Our next few days would take us as far north as we would go – to Khuvsgol Lake.

First stop was a bit of a nondescript town where there was a Ger camp in a nice location and a local museum, which was very local. Mainly about Mongolia’s tallest man, who was born in the area. There were also some broken musical instruments, a man who was doing a history of his family, and a small Buddhist temple which housed some Buddhist scrolls.

I think the main purpose of the stop was to provide a rest stop between Khorgo and Khuvsgol.

We left quite late in the morning, and as the showers were communal (completely open), I made sure I was up early to have a shower hopefully on my own (I pretty much did – so very happy with that). I therefore had time to have a little wander before breakfast in the surrounding valley, it was quite lovely, but then again, the landscapes are generally amazing.

The next drive day was the worst we have had. It started badly when we had to herd some sheep over a hill as they were blocking our way.

We were in Moogie (the lead driver’s) van. He is an absolute demon driver. He is Jagger’s younger brother, and usually doesn’t do the driving anymore, but is more administrative. He is therefore incredibly experienced, and loves to push his car to the absolute limit. He is usually a good 500m in front of everyone else. It meant we got a VERY bumpy ride, for hours. If you want to think of a song which would go perfectly with the ride, The Prodigy - Voodoo People was it. I think everyone (including the drivers) was fed up by the time we finished the ride.

We were originally meant to get to Moron (not pronounced that way) at around lunch. We got there at about 4, and then had lunch. That meant we didn’t get to the bottom of the lake, ready for our boat transfer to the Ger camp, until about 6pm.

The boat ride was a bit of a highlight.

It started as a comedy of errors, where the luggage boat didn’t start, and everything had to be changed to a new boat, and then they couldn’t find the keys to the passenger boat, so we all sat there like lemons for a bit.
Once we got going however, the scenery on the lake was absolutely spectacular (you are probably getting sick of me saying it), with the Taiga Forests meeting the lake shore.

Lake Khusvgol is about 136km long, and at its widest 32km wide. It holds 93% of Mongolia’s fresh surface water, and is the 2nd deepest lake in the world (after Baikal where we will be at the beginning of August).

The boat ride was made better by Jagga and Taivna who came along, and who had never been in a boat before, and had never been to Khuvsgol before. They were so excited, it was quite sweet to see.

Our Ger camp was on a peninsular on the eastern shore of the lake and we had it all to ourselves, it felt like we were on an island and (when the party boats weren’t going past), it was beautiful and peaceful.

As we were there for 2 nights, we had a full day to go for walks (if we wanted), use the sauna, go for a swim in the lake, or just have a bit of a read. It is one thing that this trip lacks, the ability to either just have a bit of down-time, or some time on your own, not doing something organised. People are starting to look a little tired at this point, especially our 78 year old, who has been suffering with travellers belly too.

In the morning, as a group we walked to a vantage point which showed us a vista of the lake. The ground was boggy and the flies were horrible (one lady had so many flies it was horrible – she even managed to swallow one).

Luke and I said that we were going to go for a swim in the lake, with Margey (who was on the Khustai trip with us) and Hashi. It was bloody cold, but we did both dunk our head under. Margey and Hashi stayed in the water for about 20 mins saying how wonderful and refreshing it was. Hashi later admitted that when he got out, he felt like he had the chills and got the camp to build a fire in his room!

Rather than going on another boggy/insect ridden hike, we afternoon was spent reading and sitting in the sauna. Luke was definitely the rose amongst the thorns as he was with 4 ladies, and we did have a little gentle bitching/complaining...

It took quite a while for the wood-fired sauna to warm up, and we found it to be more effective to douse the boiler with water to get steam, rather than the rocks. After our hour in the sauna however, we had built up a bit of a glisten and it was time to throw ourselves in the lake again. Which we did (there was a little bit of screaming). The second time was better than the first and we actually felt clean.

Next morning it was back to the vans and a long drive to what we were told was the favourite camp of the trip (usually), to see some deer stones and some rafting.