Sayan Mountains, Russia Sandy Reid, July-August 2012 I made this trip to Russia to join friends from Omsk, Siberia for a trip to the Sayan Mountains, which are up to 3000 metres high and lie to the north of Mongolia and west of Lake Baikal, in the Tunkinsky area of Buryatia. My flights were booked through Morningside Travel, 348 Morningside Road, Edinburgh, and cost £1093 return. I was keen to avoid travelling via London, as the Olympic Games were due to start around my departure time and Heathrow airport might be busy; so instead we booked flights via Edinburgh-Paris-Moscow-Omsk. We would be following the same mountain route as we used in our previous trip in 2009, although that was in winter and I thought it would be interesting to contrast it with the appearance of the mountains in summer. We would take the transiberian train from Omsk via the cities of Novosibirsk, Krasnoyarsk and Irkutsk to Sludyanka and then go by road to the village of Nilova Pustyn, setting off from there and returning on foot by a roughly triangular route over two weeks. I took my orange Berghaus rucksack, protected in a tough destination bag, with similar gear to that which I took last year to the Altai mountains, apart from leaving behind crampons. I took a lightweight TerraNova Discovery Gortex bivouac sac and orange Rab Neutrino down sleeping bag, with three strips of Karrimat. I considered taking ski poles as support when walking but decided not to, as they would be extra weight and might be awkward in the aeroplane. I also took as presents a bottle of Glenlivet whisky for the trip itself and boxes of fudge from the Edinburgh Fudge Shop and some Edinburgh Castle Rock. The group was led by my friend Oleg Antonov, of Luzino, Omsk, who had recently won a contest as the best schoolteacher in the Omsk region and was entering the next leg of the competition to find the best teacher in Russia. The rate of exchange at this time was 45.50 roubles to the pound. Friday, July 20 Although not part of the trip, I attended the wedding of my friend Maria Burns to Mark Hannah, which took place in St Aloysius Church, Glasgow in a 1 ¼ hours Roman Catholic service, followed by a reception with dinner and dancing in the nearby Old Fruitmarket. We took some photographs of me in my kilt, as I knew that some Russians would ask about such things. Despite noble intentions to leave early, I stayed to participate in the celebrations. I finally took the 22.30 train back from Glasgow Queen Street Station to Edinburgh and so was quite late in arriving home. Saturday, July 21 I managed to get up in good time and took a taxi from home, 15 Littlejohn Road, Edinburgh, to Edinburgh Airport to catch the 9.10 flight to Paris, Charles de Gaulle Airport. I arrived there at 12 noon, there being a one hour time difference, and had a snack and Affligem, Belgian beer, 7.10 Euros. I was by this time a little tired, partly due to the previous evening’s festivities. At 16.30 the next flight, which was to Moscow, departed on time, but as there was thick cloud this was uneventful and I did not see much until we were close to landing at Sheremetyevo Airport, Terminal E, at 21.30, there being a two hour time difference from Paris. The airport seemed much more modern than I remembered. I went through passport control uneventfully, as there was no queue, collected my baggage and walked the short distance to Terminal D, where I checked in for the flight to Omsk. I then stopped at a small snack bar, where I had a type of cold soup called okroshka kvass for 290 roubles and an Oettinger beer, 500ml, 290 roubles. The staff were all pleasant and helpful, which is a big change from the old soviet times, when the concept of service to clients was pretty negative. When I was going through the security check they noticed the small penknife I had in the hand luggage and which I had forgotten about. I dropped in at a small restaurant I remembered from previous trips and had two small pastries, called pirozhki, with cabbage and egg (сдобный пирожки с капустой и яицой) at 55 roubles each and zhаletski gus (жалецкий гус) beer, 500 ml for 310 roubles, which I remembered as a tasty dark beer. Sunday, July 22 I boarded the flight to Omsk at 1 am and we took off at 1.40 am. I sat beside a little girl aged about four years and her mother and helped them a little, as the child was tired and a little fractious and kept falling asleep. At 7.50 we arrived at Omsk, there being a three hour time difference. I was met at the airport by Sasha Antonov, brother of Oleg, and we drove the 20 km or so to his house, where I met Lena, his wife, and the baby Anya, now two years old, and his mother, Lyudmilla, who is 65 years old. They gave me some food: okroshka, which is cold soup, with bread. Sasha showed my some photos on computer of a fishing trip he had made with another friend, Evgenii Sibirtsev, and others, on a river north of Omsk. At around 11.00 Sasha drove me and Lyudmilla to Oleg and Inna’s house in the small town of Luzino, about two kilometres away. I tried to read but fell asleep. Oleg and Inna were away in Perm and not expected back home till later and when they arrived it was with Polina, their daughter, now aged eight years, and Anya, their niece, who lived with her family near the Urals. Anya, aged 17 years, had been staying with them and seemed a nice girl. Oleg and I drove into Omsk to the railway station to buy train tickets for the trip for 25 July, returning on 10 August. The tickets were not difficult to obtain from a machine, although it did entail typing in a lot of information on passport numbers etc, repeating it for the return journey. We came back home and went to bed around midnight. Monday, July 23 Not surprisingly, I slept very well and dozed till 11.20, when I got up for breakfast. We drove to the hypermarket near Omsk to buy food for the trip. My contribution to this was 18, 424 roubles (£405). The food was mainly tins of meat, fish, condensed milk and packets of pasta, rice, maize etc. We then drove to Oleg’s school (School number 2), where we met the others going on the trip, all school students aged about 15-17 years. As we were walking though the school courtyard I turned round and there was Natasha Zataulova, who had been on last year’s trip to the Altai mountains. Natasha is a particularly nice girl, aged 15 years, with a sweet smile, as if butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth, but was fairly self-confident and could defend herself well enough when Oleg teased her. Oleg had previously told me that she had won a regional prize for English. After we entered the school, I turned round again and there was another old friend, Olga Korban, whom I greeted. Olga had been on the trip to Lake Baikal two years before. Oleg, Inna and I all had the impression she had not greatly enjoyed the rough living on the Baikal trip, but when I asked her directly she said this was not the case and that she had in fact enjoyed it. As I really liked her, I was delighted to learn she would be going. With her was a friend, Maria, known as Masha, who was with her mother Tatyana. In the school gymnasium, where we all met, I chatted to Olga and discovered that she could speak English quite well. I had had the impression on the previous trip that she knew more than she let on but I could not get her to speak it then. We chatted in English for a while and I reckoned she just needed a little practice and self-confidence. She is now 16 years old and obviously bright and told me that she wanted to become an interpreter. When I said that the weather in the UK had been rainy for weeks she said she would love to see rain, as it had been very hot and dry in Omsk. Also present were Roma and Misha, who had been on the Altai trip. Misha is a nice lad and again may know more English than he lets on. Roma also seems a pleasant boy, although perhaps a little shy. Both were about 15 years old. So there were eight of us: six of Oleg’s school pupils, all nice youngsters, and Oleg and me. We divided up the food and each of us had quite heavy portions to carry. Oleg also gave me a length of rope, which was to support what is called the tent, that is, a plastic tarpaulin that covers the area round the campfire and keeps off rain. Oleg reckoned that although Anya and Masha had not been on such a trip as we were going on in the Sayan Mountains, he knew Masha less well and was a little concerned that she might find it particularly hard. In the event she coped as well as everyone else. We returned home, where Polina showed me a