Road from Tsagaannuur to UB?

[James Rothwell]

Hi everyone,

How bad are the roads from Tsagannnuur to UB going to be in June?

Will I have any real problems in an old Mercedes estate?
My main worry is river crossings and mud. Gravel and dusty roads shouldn't pose a problem.

Does anyone have any photos or videos of the roads to give me an idea of how bad they are going to be?

-Thanks!

[scottw]

James: First question is northern route or southern route to UB? For a Mercedes estate I advise southern route, along the top of the Gobi, as it is drier and thus less, and shallower, water crossings and better quality dirt tracks.

Mud is definitely possible if you have heavy rain but it dries quickly so as long as you have enough time to wait a day or two after a rain then you should be ok. Again, mud is less of a problem on the southern route.

It's definitely possible, but you will have to drive carefully. I saw many small sedans do this trip, but at very slow speeds. There will be times you can do over 100 kph, but beware because suddenly you will come upon a large rock or ditch and the last thing you need out there is to break a major vehicle component (or worse yet roll and get injured). I suspect this is exactly what happened to the support vehicle on the long way round expedition. They rolled it in Mongolia when I was there. They totaled the vehcile but were luck and had no injuries.

Better to plan on motoring along gently at 40-60 kph and enjoy the views and the trip. I have some photos I could send you but bascially it's just dirt tracks all the way. Nothing sealed accept for a few kms here and there and the last 4 hours into UB from Kharkhorin.

Scott

[MotoEdde]

You can do it...BUT be prepared to take it very slow...there are some sections that are heavily rutted for 10-20 miles at a time...break....10-20 again...

In these sections, if you're not patient...you may bust a tie rod...i'd take a couple of those as spares. They're cheap.

HTH

You can see pics of the Southern route in the pics section of my website.

[James Rothwell]

Thanks for the replies.

Does anyone have a map showing both routes? The Southern route sounds like the most sensible.

I'll be going in June does this matter as to the weather conditions at all?

I'm not bothered about taking my time, as the whole point of my trips is never the destination but rather the journey. I want to enjoy the scenery!

[colebatch]

James,

One of the best tools for investigating both road conditions and things to see along your route is Panoramio ... Panoramio - Photos of the World

If you set it to "map" and fit the western half of Mongolia on your screen, you will see the "southern" route from UB to the Altai border. Zoom in a bit more and you will see the northern "route" as well. Zoom right in on either route and follow it to the border. Geotagged pics will be visible of the route, and of things to see along the route. Many of the pics will be of the trail itself, especially when you zoom in a lot. The more you zoom in, the more pics will appear available.

[James Rothwell]

Excellent, thanks for the link.

It would seem that my original draft plan was taking the Southern route so that suits me fine.

I'm really looking forward to my adventure now, even though it's ages away.

[chinabiker]

James,

check out this link. These guys took a picture about every 10km on the route you are planning to go.

Andy

[James Rothwell]

That's really helpful! Thanks!

A bit worrying is the time it took him to get to UB.
How many days should it take if I was driving for most of the day and only stopping really for fuel?

-James

[MotoEdde]

Figure 10 days in your car...to be safe...

[James Rothwell]

10 days!

Didn't realise it would take that long for some reason I figured it would take 5 maybe 6 days tops.

Oh well, guess I'll have to book a few more days off work. The longer the better and this is going to be my main trip this year so I want to enjoy it as much as possible.

[MotoEdde]

The Mongolia public transport guys take 4 days and that includes driving very fast all night between UB and Khovd...in Russian jeeps. Tsaangur is further out than Khovd...

Don't forget to budget 1 entire day for border crossing formalities on the Russian and Mongolian side.

HTH

[MotoEdde]

Do you really mean Tsaangur or Tashanta? I just caught this...in my prior estimation(10 days) I was presuming you meant Olgy/Tashanta area...

[scottw]

James: 10 days is a good, safe estimate. As motoedde says, going flat out with little regard for life or vehicle you could do it in around 4 days. But even if you survived you'd be exhuasted and stressed.

Given no problems and decent weather you could probably do it in 6-7 days if you go slower but steady. But you can never assume no problems so you're much better off allowing 10 days and having more time to relax and enjoy the trip.

Scott

[colebatch]

Originally Posted by MotoEdde

Do you really mean Tsaangur or Tashanta? I just caught this...in my prior estimation(10 days) I was presuming you meant Olgy/Tashanta area...

The first post mentions Tsagannuur .... but James, just be careful saying Tsagaannuur ... it mean "white lake". There are well over 100 "TsagaanNuur"s in Mongolia. You will have to be more specific when in country than just asking the way to TsagaanNuur. Every town (outside of the Gobi) will probably have a local TsagaanNuur within an hour's drive.