Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
mer under a cloud. Yet by the time they were dead, it would be too cold and wet
again!
In reality, it seemed there was no easy way to ride across Russia. No matter
what, the elements would be unrelenting. It was frightening to think that Russians
had to deal with these conditions all year, every year. Even in the three short
months of warm weather the insects conspired to make life unpleasant! By compar-
ison, the Australian climate was far more favourable. The very concept that cows
could live outside all year round was something the Russians marvelled at. Now I
knew why Baba Galya and her friends erupted with laughter when we called Rus-
sia
rai
, paradise.
The road east continued through the forest. From above it must have looked like
a river meandering through a sea of green. We now considered the narrow strip of
gravel a tick-free oasis. For so long the forest had provided a refuge after a hard
day's cycling.
Two days after the school visit we found several ticks crawling on our clothing
while we sat at a forest camp site. Later, I felt something crawling up my back. I
removed my shirt in a panic and Chris flicked away the critter that had been mak-
ing for my head. We knew that they loved the dark, hard-to-get-to crevices of the
body, like the crutch, armpits and hair. We discovered that these are also the hardest
places to inspect. As the riding progressed, we found at least four ticks crawling on
us a day. Only a miracle would see us through without being bitten again.
I was sad to replace the
loue
with the tent, but under the circumstances there was
no choice. Before going to sleep, we'd check each other with a torch just to make
sure. And during the day it was common to see us slide a hand into our pants and
after a bit of reconnaissance retrieve it with a look of relief.
As we neared the city of Perm the landscape transformed from the pancake-
flat forest plains into undulating hills. Rarely was there a time when we weren't
rising up steep slopes or rushing down the other side. It was a sign that we were
finally nearing the fabled Ural Mountains. This range, which is a mere wrinkle in
the earth's surface, forms the geological divide between Europe and Asia. More
significantly for us, it represented the border separating western Russia from Siber-
ia, which roughly includes all land east of the Urals as far as the Bering Strait, and
as far south as the semi-steppe land on the borders of Kazakhstan, Mongolia and
China. Our planned route through Siberia ran roughly along the southern fringe of
the taiga forest. From Lake Baikal it left the northern environment altogether and
passed over the high, arid steppe of Mongolia.