new book Oleg had bought her called Home Scientific Experiments (Научные Эксперименты Дома ISBN 9785699 470754), at 609 roubles. It looked very interesting and I resolved to try and buy it. In the evening Oleg let me sample some of his special brew called kedrovaya nastoika (кедровая настойка), which is made with nut oil to which strong alcohol is added. He wrote down the recipe, but I might find it difficult to obtain the ingredients in the UK. We went to bed at midnight. Tuesday, July 24 I got up at 9.40 for a tasty breakfast of scrambled eggs. Oleg and I drove into Omsk, where he had a meeting with his mentor at the Ministry of Education in preparation for the next part of his competition to find the best teacher in Russia. This was a woman called Tatyana Georgievna (Татьяна Геориевна). She spoke a little English and said she had avidly read all Sir Walter Scott’s novels, as well as the poetry of Robert Burns. She was obviously a highly intelligent and interesting person. She quizzed Oleg on things he would have to be knowledgeable about for the competition. One of these was the work of Vernadsky (Вернадский) on the Noosphere (Ноосфера, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noosphere), which refers to the concept that children who are computing addicts may grow up living in an unreal world. We left around 13.00 and drove to a market to buy a nice small butane gas stove and a tent, the plastic sheet referred to above. We also bought provisions for the train: beer, bread, cheese and kvass, which is a refreshing drink made from rye bread and regarded as non-alcoholic (less than 1 %). We drove home for lunch, which was borscht, at 2 pm. We then walked to the local post office to fill in my registration form. Foreigners have to complete this within three days and it is one of those irritation pieces of bureaucracy that one had to comply with, as it would otherwise cause problems on leaving the country. Oleg had had the foresight to obtain two blank forms in advance and filled these out in his kitchen, but it turned out that there was a mistake and the woman in the post office insisted we fill in a new one. We packed our rucksacks. I had trouble fitting in all the food, but by rearranging the tins I managed to pack it neatly. It was certainly heavy: I might estimate 20-25 kg. I anticipated that Oleg would use up the food of the younger team members first and that my rucksack would probably not greatly diminish in weight until late in the tour and this turned out to be the case. After about 19.00 we took the registration forms to the post office but these also turned out to be wrongly completed and no corrections are permitted. We retreated in frustration and Oleg said he would do a new one for tomorrow. I am not clear on the point of this form and wonder if Russians visiting Britain also have to fill in such a thing. At about 20.00 we had dinner, chicken, potatoes and kvass, and then drove to Sasha’s. I talked to Lena’s sister, who was quite chatty, and her husband Daniel. Sasha Konev, a friend from the Altai trip and also the winter trip in the Sayan in 2009, turned up with his sister, Lena, who looks quite like him. Sasha said he had been away in the Tian Shan mountains in Khazakhstan (or maybe Kirghizia) in the spring. I was sorry to learn that he had split up from last year’s girlfriend, Katya Dragon, who was a nice girl and had gone to a new job in Moscow, but I suppose that’s life. We drank beer and kvass. I was moved to the back room in the flat, as Anya was staying. Wednesday, July 25 I got up at 8.45 to find that Oleg had already been to the post office and successfully lodged my completed registration form. Breakfast was kasha with marrow and black bread, which was very tasty, with tea. My impression is that, like us in the UK, Russians drink a lot of tea, rather than coffee. The weather was, as usual, hot and sunny. We sorted our rucksacks. Oleg and Anya had larger sacks than I had. Mine was 65+10 litres, but Oleg’s was 90 litres and Anya’s, borrowed from Sasha, was over 100 litres. It is a little difficult to obtain such large rucksacks in the UK. Presumably the Russians go in rather more for long walking trips, perhaps in cold conditions which necessitate their carrying bulky, if light, insulatory gear, such as sleeping bags, mats etc. They also carry axes and saws for obtaining firewood. Oleg said he was not going to take his guitar on this trip and, in view of the fact that it would have got wet, this was probably a good idea. Inna mentioned that one of the boys who was to go on the trip had fallen and sustained a Colles fracture of the wrist. As he could not now go, we had to divide up his food among the rest of us. Inna made a large supply of pirozhki, little pies made by chopping up eggs and spring onions, folding them in pastry and frying them. We packed finally and drove to the railway station in Omsk. There we met the others. Olga and Masha appeared with their mothers, then Natasha and mother and grandfather, then Misha with parents, then finally Roma. I checked the altitude with my wrist Suunto altimeter and found it was 250 metres above sea level. Oleg said that there might be a problem with the train, as it was to go through the northern part of Kazakhstan. My visa, for example, was single entry to Russia, but there seemed to be some problem with the school students too. We soon ascertained, however, that there would not in fact be a problem. We boarded the train (Moscow-Chita) at 15.30. The cabins were hot and sticky. We bought beer and water on the train. We were unable to get off the train at any stations for the rest of the day, but the train stopped at few anyway. We got chatting to a Spanish chap called Miguel, who was a student of artificial intelligence in Pamplona, Spain. I encouraged Olga to speak to him in English, which she did. He had been to St Petersburg, then Moscow and Kazan and was on his way to Irkutsk, then China. Olga, Natasha, Anya and I played the card game Durak, but Olga gave me such help that I merely did what she told me. I have still not mastered the rules and the locals play it so quickly that it is difficult to learn. After a while Oleg and I went off to the restaurant car for a beer. We had Stary Melnik but a dark form, which was very tasty. At one point a very drunk Swedish girl, aged perhaps 22-23 years, came and sat beside me and made me various offers. She said she came from Umeå and had left home with the intention of travelling to Australia. Unfortunately she was so drunk it was difficult to make much sense of her. Oleg and I returned to our carriage and went to bed at 21.00. Unusually, I was on the lower bunk. Thursday, July 26 I got up at 8.15 and, as the washroom was empty, washed. At 8.49 we stopped at Anzherskaya (Анжерская) for about 1 minute, then Mariinsk (Мариинск) at 10.09, Tyazhin (Тяжин) at 11.20, Bolotol (Болотол) 12.20, Kozylka (Козьулка) 14.03 and Krasnoyarsk 15.45, where we stopped for 30 minutes. The altitude here was 325 metres. We crossed the long bridge over the River Yenisei and reached Uyar (Уяр) at 18.09 and Ilanskaya (Иланская) at 20.06, where we were able to get off and I bought some beer and kvass on the platform. At around 22.00 I went to bed but the girls carried on playing cards, sitting on my bed beside me, apparently till 4 am, although I was largely oblivious to their presence. I do not know what the game was but it was obviously serious stuff, as there were pieces of paper with lots of numbers written on them scattered around in the morning. Friday, July 27 I woke at 5.30 am but remembered that it was necessary to add two hours to cater for the time zone. So I got up and washed. Outside on both sides of the train we were still passing endless taiga, with occasional villages. We reached Cheremkhovo (Черемхово) at 8.59, Angarsk (Ангарск) 10.13 and Irkutsk at 11.05. We were able to get out of the train for a while at Irkutsk, although we did not see much, and the Spanish chap left us at this point to spend some days here. It was still sunny and hot. We finally arrived at our destination, Sludyanka, around 14.00. We boarded two taxis and drove to Nilova Pustyn (Нилова Пустынь) and on to a point where we were let off around 18.30. Our altitude was 1060 metres. We walked about two kilometres to small clearing, which I recognised as the same as the one we had camped in at the start of our winter trip in 2009. We set up two tents, the men being in one and the women in the other. The technique with the plastic sheet was to string the