After Georgia I spent some time chasing a ferry ticket in Baku until I got to Kazakhstan. A 6 hour entry shambles let me in eventually.
From Aktau I rode to Beyneu then up to Atyrau on the Ural river - heading for Uralsk and then onto Aktobe. Long diversion to avoid the direct "road" between Atyrau and Aktobe that I have been told is tough going. I think a bit too offroad to put the versys through I think.
Plenty of time to take the "scenic" route to get to the Russian border by 3rd August
BTW on the first day in Kaz I travelled from Aktau to Beyneu and was extremely close to running out of fuel - I neglected to refill my spare fuel cans prior to travelling. At a fuel stop I managed to put in just over 20 litres.. Interesting when the tank is quoted at 19!
But was on fumes by then. Lesson learned.
So just over two weeks to cross Kazakhstan. Rough roads, dirt track, gravel, packed sand and pretty much every other "style" of road you can imaging and the bike coped with it all. A TKC80 rear tyre provided more than enough grip in any conditions and the demands of burning hot new tarmac - including a section of still wet un-dressed tar that coated the underside of the bike.
The Heidenau K73 "wet" front lives on! 15000km of hard roads and its still only about half worn.
I crossed into Russia via Semey in Kazakhstan - the site of Russian nuclear tests from '49 to '89. Not a place to hang around too long I think. I am now planning to get to Irkusk by the weekend and spend a little time around lake Baikal and onto Ulan-Ude before making the journey to Vladivostok
PS a very useful app for your phone/tablet is maps.me which works for offline navigation once you've downloaded the routing/maps - using opensource mapping it is THE most useful app I've ever had the pleasure of using. For any journey you might want it is highly recommended
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