week: 10 of 16
day: 69 of 113
weather: Rain
country: Russia
nearest town: Vladivostok
Perhaps the most demanding part of the trip has been the ride in Siberia from Ulan Ude to Vladivostok, a distance of approx. 4,000km (2,500 miles) much of which is a wilderness of silver birch trees and mosquitoes (unfortunate as it was camping all the way until Vladivostok).
The highway runs over the top of China and then 'round the top right hand corner to Vladivostok. The initial 3 days of the 6 day journey were across mostly unmade roads with plenty of other vehicles, earth moving & road laying equipment and of course lots of dust. Several of the riders had some close calls particularly on the freshly laid wet tarmac, I lost the back wheel at one point but managed to stay upright another wasn't so lucky and slid down the road covering herself and bike in the wet tar.The hardest part of the trip (these are the parts you are supposed to look back on as the best!!) was dealing with the mosquitoes. As soon as we found a camp site they would descend, wouldn't leave you alone until you got into your tent and at one particularly boggy camp site they just buzzed all night between the tent's inner and flysheet, waiting for you to leave in the morning, or to torment you while trying to answer the call of nature during the night.
Having had enough of the camping two of us decided to combine the last 750km (450 miles), initially planned as two days riding, into one final push to get to Vladivostok and a hotel. The road was mostly good tarmac, but it took 11.5 hours through heavy traffic and constant rain to get to the hotel, well worth it to miss a night of camping with mosquitoes though, plus we got the last available room at the hotel.
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