Jun 27 2008
Steppe by steppe
The road beyond Makat turns into a rough piste and we progress slowly on gravel, mud or sand. We all fell at least once. Sometimes the road is perfectly smooth for 10 or 20km and we think the worst is over, but there are always more bad roads ahead. Olivier ‘rouk’ has had a few mechanical problems with his recumbent, one day his chain breaks and as soon as he’s finished fixing it he finds a puncture in his front tyre. Not easy to fix in the middle of a sandstorm! Olivier ‘petit jedi’ also had a very bad day due to some dodgy milk. We moslty buy bottled water but sometimes we have to take water from village wells, if the locals drink it it’s usually ok!
The weather has been a bit cooler since last week and most days end with enormous storms. At least we have had a great tailwind since Atyrau!
We are now 400km from Atyrau, in Shubarqudyq (Show on Google Maps) .
