Day 42: The lakes near Khatgal to Moron

High Point: It has to be the lakes. The crew were in serious need of a rest day and to spend this sat on the banks of a huge freshwater lake (3 trillion litres of water!) was incredible.

Low Point: The hangover. It was similar to the movie only with slightly more recollection. And all crew members were also still present in body – but definitely not in mind.No Point: Will a scrub with a bar of soap really make much of an impact in 3 trillion litres of water?

Authors comments:
I think we all got a little excited with yet another example of amazing Mongolian generosity the previous evening. We’d setup shop in the dining room of the Khovsgol Lodge along with beers and vodka and sat there discussing past, present and future trip events until the early hours. A condition of the stay had been to leave early as the season had just closed. So two hours sleep later and with most of us still swaying we woke to the smell of bacon and eggs… Amazing… Our first in over a month and they were basically inhaled. We then set off for the short trip further up to the heart of the lake.

Expectations were high but they were easily surpassed. As we drove through the mountains and descended the view opened up and it was simply stunning. Clear blue skies and deep blue water helped lift some tired eyes. I’ll exclude Rosco from this as he tried to kill the pain with a morning beer. It obviously only increased. How we laughed.

We picked our camp on a grassy peninsular that would work for our first relaxing day in four weeks. But football and cricket would have to wait for sleep club as we laid our sleeping bags out in the baking sun and caught up on what we’d missed. I think the locals thought this was a little strange but we were in no condition to explain.

Following footy, cricket and swim club we jumped back into Martha to start heading to Moron. An awesome day had been appreciated by all but we needed to start making progress on the road. We were starting the final stretch to UB but still have 800k’s to bash through on dirt roads. My lower back is dreading it.

This is my last blog as I’ll be jumping off this bandwagon at UB to fly back to London. It’s been an incredible experience and I’m shocked how well Martha has stood up to everything we’ve thrown at her. Steve loves smashing her into huge holes but she’s not moaned even once. I leave her in the very capable hands of the rest of the stage 2 crew to take to Bejing. I’m now super confident that China, Thailand, etc won’t pose much of a threat. The biggest issue will be border crossings but again I think Steve’s ridiculous smile and puppy dog eyes will work in any culture. So I’ll be booking tickets for the big party in New York in 6 months and look forward to her return in London a couple of months later.

Lastly a big thanks to the stage 2 crew. We’ve seen and done some amazing things over the past 4 weeks and the company was always tops. Thanks to Ben for his amazing afro and odd left wing views that always kept me entertained. To James for a brilliant beard and potty mouth – no swear Friday won’t be the same without him. To Ross for his horrific hair, his super snoring and always ensuring I’d have a drinking partner. And to Steve and all 7 of his personalities. Each of them work a little bit of magic on border day.

I bid you farewell

Love Dave

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