urals part2

well it was certainly vast, quiet, mysterious,wild, haunting...and that was just my tent..

what wasnt rocks covered in bright green lichens and moss, was a carpet of berry bearing plants..i have never ever seen so much fruit readily available to pick..most of it was a siberian version of bilberry- that tasted like strawberry..it was literally a case of walk a step, grab some berries, walk another etc..i was on a vitamin c high.

magical skies most evenings, blown in from the arctic.

at our first camp, we left the other two to put up the tents while we searched for a vital drinking water supply. this is where we all felt real fear. are you familiar with the scene from jurassic park, where our intrepid team enter the field of long grass?  that instantly sprang to my mind when we were walking down through the woods and foun bear traces. fresh traces. im not talking about lines in the grass, im talking huge indentations where the bears had layed down - in this chest high grass. not just one, but four or five. they were somewhere close. it was a scary time- and we hadnt got the water yet! so we had to forge on and keep our wits about us..bears will invariably attack if you stumble across them at close quarters..anywho- we got the water and got out of that wood quick..this was not the last close encounter.

bears dont like fires, so we cooked up some tea

some of the views in between camps

an example of the berry carpet

ooh more berries, what a surprise..

a rather cheeky little view..

we find time to play a strategy game..?..

?dont ask me - i lost

we decided to make our final camp where there were lots of bear signs- in this case lemon smelling shit - from the berries dont you know..the fragrant smell was everywhere- which means so were the bears..but for some reason we werent as scared- maybe we were becoming one with nature?..

the final weary trek back to the cars as the sun set.

finally back at the cars - where god did speak to the lowly travellers and said 'get orf my land'

btw it was now zero degrees..mm not it was just a case of a 600 miles high speed drive at night by two knackered drivers..deep joy

next up - some random videos