Day 5
The craving for a fried egg sandwich was still with me but it was hard-boiled eggs again and, I had mislaid my pepper and Tabasco.  We trekked on as the temperature rose gradually, kicking up thick swarms of locusts as we headed towards the distant mountain range.

The back up vehicles were at the base of the mountains when we arrived and lunch was being prepared.  We knew it was mutton again because the plastic cover had blown off the meat carcases stored on the roof of the cook's minibus.
We were served one of the best spaghetti bolognaise we have ever tasted; the minced mutton had a hot spicy flavour with more than a hint of Tabasco, my condiments had obviously been found!  By late afternoon the wind was blowing hard across the steppe and by the time we had reached our camp it was gale force. With great difficulty we pitched our tents in a rocky ravine that gave us some shelter.  Our supper of mutton soup was as spicy as our last meal so I guess the last of my spices had been used but even with this addition we could not face mutton again.  We retired to our tents and got into our sleeping bags as the temperature was dropping rapidly and along with the wind chill factor we knew it was going to be a cold night. We settled down, lit a candle to take the chill out of the tent, poured a couple of vodkas and read our books by torchlight.  By now the wind was screaming down the ravine and the tent being buffeted so much that we piled our rucksacks against the windward side to hold it down. We pulled the hoods of the sleeping bags over our heads, tightened the drawstrings until only our eyes were visible and tried to sleep as the tent flapped noisily around us.

Day 6
I awoke from my shallow sleep; my face frozen and wet to find the door of the tent had unzipped itself and horizontal sleet being blown in.  It was a long uncomfortable night and I could not get the thought of a flash flood out of my mind.  As the grey miserable dawn broke the snowstorm had not abated and with great reluctance we left the warmth of our sleeping bags.

We were told that there would be no breakfast because the cook's tents had blown away and the wood burning stoves could not be lit.  Ajdia, our guide, advised us to break camp, get out of the ravine and head for Ulaan Bataar as there was a strong possibility of being snowed in.
One of my pet hates is re-packing a sleeping bag even in normal conditions, but in a snow blizzard with freezing hands and feeling cold, tired and hungry was not funny, and a few choice swear words were used. We threw our gear onto the vehicles and began the bumpy five hour journey back to our hotel in the city and the luxury of a hot shower and clean clothes
The two injured ladies were flown to Beijing and would remain there until the end of the month before an air ambulance could fly them to the UK
The adventure was almost over and although it had not gone to plan it turned out to be more of a challenge and on reflection I think six days plodding along on a camel may have been a bit monotonous.

Bob Olley and Carol Butler

Page 1 or Home