It was a fine sleet falling as we went to sleep, I optimistically assumed that we wouldn’t get snowed in, although a jovial Russian came up to me and told me it was going to be a hard night. In the morning there was about 4-5 inches of snow and the temp was -7. We set off on a motorway with a surface of compacted snow and everything was fine until we came to a steep downwards hill and discovered that there was a layer of sheet ice under the snow which was left exposed after the snow blew away in a rising wind. There was an uncomfortable moment as the van slewed around, so I continued down the hill at 5 mph. Going up the other side was much easier and, after about 2 kms, all the snow mysteriously disappeared. Driving a short distance into the ugly industrial town of Shymkent, we filled with diesel and bought a large can of Ad Blue just as I was starting to get worried whether we would find any.
We drove 308 miles with a blue cloudless sky for much of the day and there was a glorious sunset. The Betpak Dala is partly steppe land with a high reddish-coloured grass with animals -sheep, cattle, horses and the occasional group of camels grazing, virtual desert with small plants appearing from time to time, and a strange area of waist-high wormwood bushes. We chose a roadside parking place after it was dark and just as the temperature dropped to -6. We had an excellent night’s sleep.