rope between two trees above the campfire and pass the plastic sheet across it and attach it to suitable trees, so that it formed an inverted V-shaped roof to protect us from any rain. There was no water nearby, although there was a dry river called Ekhe-Ukhgyl (Ехэ-Ухгуль), but we were able to obtain some from a tank in a nearby Buryat campsite. Our evening meal was soup. Oleg and I had a small whisky from the bottle of Glenlivet and we put the rest of it into a plastic container, as the glass bottle was heavy. I noticed that I seemed to be developing a sore throat, but as it gradually disappeared over the next couple of days I reckoned it was probably just dry from the air in the aeroplanes. I found one of my Karrimat strips useful for sitting on the hard ground or logs. In fact many of the Russians carried a special small piece of such material tied round the waist for sitting. During the night there was a big thunderstorm, with lightning and thunder and heavy rain, although it sounded as if it was at least 2-3 km away. It was hot in the tent but I slept well. Saturday, July 28 We got up at 7.30 to find the grass wet. We had breakfast of tea and maize kasha (кукуруза каша). This is made by boiling the maize and adding condensed milk and is very tasty. I left a small pile of coins, not worth much but unnecessary weight, behind a tree. We set off from our altitude of 1095 metres up a dirt track, heading roughly northeast. After some distance a lorry was passing us and Natasha, Anya and I were bundled aboard with all the rucksacks. The track was deeply potholed and ride was very bumpy indeed, so that I reckoned that the others, who followed on foot, were more fortunate, but we in due course reached a clearing called point number 2 (Местоположение Карты No 2). When the others caught up a few minutes later, we pressed on to the little wooden hut, which I recognised from our winter trip, and is called (Хубытинская развилкга) Местоположение Карты No 3. The hut had obviously fallen into an even greater state of disrepair from that it was in previously and only a small section of roof now remained. The height here was 1685 metres, which meant that we had ascended a fair distance, about 600 metres, carrying heavy rucksacks. We put up the plastic sheet and lit a fire, for which Oleg sawed down a dead tree and cut it up for firewood. We had thunder and a short burst of heavy rain. Our campsite was beside a small lake and the water in it looked pretty dirty, but there was a small stream running into it from which we obtained supplies. We had a snack of oatmeal kasha (овсянная каша) and tea and then put up the tents. Around 17.00 the weather cleared and it became hot and sunny. Oleg and I walked to visit the neighbours camping nearby. As ever, when they found out I was from Scotland they gave me some food and plied me with four vodkas with lemon, each accompanied by a suitable toast. When we returned to our campsite I helped Natasha cook our dinner, although she did most of the work. The night was cloudy but there was no storm. Sunday, July 29 We got up at 7.30. I helped Natasha make breakfast, which was tea and rice kasha. This is made by boiling rice and adding a tin of condensed milk. It was tasty but there was a lot left over and it was troublesome to clean the pot. A container of washing up liquid that works with cold water was part of our armamentarium. We broke camp and set off at 10.00, walking uphill from our campsite, then down to the right. To the south we could see a range of hills which are just north of Mongolia, although still part of Russia. The weather was sunny but we heard thunder growling. As we neared the Ekhy-Ger (Ехэ-Гэр) river the sky clouded over and the rain started. We reached our previous winter campsite but it was wet and there was a lot of cow dung, there being cows around. So we descended a steep section of ground to find a find a site by the river, just above the waterfall I remembered was frozen on our last trip, the altitude being 1920 metres. We put up the tarpaulin and it rained heavily and became cold but we made borscht and tea, which warmed us. The weather cleared and we managed to get clothes washed in the river and dried in the sun. I slept well, the sound of the water in the river having a soothing effect. Monday, July 30 We got up at 7.00 and set off up a path near the river, now heading roughly northwards. Previously in winter we had walked up the ice on the river on crampons and in places we skied with special skins on the skis, to prevent sliding backwards. During that trip the ice was pretty sound, as the temperature was generally around -20 to -28 degrees Celsius. We had fine views of the mountains, with several old glacial moraines, although no glaciers now remain. When we reached a long valley we stopped for lunch: tinned fish and bread. We continued and I found the ascent increasingly hard, partly because of the weight of my rucksack and partly because of the altitude. In the last section the track headed northeast. It was now raining and rather miserable, with thunder, but we plodded on and finally reached the Shumak pass at 2840 metres at 15.30. There were lots of Buddhist prayer flags and three local Buryat women. The place was clearly what they call a holy place. There was also a sign on a rock in Buryat script (Бурятский язык), which looked a bit like Hindi or Sanskrit. The views of the surrounding mountain peaks and valleys were spectacular and the weather calm and we enjoyed good views all round. The pass was, of course, rather exposed and it was not the sort of place in which one would linger, if there had been a wind. We descended a short gully on the other side of the pass and slowly worked our way down. This was not difficult, but it was rocky and required care. After we had gone down some way I looked back and took a photo. In an attempt to be encouraging I said to Natasha, look at what we’ve just come down, but she kept looking at the ground and replied, “I don’t want to look, Sandy”. I thought the descent was long and steep and quite hard for the school students, as they were wearing light shoes like plimsolls and had wet feet. In addition, they may have found the exposure a little intimidating; it’s easy to forget how accustomed you get to it with experience. We reached a suitable campsite near a small, serene lake at 2340 metres. Natasha was, I think, exhausted or even freaked out and she dumped her rucksack and sat rather morosely on the grass, saying nothing for some time. Oleg and I had a whisky and he revealed that he now enjoyed it with water, drunk slowly, rather than in the Russian style, which is to drink it neat in one gulp. Dinner was soup and tea. We noted that the mountains here seemed to be of granite with marble and much red rock, which Oleg reckoned contained iron, and abundant scree. In fact we were all tired and went to bed at 20.45. Tuesday, July 31 We got up for breakfast and broke camp. One of the loaves of bread had gone stale and had to be dumped. We descended a path, which became long and muddy. This was difficult for the others, who were wearing light shoes and had wet feet. At one point Natasha fell and left a shoe stuck in the mud, which I managed to retrieve for her. We reached Shumak waterfall, which I remembered from the winter trip in as a broad, frozen cascade. It was now a rather sparce waterfall, with a remaining column of snow to the left. We finally reached the small settlement at Shumak at about 17.00 and set up camp beside a river. Oleg built a campfire between two sets of rocks, with the dixies straddling them. We managed to set up several washing lines to dry the various clothes we had washed in the river. Dinner was grechka, although I found it difficult to eat the meat parts, which I did not find very tasty. Afterwards, I went with Oleg, Misha and Roma for a bathe in the hot springs, which are located inside a small wooden hut. We met the folk that had given me vodka two evenings before. The water was in fact only lukewarm and not much hotter than I remembered from our winter visit. It was pretty filthy and the presence of leeches swimming in it did little to enhance the pleasure of the experience. When we returned to the campsite, Oleg relieved me of a packet of maize (800g) and tin of condensed milk (сгущёнка) (370g) for breakfast, much to my relief. Wednesday, August 1 We got up at 8.30. I slept well, with some vivid dreams, possibly due to the altitude, which was 1536m. My altimeter read 1670m and I corrected it. It had been wet