A dash through the Altai Republic

We (well, I) literally staggered out of Mongolia after a final ger stay which turned into a long, hazy night of yak milk tea, mutton and Mongolian vodka as I discussed business opportunities pitched by Altay locals.

The crossing to Russia was mercifully swift, and as the metaphorical fog lifted later that day I found myself driving the breathtaking mountain roads of the Russian Altai Republic. There must be something in their crystalline mountain water, as we found ourselves in towns and amongst folk that gave us an entirely different impression of Russia and her people.

With only a brief transit visa, we unfortunately were unable to stick around to enjoy the hospitality and explore the misty fir forests: we had a date to keep for a planned service with Land Rover in Barnaul.

Aleksey and Ivan returned the car to delivery condition

While Han and I enjoyed a day in Barnaul, Ivan and the team at Albion Motors refreshed oil and filters, rotated the wheels, replaced the tyre destroyed in the Gobi, and found time to fully detail the car to an as-new standard. On pickup the next morning I was given instruction on managing the vehicles fuel system when the temperature drops below minus ten celsius - not something I’ve had reason to prep for to date.

All of this was duly recorded in the Disco’s online service history, maintained globally by Land Rover.

Han and I took the opportunity to completely repack the car, and dashed to the Kazakh border to cross before our visas expired.

We found ourselves reluctant to leave Russia again so quickly and resolved to return to explore the Western provinces by car or bike, now that we’ve got the measure of getting around - and know a great place to fix a Landie.