Don't go near Chechnya (updated)

Saturday 02/08

There is a reason the Home Office advises you to stay away from Chechnya for a reason.
Last night I camped off a road and slept well. The heat is high today and the region is only two blades of grass better than a desert.
The road to the Kazakhstan border is about 700km long with nothing other than heavily armoured gas stations.

I've hit serious bike trouble; it's running red hot, so I stripped the carb and tank, but they seemed okay. My best guess is it's the engine ECU not doing any ignition advance, so unburnt fuel is simply burning in the exhaust and the engine is massively down on power and running red hot.

Nice militia men have relieved me of all of my "presents", but did bring me and the bike to Astrakhan border before racing away.
Something bad was going on back down the road at the town and the people thought I was a journalist and were very angry when they found me. I had to show them my phone and camera pictures so they could be vetted!
 

Currently I'm sitting in McDonalds's using wifi and having lunch, looking very much like a vagrant.

Max and the lads have moved on to the border with another team, but I think I may be stuck here for a couple of days.

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Saturday Evening update -

Just had a shower in a proper hotel with soap and shampoo; a rare occurrence in these places!
After being "helped" by the police and militia today I am now down to 2 packs of Marlboro and no Jack Daniels. James (Farrington part of Max's team) also had to let go of two bottles as part of a bribe on Friday as we drove through Russia. He made the mistake of driving next to a police car and was told it was a $100 fine. With the Jack and 1000R (£18) we avoided prison, but the policeman was not happy with the result.
Earlier in the day James was also caught not stopping instantly when waved at by a police officer. More showing of passports by everyone and there was another trip to the little office to discuss money in passports, that time they wanted $100 from each of us. James put 100R in his passport (£1.50) and they had a bit of a sense of humour failure, but told us to go away.

Dogs are a real danger at the check points; the guards like Alsatians, but thankfully they are often chained up but very pissed off with the heat.
Late Friday afternoon at yet another checkpoint I was ordered to go through to a hut to a second hut to meet some very pleasant female officers for the standard interrogation, but there was also a large Alsatian loose and pacing back and forth the room.
Being a hero, I stood in the corner and waited for another "guest" to come in and then ran out fast.

Not sure what it is but it's bloody large!

I spent the afternoon in various motorcycle shops (actually they were more like breaker yards), where everyone was really nice, but had no real idea what was wrong with the bike. Usually roars of laughter were the response when I suggested getting some spares - that's not going to happen out here!
The scoreboard so far is; 2 votes for a burnt exhaust valve, 3 votes for crap petrol, 1 vote for a duff ECU that no longer does advance.
All the hot running seems to have given it an oil leak from every joint; it now leaves a puddle at each stop, but on the plus side the back wheel won't go rusty!
I changed the main fuse again, and am now suspicious that it is involved somehow and I have just emptied my 5l jerry-can of German petrol into the thank to see if that changes the behaviour.
Now the temperature is going down, I am going to go test it out and see if we are back in business - if we are not then I am going on a vodka bender in the hotel to get my sanity back.

Goodbye Hawaiian shirt

I have just cleared out some of my gear in an attempt to lighten the load for tomorrow.

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Finale Saturday:

Serious mistake was made today; my only spare boxers were drying on the back shelf of Saxo when I asked Max to get out of Russia quickly... Now I have laundry issue with a month to go and very little clothes.
After a beer I found the answer to my bike problem; go on unti the bike blows up and hitch a ride with a car team!

Last night I was biking in Astrakhan in shorts, a t-shirt and trainers - the heat is deadly. The bike sounds horrible but its good enough to go on tomorrow, though its a good job it's not coming home; 2 weeks and it's almost destroyed!

The best part of the trip is the cleansing effect it has on your mind; struggling in fear countless times a day puts a perspective on life at home and how irrelevant most of the work issues are. I will be really happy to get home, but the Mongol Rally has already given me more than I expected.

I don't think anyone else has ever got this far by bike on the Southern route, so not too shabby.