during the night but probably due to condensation rather than rain. Breakfast was maize. Today was a rest day, which was no bad thing, as everyone was tired. At 11 am we walked across the suspension bridge over the river to reach the hot springs on the other side. There was a small shop that sold food and souvenirs, including books and DVDs, but the book I looked at was quite heavy and I did not think the extra weight was warranted. Nearby, there were various springs of tepid or hot water, each with a sign recommending its use for various ailments, although the taste is variable. We wandered round and returned to the campsite, where we had a meal of fish soup and devoured a loaf of rye bread I was carrying. The girls went off for a bathe in the hot springs although, judging from their comments, they did not seem to find the experience any more pleasurable than we had. We then all went to the river to wash our hair. I took a nice photo of the girls with their heads covered in soap but, as described below, no longer have the picture. The girls, particularly Natasha, Anya and Masha, were skilled at pleating one another’s hair in various styles, including that of Yulia Timoshenko, the former Ukrainian premier. When we were sitting round the fire, the students discovered that Oleg and I did not know anything about a number of actors and pop singers, such as Justin Bieber. They seemed to find this remarkable and took much pleasure in grilling us for a while: “Haven’t you heard of X?”. I marvelled at the fund of factual information they produced. Afterwards I chatted in English for a while to Olga, who was able to hold an intelligent conversation for at least 15 minutes. Thursday, August 2 We got up at 7.30 am and after breakfast broke camp and left at 10.00. I thought my rucksack was slightly lighter and less bulky, although it was still quite heavy. We walked down the path along the right bank of the River Shumak, then crossed the river. The first branch of the river was fine, but the second was fast-flowing. We crossed this in pairs, holding hands for support, I with Natasha. The water reached up to about mid-thigh and I was almost swept away. Ski poles might have been useful for this sort of thing. Fortunately the weather was hot and we dried fairly quickly. We then walked through some forest to enter the Narуngolsky Canyon (Нарингольский Канион), through which ran the fast-flowing Naryngolsky River (Нарин-Гол). We were now heading westwards. We had to criss-cross the river many times and had no option but to get our feet wet. Around 15.30 I was descending a short steep section when I felt myself falling to the right. My left foot appeared to be caught between two rocks and I was unable to remove it or prevent my toppling over because of the heavy rucksack. As I was falling I heard a crack sound and let out a loud cry of agony, after which I felt great pain and lost consciousness. I soon came round and thought at first that I might have fractured my left tibia and fibula. I was, however, able to remove my boot and socks and saw that the outer ankle was swollen and painful but, as it did not obviously look as if a bone was broken, we reckoned at first that the ankle had just been sprained. I put the socks and boot on again and managed to weight bear and cross the river. Oleg took my rucksack as well as his own and I continued to walk, with Olga taking up a position behind me. It was, however, impracticable for Oleg to carry my rucksack as well as his own and, after a short distance, he took the food out of mine and distributed it among the others and let me take back my pack. With the aid of a crooked stick I found, I continued to walk to the next campsite, which was at 1805 metres, which we reached at 18.30. It was about 100 metres from the river. We put up the tents and tarpaulin. I tried to dry my footwear in the sun. Although the day’s walk had not been too arduous, Oleg reckoned the next day would be longer. He gave me some ointment to rub on my foot and bandaged the ankle. We went to bed at 21.30. Friday, August 3 I slept well and woke to find the left foot painful and very swollen, with extensive bruising below and above the lateral malleolus. After some thought, I suggested to Oleg than I might not be able to continue on the walk. We were now about to go into relatively wild country, even further from help. The foot was unstable and if I found I could not walk or if I injured it again, which was highly likely, it would entail even greater delay in getting assistance. Moreover, I would be likely to hold up the others in the party, as I would be slow, even if I managed to walk at all. I suggested to Oleg that he and I and perhaps one or two others descend to Shumak, where I might be able to get transport out, although crossing the river there might be problematic. Oleg pointed out that there were no cars in Shumak. I later realised that the other way into Shumak from Arshan was a good deal longer than the way we had come over the Shumak pass. Oleg suggested that he descend to Shumak and obtain a horse to take me over the mountain passes to the dry river, where we had started. There I could wait for the others of the team. I mentioned that I had a Gortex bivouac sack and could sleep out without a tent, even if it rained. This plan was agreed and, with no more ado, Oleg set off immediately at 7.45, while the rest of us waited. Anya and Masha cooked a breakfast of rice kasha and tea. When we got chatting, Anya mentioned that she wanted to become a pathologist like me, although this had already been her ambition and was not as a result of meeting me. Masha said she wanted to become a writer. When the others got up, I asked them about Skype. It seemed that Olga, Masha and Anya all had Skype and Natasha was going to get it. Olga also said she was on Facebook. I lay and read in the sun and waited for Oleg to return. At 19.30 two black horses arrived, one bearing Oleg and the other a chap called Misha, who was Buryat. Oleg said it had taken him two hours to descend to Shumak and two hours to come back on horseback. He said it had not been too difficult, even although it was his first time on a horse. He said that Misha was a traditional doctor and lived over near where our trip started. Misha seemed a taciturn chap with mongoloid features and short hair. He put the horses out to graze and cooked some gretcha, which he offered to the others. He looked at my ankle and put on it a compress consisting of used tealeaves and salt, the benefit of which I was sceptical. I was a little apprehensive about having to ride on a horse, which I had never done before, but, as it was obvious that I could barely walk, I was resigned to it, as it seemed to be the best solution to my plight,. Oleg gave me some food and his little butane gaz stove and two gaz cylinders, together with his metal dish, in which we reckoned I could boil water. He said that the cost of hiring the guide and horses was 13,000 roubles (£286). He gave Misha 10,000 roubles and gave me the other 3,000, with instructions to give him this after the journey. He cautioned me carefully on no account to give him more than this. Saturday, August 4 I got up when I saw Misha get out of his tent, but he went back to bed for a while, before getting up again. After breakfast the others set off on foot, while Misha got the horses ready. He told me to put on my Gortex cagoule and waterproof trousers, as it was likely to rain. In retrospect I should have added gaiters. I was wearing my light trainer shoes, rather than boots, which would have been too bulky to fit the stirrups. As my rucksack on its own would have left the horse unbalanced, we removed some of its contents and put them in a separate bag, to counterbalance the weight of the rucksack, which went into a bag on the other side of the horse. As it happened, most of my gear was in plastic bags. My down sleeping bag was tightly packed in its bag and was in a separate pocket at the bottom of the rucksack, which turned out to be just as well. Misha and Oleg had both advised me to hold on tightly to the horse’s saddle (держи крепко!), although I had already considered this as a good plan. Misha helped me into the saddle, which was awkward with a painful left foot, and he rode in front of me, holding in his right hand a rein to my horse. We set off after the others and almost at once had to go up a fairly steep slope. The horse started jumping up this but unfortunately the buckle in the strap called the girth that passed under the horse’s neck