Around the Lake – Yurt to Yurt

Today’s ride on Komoot 

I had a nice breakfast at Yurt Camp Mirbek and spoke to the lovely Singaporean couple, Muaz and Fahira. They are such lovely people, I really wish them well together. At breakfast they told me that today was Eid. At that moment, the lady running the show walked in and continued the story.

Today, they would slaughter a sheep and make a traditional sheep and pasta dish. Not long later she called us to watch the sheep being slaughtered. There was a guy who had come along and knew exactly what to do. I suspect he was a busy man today. They actually did it well. Mirbek said prayers before the poor beast met it’s end. I felt uneasy for some reason and didn’t really want to be there so, I hung in the background. 

I went back to my dark dingey yurt and thought about what to do. Muaz and Fahira were leaving and I really didn’t expect anyone else to be here. Mirbek had been their guide through Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan and was driving them to Bishkek.

Eventually, I decided to head to the south side of the lake. Why ? It had been raining all morning to the west and north, and the roads would be muddy. There was accommodation on the south side and from there, it would be a short ride to the Moldo Ashuu Pass where after a climb of a few hundred metres, I’d have a big descent to Ak Tal. That’s where I can resupply l anything I need, and more importantly, have a meal and warm up. Ak Tal is at a mere 1600 metres.

So, at around 11:30, I headed off towards the main road around the lake for a nice simple 40kms ride. Easy. That’s what I thought.

The first part was. It was an undulating and smoothish dirt road with some puddles still lying around. 

Before that, I met a few dutch people out walking. They were on a 16 day tour and were absolutely lovely and interested in what I was doing. They all noticed my dutch bike.

There was also a river crossing, but I found a spot where I could ride across in two easy stages.

Shortly after, the wind got up and around here, that means rain. So I put on the waterproofs and got going. It was raining and really windy when I made it to the “main” road. Main ? It was a rocky, corrugated mess that meant I struggled to do 10kms/hr on most sections.

The rain was cold, but I was well protected, and when it finished, I stopped often for photos. I had dawdled in a few sections to make sure that the storm passed away from me and up a valley before I hit it. That meant I missed the worst of two storms but it slowed me down.

At one point, I stopped for a lunch of nuts and dried fruit when a lovely Uighur family stopped and gave me a pastry – perfect timing. They left and I looked at my watch – 3:40pm, 20kms of bum crunching undulating road to go with the hope of accommodation up ahead.

The rest of the day was spent almost solely concentrating on the road and finding a way through the corrugations.

It’s beautiful here. Wide open spaces, horses wandering around, snow capped mountains and an amazing lake.

Eventually a few yurt camps came into view, then the one I wanted to stay at. I found my way through the pastures and made it at about 6:30pm to this lovely place.

I asked if they had a room – Yes. Any dinner – Yes. I was over the moon.

This yurt camp was much better. I could feel a rest day coming.

It’s a much nicer camp than last night. This has been a good move.