The great crossing

After obtaining my visa for Kazakhstan, I am ready to leave Baku and embark on a cargo freighter that will bring me across the Caspian Sea. An unpredictable journey of around 450 km.

For a Canadian, visiting Iran requires a guide, which is rather impossible on a bicycle. My route after Turkey therefore had to follow the route further north, in Georgia and Azerbaijan. And from there, cross the The Caspian sea, a body of water as large as California.

The problem is that there is no timetable for the boats, and you have to buy your ticket the same day, when a boat is approaching the port. This wait can be a day or it can be two weeks. To add to the joy, the ticket office is in Baku, and the port is in Alat, 75 km to the south.

The Mongol Rallyers

The British Dom, Matt, Sam and Huw.

Arriving at the Baku ticket office, I see a big GB sticker on a small car. Four Britons are currently doing the Mongol rally. Dom, Matt, Sam and Huw are in one of the 300 or so cars that travel from London to Mongolia in this annual rally.

Luckily, it seems that there is a boat that will leave the same day. A stressed manager shouts at us over and over that we absolutely have to get to Alat before 14 p.m. if we want to succeed in taking the freighter. It's almost 11am and there's no way I'm pedaling fast enough to do it on time on my bike. The Brits warmly agree to take me as the 5th honorary member, with all my bags, in their already full car.

After having narrowly avoided an accident between two 18 wheels on the highway, we arrive a little past noon at the port of Alat.

L'attente

It's a long time to wait when you don't know how long you have to do it. While we thought we were on the boat fairly quickly, we still wait several hours later. We spend the time playing with a nerf ball. When it finally breaks, it is replaced by a tennis ball. Despite the fifty transport trucks on site, it seems that we are the only ones to find outdoor activities!

At least until after dark a Polish tourist traveling on a National Geographic scholarship pulls a projector and sound system out of his truck and starts playing a movie on the side of a transport trailer. Sitting on the floor listening to the story of one ofAlastair Humphreys, we finally attract other truckers to join us.

14 hours after our arrival, we break camp from the parking lot and finally board the boat at 2 a.m. And even there, we will only weigh anchor a little before 8 am the next morning.

The crossing

As you might expect, this is not a luxury cruise. We were assigned small compartments with bunk beds, but all in all, it's not that bad.

After that long night in the parking lot, going through customs, emptying the car to be searched, and getting on the boat, we were burnt. We all wake up around XNUMX:XNUMX.

Leonid and Sasha, the Ukrainians met in Baku, are also from the crossing, and began to worry about our absence from meals, thinking that we had not been able to embark.

There isn't much to do during the day anyway. We read, we walk on the boat, and I take some pictures in the evening. We will eventually pass several huge oil wells on the high seas. Pleasant 15-minute entertainment.

The truck drivers, on the other hand, stare at a tiny television set. With Sasha, the only girl on the boat.

Dom and Sam admiring the Milky Way ... under my guidance!

The truckers, and Sasha, gathered to watch a small television.

Goodbyes

After a second night on the boat, the crossing finally ends after 24 hours when we arrive at the port of Aktau, Kazakhstan. We were very lucky for this too. I will speak later to a British cyclist who told me that his crossing took almost five days because of the weather!

At the Kazakh customs, Dom agrees to give a bottle of whiskey to a customs officer who more or less asks him for it. "Money, or I'll tear your car apart to search it." "

After saying goodbye and thanking my new friends, I sadly take to the road again. In a way, I want them to be able to experience this trip with friends. To share their worries and happiness together on the road. And I had a lot of fun meeting them during the last days. But I am alone, and I must continue on my way.

My wheels therefore start to roll for real after a break of almost ten days. I can hardly believe that I am in Kazakhstan. I left England, and I am in Kazakhstan.

And I have a desert to cross.