appeared to have ripped out of the holes and the whole saddle, with me on top, slid backwards. At this point I shouted out in fear and the horse panicked and started bucking. This resulted in my falling backwards over the horse’s rear and crashing to the ground. I was unhurt but it did not help my confidence. Misha said that the horse realised that I was frightened and this was why he panicked. He refastened the strap, which was pretty old and worn. It broke on a number of occasions thereafter, but I was able to alert Misha and even refasten it myself. On subsequent steep sections I found I was able to hold on to the strap with my right hand as well as to the bar on the front of the saddle with my left hand. We set off again and progressed well and fairly soon reached the col of the Obzorny Pass (Обзорный Перевал), where there were a few colourful prayer flags. Misha placed some money on a rock and plucked a small tuft of hair from each horse and laid them too on a rock. He also scattered some food to the four winds. Presumably this all had some religious significance. We rode on a short distance and soon met with the others of the team. Misha related the tale of my falling off the horse to Oleg and they both laughed. We rode on down the other side of the col for perhaps 100 metres, after which the ground flattened into a long valley stretching westwards called Yaman-Gol (Яман-Гол). After we had gone down this for a while, Misha asked me if I wanted tea. I agreed and we stopped beside a dead tree, where he lit a fire. He cut strips of wood with an axe, which he said was, I think, Yakut style, although I might have misheard him for Buryat. He brewed a large pot of tea and gave me some biscuits. The others soon caught up but did not stop and Misha likewise did not offer them tea; so I did not see the point of his brewing such a large volume. We set off again and soon passed the others, who had by this time also stopped, presumably to make tea. This was the last time I saw them till we met up again after some days. We pressed on through a series of canyons with huge, vertical cliff faces, which I thought most impressive rock scenery, and in due course emerged through the other side. Misha told me that the word Gol was Buryat for gorge. We had to criss-cross the river a fair number of times. At one point the river narrowed into a gorge with vertical sides. Misha’s horse suddenly went into deep water and started swimming. At this point he let go the rein with which he was attached to my horse. Fortunately my horse also entered the water and started swimming. The water was up to my thighs, but this meant that the bags on each side of the horse were submerged. After about five metres the horses emerged at the other side and clambered on to dry ground again. I did not pause to consider what would have happened if my horse had refused to swim after Misha’s or if he had thrown me off into the water. Misha said rather triumphantly that this was the first time these horses had swum, although I was not sure I wanted to hear this. We continued through forest along a path which was very rocky and wet. I tried to establish a friendly working relationship with my horse by patting him encouragingly, but he seemed more intent on trying to grab leaves or grass as we passed. This meant that he turned his neck, which I found disconcerting. A few times as we passed a tree or bush I caught my foot and I would let out a howl of agony, but I soon learned to tuck my feet under the horse’s belly. Misha also shouted out “Nogu” (ногу), meaning leg, to warn me if there was a tree stump or rock at stirrup height. At first I was still warm, although wet from our swim in the river, but as time passed it started raining and as the sun became less hot I began to feel cold. As light was fading we stopped in a small clearing and put up the tent, which was supported by two semicircular poles at right angles to one another. I was having a lot of pain standing or walking and Misha became angry when it appeared as if I was not able to help him. He seemed not to comprehend that I could hardly weight bear without pain. I also found his Russian a little difficult to understand at times. We cooked on Oleg’s little stove inside the tent and I managed to eat some noodles, with tea. My yellow plastic mug was broken in two, no doubt by being struck on a tree as the horse banged the bags fairly regularly. Misha brought much of the wet gear, including my waterproofs and his green oilskins, inside the tent and kept the stove going in an attempt to dry off some of it. I did not see the point of this, as it served mainly to get some of the dry clothes wet too. It also used up one of the two gaz cylinders I had. I had been a little concerned in case my sleeping bag and gear had got wet but it had been tightly packed and it and most of my clothes were mainly dry, thanks to their being in plastic bags when the horses were swimming. Misha’s sleeping bag and clothes were, however, wet; so I gave him my Gortex bivouac sac, which he put under his sleeping bag. Misha asked if I had a camera. I said yes (Sony Cybershot). I took a photo but it appeared misty, no doubt because of the dampness inside the tent or perhaps in the camera itself. He enquried how much the camera cost and asked me bluntly if I would give it to him as a gift. I declined, pointing out that it contained photos of my friends as a memento of our tour. He examined it and, without asking if I minded, looked at many of the photos. I asked him if he could buy such a camera locally and he said no. I took it back and he suggested I leave it on top of my rucksack to dry, as it might be wet. He then asked for my watch-altimeter as a gift. I refused to give him this too, as I needed it. Sunday, August 5 I slept intermittently and was cold, partly because of the altitude, 1800 metres. By morning the bottom of my sleeping bag, which had been in contact with the door of the tent, had become wet. We slept till 11.00. This seemed to be a deliberate ploy to try and allow the sun to warm up the tent and dry some of the gear, but it did mean that we were late in getting started. I cooked some kasha oatmeal and had raspberry tea. I clearly recall putting the camera into the top pocket of the rucksack. I considered putting it deeper inside the main compartment, in case it got wet, but felt it might fall out or get lost when we moved some of my gear into the other sack on the horse. I was, however, suspicious that Misha might be after the camera, but thought that if I put it in another location I might just lose it or get it wet. I then cleared out the contents of the tent, passing them out to Misha. He left the broken plastic mug and empty gaz cylinder beside a tree, which I felt was not very friendly towards the environment. At this point he asked me for the money Oleg had given me to give him, 3,000 roubles, which I did. We set off at 12.30, following a very rough trail. At one point the track led across a ravine and Misha led the horses on foot one by one. I found that in descending steep ground the horse tended to be careful and if I leaned back it was not too frightening. We came upon a campsite at which were three Russians, who asked me where I was from and said they were from Irkutsk. One of them showed Misha a map and there was some discussion. We then retraced our steps back across the steep ravine and I concluded that we had gone the wrong way. We went round a hillside and stopped at a campsite, where we had some of my raspberry tea. This may have been by the river Ara-Khybity (Ара-Хубыты), near where it is joined by the Ara-Oshey (Ара-Ошей), but from the map may rather be further up, where it is joined by the Zun-Gol (Зун-Гол). We set off again and, after he considered matters carefully, crossed back and forwards over the river, probably the Zun-Gol (Зун-Гол), three times through a short ravine section. The water was fast-flowing but not too deep. We then had to ascend a steep track up a hillside. He told me to hold on tightly and the horse semi-galloped up the track. I was becoming used to this and gripped the strap and saddle, making a special effort not to reflect on the consequence of falling off on this section, there being a steep drop into the river. There was then a long section on flat terrain through taiga and eventually a good track that led southwards beside the Barom-Gol river (Баром-Гол) up a hillside to a col, namely the Khybity pass (Перевал Хубыты). Misha did periodically check that I was all right by shouting out “Normalno?”, which is the Russian all-purpose word for “OK?”, as well as “Nogu” to indicate that I should raise a foot. We passed a herd of black, white and brown horses that might have been wild, although I was later told by Oleg that they were not. To the right there was a huge cliff face, which was most impressive. We reached the col at 3260 metres. Misha dismounted and ran up a short path to a rock with a cross, where he placed money. We then rode up this track and down the other side. We soon met four people carrying rucksacks and ascending to the col and then passed another group of horses, who started to follow us, until Misha shouted to them. As we descended we passed on the right some ravines through which flowed the River Khybity (Хубыты). We met two other walkers, who indicated that it was still a long way to our destination. The weather had until now held up well, although some clouds were gathering. Time was now passing and Misha started to get impatient, especially when the horses refused to move. He told me to shout “Shoo-ee!”, which I did, but presumably with the wrong accent, as it had no effect whatsoever on the animal. He also told me to kick the horse with my right foot. I found this difficult as the pain in my left foot was such that I could not get good purchase to move the right foot. Also, I was afraid of hurting the horse. He became annoyed and shouted at me and told me to help. I felt, however, that part of the reason we were late was that he had delayed setting off in the morning. When we did this trip in the winter there had been a lake and as there was no sign of one I wondered if we had come over a different pass, but Oleg and Sasha later told me that the lake is formed in winter only, as the rivers freeze up and dam the water. We finally reached the treeline and passed a small, wooden hut (a domik). We continued down a track through the forest for another hour. It started raining and there was lightning and thunder, which I reckoned was about 4 km away. Suddenly there appeared the old wooden hut that I recognised and we stopped just in front of this. By this time it was raining heavily. Part of the hut still had its roof and he told me to go into this part through a door on the left at the back. I thought this was because he was concerned that I might not be able to step up into the hut at the front but in retrospect it may have been to get me out of the way while he unloaded my gear from the horse. By now it was almost dark. He brought my gear into the hut and, shaking my hand, headed off further down the track. The roof on the hut was leaking so badly that the floor was wet and there were several other people and rucksacks around. I decided it did not look an inviting place to stay. I waited a while and the rain went off somewhat. I was able to walk a little on foot and found a nearby spot with a relatively dry area of shrubbery and brought out my gear and laid down my Gortex bivouac sac, putting inside three short sections of karrimat and my sleeping bag, which seemed dry. There was a wonderful fragrant smell of the herb sagan-daly (саган-дали), no doubt stimulated by the dampness. I settled down and was relatively comfortable and slept well. Monday, August 6 When I woke it was raining and this continued intermittently all day. I managed, however, to keep dry inside the bivouac sac. There were a few mosquitos and one or two particularly annoying wasps. Indeed I wondered if I had inadvertently laid my bivouac sac on a wasp’s nest. I scribbled down on paper all that I could remember from the previous couple of days. Around midday the sky cleared somewhat and the sun shone very hotly. I managed to dry off a few things, particularly pieces of paper containing written material, such as lists of vocabulary. I discovered that my camera was missing from the top pocket of my rucksack. As it had been securely zipped up and contained various other items, all of which were still present, it seemed difficult to avoid the conclusion that Misha had stolen it. He probably saw me put it into the pocket and his interest in it was obvious. He may have taken it when he brought my gear into the ruined hut the night before and this might explain why he told me to go into the hut via the back door. It is a pity to have lost the pictures of the trip. Clearly his devout behaviour in offering goods to the gods at the mountain passes did not conflict with being a thief. In the late afternoon the rain went off and there was a patch of clear blue sky. I seized the chance to go and fetch some water from a small lake just behind the hut and obtained about a litre. It did not seem at all clean, but I boiled it and had some vermicelli, which was tasty and restored my spirits. I bedded down at dusk but twilight continued till about 22.30. During the night I saw a few stars and the constellation Cygnus, although overall it was misty. Later, the gibbous moon appeared. I slept well and the rain stayed off all night. Tuesday, August 7 I woke early and dozed till 8.30. I boiled plenty of water and cooked some oatmeal kasha for breakfast. I dressed the several cuts on my fingers, mostly due to rubbing against the horse’s saddle, and put some of Oleg’s ointment on my foot. The foot was still swollen but rather less painful on movement, although this was restricted in all directions. There was still much yellow bruising extending from the toes to the lower leg. I tried to dry some more gear but intermittent light rain meant that I had to keep clearing away my things. At lunchtime I went to fetch some more water from the small lake. I boiled some and brushed my teeth, which was badly needed. The sun came out and I tried to dry gear but was forced to put it away with the arrival of heavy rain and a thunderstorm, which lasted a couple of hours. A woman spotted me lying in the bivouac sac and asked if I was all right. The sleeping bag was still perfectly dry and this seems to indicate that the bivouac sac was pretty efficient. Suddenly around 16.00 I heard Oleg’s voice calling my name and opened the zip of the sac to see him there. As I had speculated, the weather had been bad in the mountains and the team had pressed on quickly rather than pause for a day, as had been considered. We packed up my gear and walked over to where the rest of the group were setting up camp in the place we had used before on the ascent. Rain continued on and off for the rest of the day and it felt cold. We had a meal of fish soup and went to bed around 21.00. We heard a noise of some animal outside the tent and opened the door to see a cat. Oleg reckoned it was hunting burundok. Wednesday, August 8 We got up at 8.15 to find that the foliage and ground were wet, although it was not raining. We broke camp and set off walking down the track towards the final campsite, where we had started out tour. Oleg strapped up my foot and I had my boots on for support and held a stick in my right hand, which was a great help, but I had to walk carefully and it was still quite painful. We reached the grove with the little wooden hut and here we managed to board the lorry at a price of 300 roubles each. The track was very rough, with channels up to half a meter deep, but the lorry had large wheels and managed to get down it to base camp at 935 metres beside the dry river, which now had some water in it. I even found the small pile of coins I had left behind a tree, due to their weight. After discussion we decided to pay for two nights in the nearby site, where there were erected large Buryat tents. Such a tent is called a yurta (юрта) and consists of a circular vertical wall, topped by a conical section. One of these easily accommodated all eight of our team. There was a small shop and we all bought some food. I had grazun (гразунь, яица-гразунья)), which turned out to be fried eggs, and the others had small meat dumplings called pozy (позы). Oleg and I also had a beer each, namely Klinskoe Ultralite (Клинское Ултра Лаит), from Klin, near Moscow, which cost 55 roubles for a 500 ml bottle and was cool and pleasant, if not wonderful. As the weather was hot and sunny, we took the chance to lay out our gear. In my case there was still water in certain items, such as inside the lens caps on my monocular. I lay in the sun reading most of the afternoon. Dinner was soup. Afterwards Oleg asked me to look at Roma’s foot, where there was an abscess round the nail of his big toe. I cut it with a small scalpel blade to drain out the pus and put on a plaster. Misha also had a small cut where