After 43 km, I turned off the road which followed the Caspian Sea and started heading East towards Shetpe, the next significant town. I cycled until late and found a little metal hut which I slept in. I was feeling ill with tummy problems but well enough to carry on tomorrow.
Shetpe isn't anything to write home about but there's a decent bazaar so I restocked with bread, jam, cheese and a new inner tube. That night I slept in the desert on my foam mat without the tent, there was no chance of rain. The stars were absolutely beautiful, so much brighter than at home. It really struck me how far I'd ridden.
The next day I felt much better and had a huge breakfast. Surprisingly the road was still tarmac, I was expecting gravel by now. A guy in a big pickup truck pulled up to talk. He couldn't believe I was there on a bike. He said "where are you going", I said "Beyneu", he said "do you want to die out here! This road is like hell!" then drove off. Great, thanks for that I thought!
He was right though, after the small town of Zhatmysh the road deteriorates. There was still about 300 km to Beyneu and the road would be like this all the way. Its difficult to describe the road. I think if you tried your very best to make the worst road you could possibly think of then this road would be worse. The Kazakhs have succeeded in creating the worst road in the world! It was corrugated, with gravel on top and sand traps on the sides. Riding the bike was slow going, max speeds of 10 mph on good sections and usually around 7 mph.
I wobbled along constantly looking for the smoothest part of the road. Sometimes there were dirt tracks along the side of the road which were often better than the main road so I often swapped between the two.
This progress continued for 3 days. Temperatures in the afternoon reached 43 degrees c. I slept in pipes under the road in the afternoons when it was too hot to ride. They were big and there was room for the bike in there too. Chaihanas (tea shops) were a welcome relief whenever they popped up.
I think the longest distance I had to ride between water points was about 70 km but water in the desert tea shops is overpriced. The lowest my water supply got was 7 litres so I could have got away with 13 litres but it was better to have more to be safe. There is a lot of traffic on the road so I never felt unsafe and could have got help if I needed it. I was targeting 100 km per day and I managed to achieved this distance by getting up before sunrise and riding all day until sunset. I was putting in about 12 hours a day on the bike and it was tough. The hardest cycling I've ever done.
The landscapes were amazing. There were large rock formations from an ancient sea, gorges, white salt cliffs and endless horizons. The sunsets were the best yet and at night the desert had an amazing silence.
On the last day before Beyneu, there was a thunderstorm which reduced the dirt road to a quagmire. It was so muddy and I was walking through. 3 inch deep sticky layer of gloop. It got everywhere and jammed up my bike wheels every 100 meters or so. I had to push, straining my shoulders and arms, for 100 meters, stop to clear out the mud then carry on. This progress continued for about 2 hours where I covered 2 km! I was beginning to despair. I still had 40+ km until Beyneu and I wad shattered. Then miraculously the tarmac started again! I couldn't believe it. I stopped at a Chaihana and celebrated with a pot of tea. A little boy ran after me and gave me a note that two French cyclists had left for me. They had heard I was behind them and offered that we could cycle on from Beyneu together. Company would be great, especially in the next bit of desert, which I expected to be even tougher.
As I left the Chaihana, I noticed my little Nokia phone was missing with my Kazakh sim card in. I confronted the owner about it and he said it must have fallen out as I was ridings. I said that I definately had it at the table I'd been sitting at. He looked insulted I had suspected he'd taken it and I went back to the bike to have another look. Nope, not there so I went back in and sat down. I wasn't leaving until I got it back. He took me outside to 'help' me look for it then he spoke to his son who amazingly appeared with the phone a few minutes later. It was on the table apparently. I asked the owner where it had been found. He said on a ledge under the table. It didn't exist. They'd obviously taken it and hoped I wouldn't notice. Not a great end to West Kazakhstan!
I sped off to Beyneu and found the cheapest hotel. I found Marc and Camille, a French couple, cycling around the world on a similar route to me. They were easy to find. I asked a group of kids if they'd seen any other bikers and one made a sign of man with a beard and long hair. That would be them I thought. I was expecting Sebastian Chabal, the French caveman rugby player!
I was disappointed to find a short bearded and not very long haired Marc sitting with Camille in a cafe. I shared a beer with then and we arranged to meet the next morning so I disappeared for some much needed sleep!!
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