The Khonuu-Syagannakh Express.

“The winter road won’t get us there on its own!”

It was with such words in our minds – or something along those lines – that we’d awake every morning on our Yakutsk-Tiksi-Yakutsk expedition. And this particular morning was no exception: time to get up and be off. So, as per, we were up at the crack, and back on our way northward…

We get back onto the winter road out of Khonuu before sunrise…

The distance to be covered today was a long one – some 480km – but most of it was upon the smooth ice of the Indigirka River (what Arctic long-distance truck drivers call “asphalt”), or sometimes on the river’s sandbanks (identifiable by the black stones that the cars’ tires would gouge out of the ice and scatter in their wake) ->

A crow would fly this route between the villages of Khonuu and Syagannakh; we, however, took the following route, since rivers don’t fly straight (or fly at all):

This map gives you a better idea of where these villages are in the global context:

The mountain ranges were behind us, but the hilly-mountainous views were still rather impressive:

Sometimes the symmetry of the shores was almost perfect:

On and on and on we drive along the winding river, entranced by the surrounding white landscapes:

Sometimes the rocky relief takes on fantastic shapes:

Some 160km from Khonuu are the remains of the former fortress town of Zashiversk. It was founded almost 400 years ago, and later went on to become the regional administrative and trade center; however, it didn’t survive the smallpox epidemics of the 1800s, and became completely depopulated before the 20^th century ->

After Zashiversk, we were headed to Kuberganya ->

Onward – checking out the unusual scenery:

Alas, the winter road moves off the river and across tunda and (frozen) marshland, so it becomes bumpy again. Still – better that than the danger that must lie ahead still on the Indigirka (naleds, ice mounds…).

After a while – back onto the river’s ice. Occasionally, we pass fishermen’s tents. We’re quite a way from the nearest villages, so there must be some kinda very special fish around here:

Crossroads. We turn off the Indigirka winter road…

…In the direction of the village of Deputatsky ->

Approaching Deputatsky it starts to get dark, and the views all around hardly rouse the soul ->

Suddenly – we get caught behind a herd of horses. And since we didn’t fancy ending up in the ditches either side of the road, we remained stuck behind said horses until the nearest lake – where they turned away from the road ->

We finally make it to Syagannakh ->

And here are our lodgings for the night ->

As seemed to be becoming a tradition, we spent the night in… the village school’s sports hall on gym mats! Warm, dry, comfy, and with electricity and hot water. The only addition that would have added to our level of comfort would have been an inside WC, but who were we to insist on such luxury?!

Our travel stats for the day:

Nearly 15 hours behind the wheel this day. Fairly exhausted, we were out like lights shortly after hitting the sacks gym mats!

In closing – a few early-morning Syagannakh pics ->

The rest of the photos from our Yakutsk-Tiksi-Yakutsk expedition are here.