July 1 Irkutsk to Listvyanka and Bolshie Koty

We had ambitious plans for today: travel from Irkutsk to Listvyanka in the morning, walk the 20-km trail to Bolshie Koty and catch a speed boat back to Listvyanka at 6pm. Fully implemented.

We set off from Irkutsk at around 9am and arrived to our chalet in Listvyanka at around 10:30 purchasing a permit to visit the Baikal national park on the way. Chalet location was chosen strategically: right at the beginning of the Great Baikal Trail (Большая Байкальская Тропа). This is the trail that goes from Listvyanka to the North. I believe currently there are about 70km of the trail, but the idea is to build it all around Baikal. We took the first part of the trail from Listvyanka to Bolshie Koty. First 4 km of the walk were steep up and down through the forest- a great exercise. Then the trail went parallel to the lake with great views with very clear water - really felt like the seaside. Plenty of international tourists on the way, including organised groups of Chinese and Koreans.

We arrived to Bolshie Koty at 15:30 and had enough time to relax at the stone beach before taking the boat back. I ventured into the water, but did not go further than my ankles - the water was very cold and stones in the water made it very difficult to walk. Neither did I get a sip of clear Baikal water as I could not go far enough. The we took our Raketa speedboat back to Listvyanka.

Surprisingly enough, we did not seem to have got any ticks. Instead, each of us had a fly which resembled a tick, but with wings. This kept us anxious until we reached the Internet and saw that this was a fly - although blood sucking, it mostly preys on animals and does not seem to transfer any deseases to humans.

We also learned that the road from Krasnoyarsk to Irkutsk is currently closed due to flooding. Just two days after we passed by it, villages of Nizhneudinsk, Tulun and some other became severely flooded. It is still unclear when the road will reopen as the water is still high and the road maintenance services can’t check the condition of bridges. We were just on time!