Here's an extract from an email I just sent to a few friends. I'll post again (with a few photo's) tomorrow when we move into some accomodation.

"...At 2200 yesterday (Thursday 08/08) we (Pete, Ivan, Yevgenny and I) finally rolled into Magadan after 9 days bushcamping from Yakutsk and promptly camped again.
We encountered the M56 Kolyma Highway closed in seven different places, camped at three of them and waited three days for the Aldan River ferry after crossings were suspended due to the road closures. At the he final closure (25km east of Aldan) we met young Yevgenny, Old Yevgenny and Ivan; all riding to Magadan.
Whilst we waited for 30 trucks to be dispatched from a quarry 200km away to fill the hole in the road and for a bulldozer to work through the night to repair the road, Pete and I were interviewed for the Russian TV channel News 24 who'd sent a crew to the area to cover the unprecedented rain/flooding/road closures.

From approx 50km west of Khandyga the land on either side of the road ranges from waterlogged to flooded. The road is acting as a dam that in places has failed. At the second washout a Nissan 4x4 had been abandoned in water up to the windscreen. Three of the closures were unfordable by Kamaz/Ural trucks.

Ust-Kut issued a flood warning to its population for August 2-4th in which the people were told to keep their documents and children safe. It was clear that the road had been a real mess shortly before our arrival.

Old Summer Road - Unless water levels reduce significantly over the next two weeks I'd be presently surprised if anyone rides it this year. In Khandyga we met two Russians who'd ridden from Magadan and told us the OSR was impossible. In Ust-Kut we met a Spanish cyclist who told us the same. I had a look at the track behind the gas station at the west end of the OSR and found the water began approx 400m from the GPS marked crossing point (I'll post the photo on the HUBB thread asap)..."

For me the Old Summer Road IS the 'Road of Bones'. After 6 years of dreaming about it and 2 years of planning it was a major disappointment to pass it by.

More tomorrow...

__________________
ShortWayRound - OTR RTW since 2006

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