The secure parking that we stayed in last night was ok but the ground and Troopy is plastered with road dirt as the last two days have been very wet, and it is hard to avoid transferring that all inside. It was still a cheap night stop at 50 rub. It was not just a hotel parking, but also served some offices and other businesses. That meant that in the morning we met a few passers by. One was a coin collector, and so we gave him some of the various coins that we had not managed to spend in the previous countries. He kept trying to give us roubles in return ….. we said no, but was very reluctant to take the coins without paying us …. in the end Marjool just put the coins back in his pocket.
We met Marat and Valya at 9.00am on the Juntion of the E22 as they had been staying in a motel, and carried on towards Novosibirsk. The road was excellent all the way to Ob (town just outside the city) where we were to part company with Marat and Valya. They were continuing their journey to Lake Baikal, whch is still around 2500km from Novosibirsk. They are only going to stay for about 2 days before they turn around and go back again to their home in the north, 2000km north of Moskow!! Lucky Marat likes driving.
We’d like to thank them both as they safely delivered us from Kazan to Novosibirsk, and more quickly that our normal wandering snail pace! That will mean that we can do the last 900 km to the Mongolian border even slower. We can average 100 kms per day and still make it on time! Nice to have spent some time with you Marat and Valya and thanks for all your help and the lovely book on wooden structures. Enjoy the rest of your holidays.
Just before we stopped for lunch with Marat and Valya we were saying that the reduction in the traffic meant that driving was more relaxing and there was less in the way of wild overtaking. We did however spot one car that had just crashed, but it seemed that they all got out OK ……
We headed south from Novosibirsk and were going to go around the big lake formed by a dam on the main river. However after noting that we still had 900km to go we decided not to take the detour and head for the Altai a little earlier instead. As we passed the lake on the road to Barnaul we saw a fair bit of industry around it and so were happy that we had made that decision. There will be lots to see in the Altai region.
At around 5.00pm we turned off the M52 (which goes all the way to Mongolia) in to a little village about 3.5km south of Linevo and asked in the local shop if we could sleep nearby. Graham’s sign language is coming on and by saying dom machina …. (house car) and laying his head on his hands in the age old sleep sign, he seems to get a result! However he was slightly hesitant at first when approaching ladies in shops with this request, just in case they thought it meant ‘sleep with me in the car’. You can’t be too careful!!
In this case we made no progress and so Graham went and asked a lady on a bench. She smiled nicely and it all worked out well! We parked on the grass outside her gate.
Very soon, the ladies were delivering hot boiled potatoes, tomatoes and cucumbers to the camper! The man next door delivered lovely things that tasted like donuts on the outside but with cabbage inside … delicious. We were just marveling at the generosity when the ladies came back with a huge bag of vegetables for the road !!!!!! It is truly amazing. Marjool checked out her goody stash and found some small gifts in return.
We are off for a walk around the village ….. we feel quite at home!
The man in the dressing gown (he was just about to go in the banya) was a mechanic who broke up damaged cars and sold the spares or made up good cars from parts. It was interesting to look through his tools and equipment …. I miss mine! One of the villagers had made up an interesting 4×4 tractor out of car bits.
There were a mixture of house styles, but this one was our favorite.
On the way back to the camper we saw a herd of goats, cows and sheep leading the way home …. one of the cows was in such a hurry we missed it off the picture. She almost ran to the gate of her ‘house’ and waited by the gate mooing until the lady came out her house and let her in. Maybe our cow will be that well behaved when we get one! By the way, ours will be called Daisy!!
Hmm is that Kelly helping with the stock??
troopytracks 