crossing russia
 

hello there in the process of planning a trip will be crossing russia entering the border at estonia over to st petersburg then to moscow down through altai region into kazakstan for a short while and mongolia then over to magadan has anybody travelled this route in the past what time scale is a realistic one i eas looking at about 2 months with thanks paul

My friends last year went from Jakutsk to Magadan - very hard and dangerous way. They hade many problems with rivers, petrol, food and weather.

hello there thanks for your reply how long did it take for them to get to magadan from yatusk thanks paul

Hi
Check out the long way round.com, this route was part of their trip. if you can get the DVD it will show some of the road conditions etc.
Good luck, hope you have a great time!

Hi Parko,
These guys did the trip starting from Magadan in the Summer of 2003:
www.blue-dunes.com
I don't know if they knew before hand the difficulties of riding from Magadan to Yakutsk. I found it odd that after riding through what would seem not easily passable, they elected to take a train from Skovorodino to Ulan Ude (let out before Chita). Perhaps at the time (2003) that section of the road was not passable.

I find the Magadan to Yakutsk journey very intriguing, and I hope someday to ride that road in route to western Europe.

I travelled from Magadan to Istanbul last year (July to October) alone on a KLR650. The "road" from Magadan to Yakutsk is very difficult, but passable if the weather isn't too bad (i.e. no rain), but you only really have about a one month window to get through before winter sets in...

I wrote about my trip and posted photos at www.users.bigpond.net.au/AdrianScott

Happy to answer more specific questions if you want.

hello there adrian thanks for your reply and information.its a great help i will have a look at your website over this weekend,with thanks paul

A friend of mine did Holland to Beijing last year and the ride thru Mongolia was very hard, you might want to check his posts at http://www.advrider.com/forums/showt...&page=3&pp=15. He figured one week and it took him three.

My wife and I will leave Changchun, China in mid July and ride north from Beijing thru Mongolia (the short route) to Irkutsk and then due west to Moscow (total trip will end in Cabo San Lucas, Baja Sur, Mexico and last about 14 months, see www.draginrun.com) Can't resist a plug.

You might also look at www.xor.org.uk/silkroute/siberia2004/mongoliaroute.htm. These good folks posted pictures ever 10 kms of the roads from Western Mongolia to UB and north to the Russian Border.

Good luck and good riding

Jack