Cape to Cape Expedition
Cape to Cape Expedition
Ust Kut - Russia - (Усть Кут)
18th February 2008
Yesterday did turn out to be interesting. The map book we have is a Russian one (in Russian) and the road from Kansk to Bratsk was actually "under construction" and so part way on we came to the construction team. They indicated that it was possible to get along to Bratsk so we continued for 200km on what were really just loggers trails using the compass to guide us. We camped in the woods before Bratsk and were so fast asleep that it was 9 o'clock this morning before we woke up.
Breakfast in Bratsk was not so appetising; dried fish with kidneys fried in batter ! We are getting stopped on average 4 times a day by traffic police but they just check the "vehicle passport" and our driving licenses and wave us on. We have been stopped once by other police who wanted all our travel permissions and seemed satisfied which is reassuring. We asked them about the River Lena and they said it was open.
Today we are aiming to get to Ust-Kut and onto the Lena River but think we will go out of mobile contact and so rang Nicky earlier.
