for those of you not up to date, Will & I are only able to drive at 43mph or 70kph due to not having our licenses more than 2 years). Our first Russian visit, we paid very strict attention to this rule. Our second though, i'll be honest. We flouted the rule, and quite deliberately. 

You see, if a Russian policeman ever asks for your license, they'll accept the International Driving Permit (IDP), which is a legal document and allows the holder to drive in their country. One thing it neglects to mention though, is the duration you've held your license. Great success. (I really should stop saying that now we're out of Kazakhstan).

We convoyed until dusk, leaving the city and the motorways and instead driving along a sweeping A road, the conditions of which were remarkably good considering the remote corner of Russia we were now in. The road was wide, flanked on both sides by lush green forest, one side of which hid from us a river we knew to be there. As light faded away, we decided to look for a group camp site, and the
lead car took on the responsibility to find a suitable location.

It wasn't too long, a few cars taking different paths in the aim of finding somewhere appropriate, before one reported finding the perfect site. We all followed, and they stayed true to their word. Off the main road, and 50 meters along a dirt track, we came to a clearing just out of sight of the main road. Another dozen or so meters lead through to a sparse collection of mature trees separated by 8 or so meters from one another. This wasn't the best bit though; despite finding space for us all, on soft grass, away from the busy road (both audibly and visually), we were on a bank overlooking the river. The name of which escapes me, but it was stunning.

Our bank was 3 or 4 meters above the water line, yet overlooked a sweeping meander and the bank opposite. The river was incredibly fast flowing, moving countless millions of litres every minute from the mountains not too far up stream. The soft roar of the ever tumbling eddies and currents provided the perfect backdrop to a pretty much perfect camp site.

As always, we camped with our new best friends Ed & Emma, as well as the rest of our super convoy - The Two Mongoleers, This Is Our Everest and The Desert Beagles. Our new tents even attracted a few comments from the other teams - not because they were anything special (they were very bog standard 2 man tents), but because of the enormous upgrade from our coffins. 

Food was the next thing on the agenda after our gypsy houses had been set up. Emma & I seem to have gained the responsibility for feeding our two teams, and we began to create some culinary magic. Once again, I feel I should talk about the table - it's just a table, but so very useful when camping. It meant we could prepare, cook and serve without using a bit of flat ground or a rock. And on that table, we did create - Pesto pasta with roast chicken. Cooking on the small stove takes a bit of getting used to - only so much can be cooked at once, using the limited water supply, but the end result was the perfect end to a very good (and productive) day.

Good banter was served next, along with a very random selection of beers from the Russian supermarket. As we talked, our stomachs full and our patience rested, the stars above us came out in force and bathed the river bank in a gentle luminesce - The Plough, Cassopaia, Orion's Belt  all watching over our band of merry men (and women).

In total, 12 tents were there to share the campsite - a very cool sight next to an incredible river. We retired by midnight, the sound of the ever swirling water providing a relaxing soundtrack ensuring we were all asleep not long after.