Thursday 8 May 2008
In fact, not all of the 403 kilometres was hell, 75 kilometres had some of the most magnificent bitumen we have ever seen. It was obviously how President Putin wanted the road to be finished. In 5 or 6 years time we feel sure that people will be able to drive from Vladivostok to Ulan-Ude on one of the most magnificent roads in the world. Unfortunately, most of our driving was on one of the worst roads in the world.
It is very hard to explain how bad it is. The earthworks had been beautifully done, with literally billions of tonnes of rock blasted from hills. When completed, the road will be suitable for vehicles travelling at 110 kph. The road doesn’t follow the river valley (where the railway goes), it takes a more direct route. This means that it constantly climbs and descends over ridge lines – continually going from about 1,800 feet to 3,000 feet.
The road we are driving on is the basic form which is waiting for the final gravel and bitumen. It is almost impossible to explain how difficult it is to drive on. At times, even 15 kph is bashing so much hell out of the vehicle it is as if it had been put in a vibrating rock crusher and you were trying to see how quickly you could destroy it. I’m amazed that anything could hold together.
At 1.10 pm we stopped for lunch on the top of a ridge top with beautiful scenery. We filled up the water using a little 12 volt electric pump and filling plastic buckets from a pond with melting ice – it was nice clean water.
As Dick walked to the back of the vehicle, he suddenly realised there was a major catastrophe – see the photo. Dick had always been worried about the strength of the mounting which held the extra spare tyre, and he had that strengthened in Ulaan Baatar. However, the whole rear bumper bar had now collapsed.
Eventually Dick got out the jack and managed to jack up the bumper, then secured it with rope. The spare tyre was taken off and it is now in the Earthroamer cabin with us. A friendly truckie stopped and helped us to load it into the back of the Earthroamer. We thought that if we left it mounted on the rear bumper, the whole lot would fall due to the huge vibrations. The tyre is very heavy and this obviously contributed to the whole bumper fatiguing and breaking off.
We decided to drive to the next town, which was called Sbega, to see if we could get the rear bumper bar welded back on again. Well, it wasn’t as simple as that.
First if all, Sbega was 5 kilometres off the main road, and its “track” (if you could call it that) is more suited to horses and logging trucks rather than campervans. We eventually got into the town – a little logging community – and struggled across the Trans-Siberian Railway line.
Dick phoned Marina in Vladivostok by Iridium phone. Marina had helped Dick when he originally went to Vladivostok a number of years ago to look for a vehicle – when we were planning to drive in the opposite direction around the world.
Marina was able to translate, and we were told that if we drove another 100 kilometres to the next town, we would be able to get the welding performed. So off we went towards the town of Mogocha. The 100 kilometres went from a really good road, to a road that was so bad we could do no more than 15 kph. Even then we thought the vehicle would break apart – not to mention the temporary roped up bumper bar at the back.
We travelled through some of the most extraordinary road building we had ever seen. There were huge Caterpillar D12 equivalent bulldozers and hundreds of workers (who from the look of it work 24 hours per day) labouring on Earthworks that would have to be at least 10 times the size of the Snowy Mountains Scheme. They are literally cutting through the hills and putting in the most extraordinary road.
Unfortunately the last 10 kilometres or so before the town was on the old road, which was so severely potholed that at one stage we were doing 8 kph – and even then the vehicle was being bashed around and we were fearful that the rear bumper bar would break the temporary rope restraining system.
The town of Mogocha is described in the Lonely Planet as a 15 minute stop on the Trans-Siberian route which is “an ugly place scorched by summer sun and frozen solid during the long winter!”
We had been told to head for the Police post at Mogocha, and beside that would be a workshop where the welding could be done. We found the Police post, and beside it was a small café, not a motor repair place. We went into the café and had borscht and fried egg with sausage. The whole meal cost 218 Rubles, about $10. Pip didn’t have to cook dinner tonight – and what great Russian food it was.
We noticed that the clock in the café was an hour ahead of our watches, so it appears that we have now moved yet another hour ahead. It is amazing how quickly the longitude changes here. We are now on Sydney time for the first time during our trip around the world – we must be getting closer to home!
As we looked outside it was snowing and the Earthroamer was completely covered in snow. All day today we had been travelling in the most magnificent weather through the Arctic tundra. Occasionally we drove through a bit of sleet and had to turn on the windscreen wipers, but soon we would be back in brilliant sunshine. The temperature was around 43° Fahrenheit (6° Celsius).
Luckily, in the café there was a young man by the name of Danil who spoke some English and was a bit of a car enthusiast. We got him on the phone to Marina, and between the two it was decided that we should drive yet another 50 kilometres along the main road to a town where we would be able to get the welding done. Danil has given us the name of the town in Russian, and some instructions on where he believes the welding can be done. Let’s hope we can do this in the morning.
We are just hoping that the rear bumper bar will remain in place – being roped up to the centre spike of the main spare wheel on the campervan. This centre spike was originally fitted by the first owner so he could take an outboard motor, so we are hoping it is pretty strong.
Presently we are cosy although it is snowing outside. We have parked at the front of the café. It has been an exciting day and we are hoping that our breakdowns are over and we can make it to Vladivostok.
In doing some calculations it looks as if we have travelled about 1,291 kilometres since leaving Ulan-Ude, and we think that is about one-third of the distance. Of course, we have done a lot more than that distance since we left Khovd over a week ago. Pip is presently working on her photographs so we can send them via Iridium. The heater is working, the new batteries are going really well and the turbocharger seems to be functioning perfectly.
We do have an extra passenger in the small Earthroamer living quarters – our spare tyre! It is pretty cramped in here normally, but having the huge spare tyre in here as well means that we can’t move around too much. Fortunately we can still get into the bathroom when we need to.
Today 403 kms. 29,383 kms since Anchorage, Alaska.
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