It’s not quite the glamorous life everyone imagines, adventure motorcyclists need to wash and do laundry just like everyone else. Saturday is a day off riding, which after a long day yesterday is a welcome break. Russian roads tend to jar everything, not just the bike but the rider too. It’s quite fatiguing, especially when added to the heavy rain yesterday.

No launderette means a sink wash, raw knuckles and a longer drying time with no spin-dry. But it works, and with an improvised washing line at least we can head off to lake Baikal clean and fresh. The lady at the motel obviously isn’t too impressed with us making the place look like a gypsy’s camp, but we’ll be gone tomorrow.

When everything’s dry I’ll go over the bike to make sure nothing has worked loose. In the mean time it’s a shopping trip to buy more pasta, porridge, dried milk and sultanas. That’s the four major food groups covered, right?