the roof of a blister had come off and I cleaned this with antiseptic wipe and dressed it. Later, I felt a raised, slightly sore area on my left hip and supposed this to be a result of abrasion from sitting on the horse. A group of about 20 people arrived and it appeared that they were practitioners of yoga from the city of Krasnoyarsk. They were going up to Shumak pass and on to the springs, which had some Buddhist significance for them, and back. After much hubbub they got on to the lorry to be transported up to the first campsite. This was explained to me by a rather glamorous woman called Nina, who said she was a producer in a theatre in Krasnoyarsk and was also a yoga practitioner. She was staying behind tonight and going up tomorrow. She complimented me on my Russian, which was quite nice, as few others did. We went to bed around 22.00. Thursday, August 9 We got up at 9.00 and had rice kasha with watermelon for breakfast at a table under a wooden roof. I got into conversation with one of the women in the shop, who walked on crutches, apparently because of a weak leg and possibly drop foot, which I wondered might be due to old polio. I mentioned to her that that I reckoned Misha had stolen my camera. I had the impression that they did not know him personally but might have known of him. Afterwards I sat out in the sun. I could not sit cross-legged, due to the pain in my left ankle. Nina appeared in a rather glamorous colourful costume, from which it was not difficult to imagine that she worked in the theatre. I borrowed Natasha’s mirror and examined the lesion on my left buttock, which was indeed scabbed over and not serious and must have been from sitting on the horse. The weather was hot and sunny, in contrast to that we had had in the mountains. The left foot was no less painful on walking and introflexion, although at rest it was not painful. It was still swollen, with yellow areas of bruising from the toes to above the ankle. A young boy came to our tent and summoned me to see a man about my camera. The man asked me to sit opposite him across a fire and explain formally what had happened. Oleg joined us but did not need to say much, as I was able to give a full account. He listened carefully and it was clear that he was taking it all seriously. At 17.00 we had a banya, namely a sauna, and were able to wash too. The sauna was new and clean and pleasantly hot and there was no need afterwards to plunge into some freezing cold water. We packed our gear for leaving early next morning. Mine was now all dry. The 1 ½ litre plastic water bottle had sprung a leak, probably from being hit by a passing tree while I was on horseback, and we dumped it in a rubbish bin. Somebody in the campsite gave me a card advertising local tours (swetatour@mail.ru) It was interesting that the mobile telephones now worked again for the first time since we had been in the mountains and several of the school students phoned home. Another man came to our tent to ask me about the camera theft and took a note of my name, address and email. Later, a chap came to our tent to ask if we could give them a lift to the tour centre Arshan next day and this was arranged by mobile telephone between Oleg and the driver of the van that was going to collect us. Friday, August 10 We got up at 5 am. A van came to collect us and we set off at 17.40. The three people who had joined us were dropped off at Arshan, which looked interesting. The journey down from the mountains took 2 ½ hours, much less than when we were going up, and we duly arrived at Slyudyanka. We left our luggage in the railway station and went to buy food for the train. I bought dark bread, cheese and green tea and some noodles, together with some beer. I also bought a nice map of the Kitoysky and Tunkinsky Mountains (Китойские Гольцы, Тункинские Гольцы). As some of the others were buying fish, I bought three warm fish, omun. I ate one, which was tasty. The idea is that you wrap them in newspaper, which helps preserve them. This works if the fish are cold and dry, but mine were warm and would go off quickly. The others walked to Lake Baikal and when they returned I decided I would like to go to the water’s edge too. Anya was kind enough to accompany me. The lake was beautiful and the water not too cold. We boarded our train at 17.13. I found I was sharing my compartment with a young woman called Kate and also a nice young girl aged 10 years called Angelina and her grandmother, Lyubov. Kate seemed beautiful, although two weeks away in the mountains may have influenced my judgement. Angelina was a lively, inquisitive child and asked me much about Scotland. She was able to draw a picture of a Scotsman in a kilt and asked me the English words for various things and I found it fun to chat to her. I was sorry to see that Kate left the train around 20.00. I was on the top bunk and bedded down and slept well. Saturday, August 11 My breakfast was green tea, bread and cheese, which was tasty. I chatted with various people, including Angelina for a good while. I find children quite good for language practice; unlike adults they are not inhibited by politeness and will readily correct mistakes. At Krasnoyarsk we stopped for 45 minutes and we went outside the station into the large square. The station building is beautiful. I bought an ice cream cone (мороженое мягка). Back on the train, I later chatted in English to Olga and indicated that we should try to communicate by Skype, in which case I would give her practice in spoken English. She seemed quite keen to come to Scotland with Oleg next year. We were joined by Oleg and had a couple of beers. I decided that my favourite was dark Barkhatnoy, from Tomsk. I returned to my compartment and Angelina took movie pictures of me talking in English. I gave her my email address and asked her to send me the pictures. I then fell asleep on my bunk and when I awoke a while later she and her grandmother had left the train and been replaced by new people. Sunday, August 12 I slept well and woke early. I was about to get up at 8.00 when I remembered that the local time was in fact 6.00. So I waited and got up for breakfast with Oleg and Anya. The weather was dry, if cloudy. I remembered that apart from the night in my bivouac sac I had not seen a single clear night with stars. We arrived at Omsk at 10.19. We said farewell to one another on the platform, where several of the parents were waiting to meet their offspring. Anya’s family had arrived from the Urals and I met them: Andrei and Sveta (Svetlana) and their son Stepan, who was a boy aged about 8 or 9 years old.Inna and Polina were also waiting. We drove home, where Lyudmilla was waiting to greet us, and had lunch. In the afternoon we drove to the hypermarket, along with Sasha’s wife, Lena, and son Dimitri (Dima), who is about 8 or 9 years old, and Anya, 2 years. The children did some ice skating on a rink. In the hypermarket itself I bought two books on astronomy, one called Planets and Constellations, 100 roubles, and the other The Universe. I also bought two types of vodka, which Oleg said were local: Five Lakes (Пять Озеро), 159.40 roubles, and Green Mark (Зелёная Марка), 242.94 roubles. We returned home for a meal of borscht and peppers stuffed with meat. We then went to Sasha’s to drink vodka and beer. There I met Alexander and Marina, who were quite chatty, and Sasha Konev arrived. We returned home around 23.00. Monday, August 13 I slept well and woke at 7 am. I had only a little tea, in case I needed a general anaesthetic, as Oleg and I were going to the hospital in Omsk to see about my foot. Oleg first went out for a haircut and then at 11 am we drove into town to a diagnostic centre called Ultramed. I had to pay 500 roubles and we then saw a doctor who sent me for a couple of X-rays. These showed an oblique fracture of the lower fibula, as I had more or less expected, with slight displacement of the fragment, which was one of the variants of Pott’s fracture. The whole process was quite quick and efficient and I had to pay cash. The doctor then sent me to get a plaster cast fitted. They gave me a printout of the X-rays and a set of receipts and we had to drive to a different clinic for this. There, I had to pay another 500 roubles. The doctor there was very pleasant and suggested that instead of a plaster it would be more comfortable for me to have a plastic support. In addition, he pointed out that having a plaster might cause me trouble in airport security, as they might want to check that I was not carrying