Yesterday we had done about 450km. Today I wanted to get to Bratsk, it would mean about 550km and I don’t know how much asphalt we would see. So we got up a bit earlier then yesterday and said goodbye to our host.

We went back a bit in the town to make some pictures and fill up.

Even after leaving the town of Magistralnii the road stayed asphalt. It was only a while after the junction to Nebel that it turned to gravel again.

The road was pretty good, and the scenery was nice, but less impressive than yesterday. We made a few stops under the way.

Just before the city of Ust-Kut we met another tank. This time the man invited us inside, he was eating and having some vodka.

He also invited us for a ride in the tank on a steep track in the wood. He asked me to park my bike up on the steep track which I did. Larisa got in the front passenger seat and I was in the tank. The ride up the hill was very relaxing, but then we reached the top. The man must have thought war broke loose because he almost flew off the hill. I could not stay up and had to tighten myself inside the back while everything was flying around. Larisa in the front could witness the ride better and told me how the tank just made it through every corner and just missed the trees.

Anyway we both made it back in one piece, barely, and the man enjoyed himself when he saw our faces. He told us when he is very drunk he rides too fast… It felt very good to get on the bike again and ride further.

We entered the city of Ust-Kut and saw the Lena again. We checked the barge waypoint and there would be a boat the next day to Lensk.

Our decision was already made to go back, so with pain in the heart I drove on the West towards Bratsk. It was another 300km to cover over a mix of gravel and asphalt roads from now.

We had some more borsch, lemon tea, bread, koteletki and puree and drove the rest of the day further through the siberian woods.

At some points the gravel had very big stones and the big felt like steering by itself. At other points the road was very dusty and it was very hard to see through the dustcloud.

In the evening we reached the city of Bratsk which is actually very big. It lies at the Angara river, and there is a huge dam. We rode over the dam, and had a look at the power station.

We had to ride another 25km to get to the real center, and checked in to the Bratsk Hotel. They have a restaurant, disco, biljarts, and good rooms 🙂 We had a blast!