We left our hostel in Irkutsk and when getting ready we met two swiss bikers. They were heading for Mongolia and even further to China.

We had a little problem with my registration as it was not ready. For people flying in and out of the country it is not so important to register I have been told. But for overlanders this is more important as they can check it while crossing the border. We had to go to Hotel Angara to meet a lady from the local registration administration. The registration was done and even until first of September, nice bonus.

To be honest, the first and second time and Russia I didn’t care about registering. But now, as we stayed longer, it got more important, I guess.

We filled up the tank and left the city. Our goal was the famous island of Olkhon.

It was a nice asphalt road all the way to a crosspoint in a town called Bayandai. From there we had to turn right, and again it was an easy asphalt road.

Under the way we made a little stop to do some exercise and have some food.

After the easy ride of a good 200km we reached the ferry. Olkhon is a big island on lake Baikal. As the local road stops you need to take a ferry to get there. It is only a few kilometers and about 20 minutes to cruise over. We waited for about 30 minutes for the next ferry and had some cheboreks and tea with lemon to warm up.

The ferry is for free as it can be seen as an extension of the road. As a biker it is best to get on it as the last one as the system is LIFO. This means Last In First Out.

The water is also very calm, so it not like crossing the channel from France to the UK.

Once on the island there is no more asphalt, but there is a good graded gravel road to the main city of Khuzir. We followed this road and got in the city quickly. I used the HUBB’s waypoints to find the famous hostel called Nikita’s. The man who owns the hostel is called Nikita, he was a former Russian ping pong champion and now keeps the hostel.

You could say it is a bit touristic, but we actually liked the place. We got a nice room with view on the shaman rock and the baikal lake. You get three meals a day, and it is buffet, so you can eat as much as you want. Every evening they have performances like a pianist playing Rachmaninov music.

In the hostel we met a french photographer called Nicolas. He arrived in April 2012 in the place when the ice was melting and stayed here until now. Now he organises excursions on the island. He had a very nice photo album and told us about the good places to see.

In the evening we went to the shaman rock, this is a very holy place for shaman belief. It is also a nice rock to free climb 🙂 Larisa came along for some part, until it got to vertical. I climbed back another route than the way I came. This turned out to be a bit tricky.

In the evening we watched the sunset over the lake. There was also a very nice tree.

In the morning we went to look for a shinomontage to change our tyres. If I could I would stick with the Heidenaus but they were not available and I had the TKC’s. So we found a place. I removed the wheels myself and let the guys change the tyres with the machine. We balanced the rear, put them back. Pressure of 2.8 and 2.3. I like them hard for the road and weight.

We road a little bit further on Traktovaya and found a bike shop called motosalon drive. To my surprise they had Heidenaus sent by Denis from Moscow. Unfortunately they were reserved.

Next we went to the railway station and the bagage department to check how much the transport would cost to Moscow from Irkutsk. This is good info to have and Seb Leeson had already made an article about it on the HUBB. Once at the department we were aproached by a lady who worked at the company. She gave us an offer, it would be around 10.000 roubles. Next Rostislav came in, he also gave us an offer, it would be just a little more. The ticket for ourselves would be 12.000 roubles in kupe. Good to know this, but as long as I can and want I will ride the bike 🙂

In the afternoon we did the green walk of the city. We saw the big bronze Lenin statue, paintings on the street, the statue of Tsar Alexander III and rested by the Angara river.

Further there were cathedrals and the statue of the foundation of the city.

In the evening we treated ourselves in a place called Broadway, which seems to be a popular name. They also had a disco in the place, which was good!

We left Ulan Ude in the morning. From here we had to ride about 160km before we could see the lake. No problem as it was all asphalt.

We made a quick stop before the reservoir in the forest. The mosquitoes came out quickly so we moved on quickly as well 🙂

Then all of a sudden we saw it. It was enormeous, bigger than expected in our minds. This is like a sea, not a lake. From now the road would follow the lake for a few hundred kilometers. The railroad was also flirting with the lake.

At a good spot just after the town of Babushkin we found a good spot to get in! The water was pretty cold and the waves were big. We stayed here for some time and had a nice swim in the lake.

Some truck drivers also stopped here and we had a chat with them. They gave us important information. In the far east it had been raining for almost a month and people had to be evacuated. Everyone who follows the news knew this. This is the area of Chabarovsk and further. But we were not going to Vladivostok.

One of the drivers came from Tynda and told us there was a lot of mud on that track. When its dry its dusty, now it was muddy. It was not very motivating for us as we still had the option of riding to Yakutsk. Larisa was happy with this information. It looks more and more we are not going to the far east.

The sun dried us up, so it was to move on and follow the lake to the west. On the way there were people selling berries and smoked fish. We also saw our friend Jan from Czech Republic again. He was going to the next big town to put his bike on the train to Vladivostok. It was a surprise to see him again, the last time was in UB!

There were also some roadworks, but this was very limited.

We made another stop in the town of Slyudyanka. This is where Jan would take the train. From here it was a mountaineous road to Irkutsk of about 100km. But it was a dangerous road. Here you could use the power of a heavier bike. There were many curves and in every curve there was the danger that a car from the other direction would be in your lane. We had this several times, some of them even swirled out onto our section of gravel. We reached Irkutsk in the evening and went looking for a hostel.

We found a good hostel called hostel Irkutsk. In the evening we met with Dmitrii who had my set of TKC80. Unfortunately we were not going to need them anymore. But the set of Heidenaus had been on since Volgograd now. We were riding with this set for 12.000km with a load of about 450km. They have brought us through Central Asia and Mongolia. I can only recommend these tyres.

The next day we would fit the TKC’s and check also our Belgian colleague motorcyclists Seb and Kim article about putting the bike on the train.

We slept long today and went down for the siberian breakfast. I was looking forward to it as in Mongolia we had almost no breakfast at all. To our surprise it was already 1030 in the morning. We did not know, but we were in a different time zone again. It was now 7 hours later than CET. The breakfast was ok.

We went for a walk in the city. There was a nice geological museum. Really a lot of minerals are found here.

We went to the post to post some postcards to our friends and family. After that we saw the big Lenin head again.

We wanted to ride in the afternoon but for some reason I was really tired and had no energy. So we took a big siesta and regained our strength. This was not so good, because I was feeling stronger again afterwards to go to Yakutsk or Magadan 🙂

We have been talking with our family via skype and Larisa is really starting to miss Erik more and more. She does not have to say, I can read it in her eyes. I miss him too, but for a mother it is still different I think. Ukraine is only a country away now, but Russia is big. Our next steps will be important.

In the evening we enjoyed a nice meal and went to bed in our siberian hotel. Tomorrow I want to swim in lake Baikal!