Cape to Cape Expedition

Lavrentia -  Russia (Лаврентия)

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3rd M   

22nd June 2008

We are here ! A ship was going delivering supplies and we managed to get a lift with it. Of course the day after the helicopter flew and is now in Lavrentia and planning to fly to Uelen tomorrow. We don't have much to do to the Land Rover to make it ready to sail but we do have to arrange some things with the Russian immigration and Customs which could take a few days.

We had to spend the journey in the ship's hold which was freezing. Our companions were telephone engineers who spent the whole journey drinking vodka and could hardly climb the ladder to get out when we reached Uelen!

As soon as we arrive in Uelen I will be able to give a more accurate date for the crossing. The weather here in Lavrentia today is perfect!

8th April 2008

We have left !!! The helicopter was ready at lunch time and we were on it ! We have sent lots of pictures of  Uelen and  Lavrentia through

7th April 2008

So we were all packed and ready to go at 9am. First the helicopter had to fly to Uelen and then Neshkan to pick up patients to bring back to the hospital at Lavrentia. Its main duty is as a medical unit. Then we would be taken to Lavrentia.

We waited all day and by the time the helicopter came back the clouds were beginning to gather. After contacting Providenya we were told that the airport was closed due to bad weather. We have just watched the weather forecast and its not looking good. We will try again tomorrow and Wednesday as (of now) the helicopter doesn't have any other duties to do. After that we will have to look at hiring a tank but this is ridiculously expensive (£1000) compared to the helicopter (£20 each).

When the helicopter returned from Neshkan it did bring fish and Vladimir (Administrator for Sports and Tourism - and so has been looking after us) cooked it up and it was delicious. The main sport here seems to be dog-sleigh races.

A cargo plane is due in tomorrow from Anadyr so today there was a Ural truck dragging a steel girder up and down the runway to flatten out the snow drifts! Nikolai might be able to catch this plane if it arrives and begin his journey back to Moscow. He has bought some Walrus ivory as presents for his family. It fetches £40/kg and we could have paid for the trip by collecting it off dead Walrus along the way as we saw about 20 of them - all with huge tusks. Of course its illegal in the U.S, Europe and U.K

6th April 2008

Not a lot happening today. The weather has cleared up and its nice and sunny again so it looks like we're able to fly tomorrow to Providenya. We had a meal at the only restaurant in town - he had three meals in total; one salad dish which Nikolai had and two meat dishes which Simon and I had.

We have also been for a walk. 

5th April 2008

I spoke with Nicky today and confirmed that we will definitely be here until Monday as that is when the first helicopter is scheduled to fly. We are booked on it however at the moment there is a cyclone going round and conditions are very bad. Hopefully the weather will clear. Otherwise we will have to try and hire a tank but its 250km which could take a few days.

We have been spending our time giving talks to the people of Lavrentia (30 people came to the library to hear us and Nikolai talk about our exploits). And also I have been investigating the possible "safety boats" that could accompany me across the Bering Strait. The choice is very limited and I'm hoping that I have more sucess from the Alaskan side. There are two sorts of boats here - small whaling boats made of seal skins and then aluminium fishing boats. Nothing that would stand up to the currents in the middle of the Bering Strait. Plus they are not allowed near the "border".

I have also spent the hours working out a few statistics:

Total distance from Kaliningrad to Uelen = 16,704, Off road driving = 4022km

It took us 50 days and we used 2230 ltrs diesel at an average price of 50p/ltr

Lowest temperature was -46°C and highest was -2°C

We sustained minimal damage to the Land Rover of: 1 head light, 1 fog light, the canvas back cracked in the cold, 2 shock absorbers, lots of brake pipes (we don't have any brakes now) and all 4 wheel arches are cracked with driving into deep snow.

We didn't have any punctures neither used the snow chains - it was all done on studded Cooper tires.

We had three run-ins with the law - Steve twice for speeding and Simon once for dangerous driving.

4th April 2008

With no satellite phone we've not been able to get any news or photos back today and Nicky can only assume that we are still in Lavarentia.

3rd April 2008

So as there was a tank leaving yesterday evening for Lavrentia we jumped straight on it - like catching a bus really. And like buses they break down so we spent another night in the middle of no-where. The driver fixed the tank this morning and arrived in Lavrentia in a snow storm. As most people know travelling is impossible in a white out and that's what we've got so we're waiting here till it clears. I think we will be in Providenya by the weekend and as the flight cannot be brought forward from the 10th its not a problem.

No photos I'm afraid as we now have no way of charging the satellite phone up - the charger is a car charger. Apparently in Providenya we will have mobile signal and so can send photos then.

We're not actually going to cross the Bering Strait until it thaws - ours is an amphibious Land Rover - needs water ! So the plan is for Steve to return home to the U.K and gather parts in order to fix the Land Rover, then return to Uelen at the end of May.