drugs in the plaster. I had not thought of this and agreed to have the plastic. We had to go to a kiosk and buy this at a cost which I cannot remember, probably 500 roubles or so. The doctor met me in a different room and put on the plastic. As I had to lie face down on a couch, I could not see what they were doing, but it seemed effective and I was able to put on my sock and shoe over it. All the dealings were conducted in Russian, as none of the staff spoke enough English to be able to communicate. We then called in to see Tatyana Georgievna for a short time to discuss Oleg’s preparations for the competition. We drove home around 16.00 and joined Andrei, Sveta and Anya to go to the hypermarket, where I bought beer and champanskoe, which is Russian champagne and which I remembered to be quite good. We returned late and had to wait at the level crossing just before Luzino for four long goods trains to pass. I have counted these in the past and each seems to pull about 70-80 long wagons. When we finally got home we were tired and had some beers and went to bed around midnight. Tuesday, August 14 I woke at 7 am and read. After breakfast I walked with Oleg to his school (number 2). He bought some paint and painted a number of white lines on the floor of one of the large rooms, apparently as a guide for young pupils.Inna picked us up by car and we drove to Sasha’s to collect Andrei and Sveta and drove into Omsk. We went to the cathedral, which I had seen previously but they seemed not to have. We were not allowed into the main part wearing shorts. We also visited a nearby small museum, which explained how the cathedral had been destroyed by the communists in 1935, the present one having been rebuilt in the 1990s. We then walked up and down Lenin Street (Ulitsa Lenina), where we saw several metal statues, some being quite humorous. We then drove to the old fortress, built by Peter the Great in 1716, where Dostoevsky had been imprisoned. We returned home around 17.00 for tea. I showed Anya my X-rays. At 20.00 Andrei, Oleg and I walked the short distance to the house of Georgy Regetsiy, who is a mountain guide and whom I had met last year. Georgy is quite distinguished, being one of the few Russian guides to have climbed all the 7000 meter peaks in the former Soviet Union. He has some fine mountain photographs on the wall of his house. One of his hobbies is making his own drinks, mainly vodka and wine, called samogon. In Russia it seems to be legal to distil spirits for personal use, although not to sell, or at least a blind eye is turned to it. The table was set with six small glasses and cutlery. Georgy produced some food, which consisted of potatoes and stew, with plenty of fragrant coriander seeds, together with salad, black bread and dried fish. We had several glasses of a bottle of spirits which he said he had distilled from a type of grass. He reckoned it was 60% alcohol and this would accord with the taste. He recommended that we drink it in Russian traditional style, which is to drain the glass in one gulp, but then to breathe out slowly through the nose, to capture the aroma. It tasted really nice and after drinking a couple of glasses like this, I enjoyed taking smaller mouthfuls at a time. I suppose I had about five or six glasses. We were joined by Inna and Sveta and later by Sasha. Georgy also gave us some of his wine, which was black and very pleasant. He said he had not been to the mountains this year as his father had been ill with a stroke. The whole evening was very pleasant. We walked home around 12.30. On the way we noticed a few stars, including the Great Bear, Little Bear and Casseiopeia. The Milky Way was clear. Wednesday, August 15 I woke around 9.30 to a bright and sunny day. Interestingly none of us had any ill-effects from the previous evening. We drove to the Achairsky Monastery, situated near Achair, some 50 km from Omsk, with Andrei, Sveta and the children, Stepan, Inna, Dima and Polina. We wandered round and passed a procession of clergy, mostly female, in black habits into some of the church buildings, which contained the usual things seen in such places. The monastery has gleaming, golden cupolas and was rebuilt in the 1990s. It is located beside the River Irtysh. Near the buildings there was a small spring with warm water and a small bathing pool, no doubt with reputed health-giving properties, where quite a few people, mostly children and elderly women, were bathing. We returned around 15.30 to Sasha’s house for food, namely mixed vegetables and borscht. We drove back to Oleg and Inna’s at 17.00, where dinner later was sliced aubergines with on top mayonnaise, grated carrot and tomato, baked in the oven. Along with this we had watermelon and melon with mixed vegetables, washed down with beer and all very tasty. We went to bed at 23.00. Thursday, August 16 After breakfast we drove to a local shop to buy a memory stick at 8 Gb so that I could take away copies of photos, which Oleg copied from his computer. In the later afternoon Natasha arrived with Anya Pushchima, another old friend who was on my last two trips. Anya is a particularly nice girl, now aged 15 years and very athletic, and it was really nice to see her again. Oleg copied over Natasha’s pictures for me and the girls left around 18.00. We then drove to Sasha’s and said farewell to Andrei and his family, who were driving back to the Urals, a car journey of some 20 hours. We drove back to Oleg’s for some dried fish and vodka, which was very tasty. Evgenii Sibirtsev, who had been on our winter trip in the Sayan, arrived with his wife and baby, and later Sasha arrived to say farewell. Tatyana phoned Oleg and asked to have a brief chat with me, which was nice of her. We went to bed at 23.00. Friday, August 17 Oleg,Inna and I got up just before 7.00 and had a light breakfast before Oleg drove me to the airport. They seemed not to be able to check my baggage (15 Kg) straight through to Edinburgh, as there were three flights and they would do it only for two. So I had to collect it at Moscow Airport. Oleg and I said farewell and I went though security, where nobody seemed to notice any problem with my leg. At Moscow I bought three syrniki, small cheese pancakes, to which I had been looking forward greatly. Unfortunately they seemed to have no sour cream (smetana) and instead gave me condensed milk, which was very sweet and rather sickly. I checked in the baggage to Edinburgh. The flight to Paris was straightforward, as was the final leg to Edinburgh. I arrived there at 17.50, although with the six hour time difference from Omsk, it was still a long day’s travelling. I took a taxi home, arriving at 18.30. There was time enough to empty the rucksack and wash some of the clothing, which smelt pretty foul, even by my standards. Monday, August 20 I went into work this morning and visited the fracture clinic. They took further X-rays of my foot and reckoned that it was healing well and that if the plastic splint was quite comfortable, as it was, they would just leave it and remove it in three weeks, for which they gave me an appointment. So this seemed satisfactory; all’s well that ends well. Comments This was a great trip, despite the accident to my ankle. I greatly enjoyed the company of the people I was with in the mountains and thought all the school students did really well in carrying heavy rucksacks on long, hard hikes in hostile terrain and sometimes in bad weather. They were good fun. Oleg, of course, organised the trip extremely well and kept in charge of everything. After a month communicating in Russian, I felt my language skills had improved, although my understanding of the spoken language is still less good than I would like. Lessons for the future: Keep penknife out of handluggage. I need a metal mug, deeper metal bowl and bigger spoon. The small piece of soap was quite adequate and would have sufficed, even if it had been necessary to wash more often. The small (25 ml) tube of toothpaste was adequate. The small toothbrush sufficed too and the three interdental flosses were useful. The towel was light and fairly big and was useful after the sauna. Carry two ski sticks, especially when the rucksack is heavy. These could be fitted into the destination bag, if not into the rucksack itself. If I had had these I could have parried my sideways fall and prevented the injury to my ankle. In addition, the sticks would have given me support afterwards if I had injured it. Never go on a horse again; reconsider the plan to go on a camel across a desert.