7 June — the report from Day 21.

Today was rather a special day. Following on from yesterday’s report — special how?
Our adventure paused for a moment, and there was a holiday on the Caspian that made the punishing rally up to yesterday vanish from mind. Half a day like a dream.

So, the report from our last day in Kazakhstan.

Last night in Kazakhstan: a spell at the Aktau resort

Last night was our final one in Kazakhstan, and at the smart resort in Aktau we spent hours that felt like heaven.
The very word resort wiped out, in an instant, the sweat and sand of rally life.

A feeling of release from somewhere deep down.
Surrounded by that beautiful view, I thought ahead to the afternoon’s Caspian crossing.

The route change: the challenge of crossing the Caspian

The war in Russia meant this rally’s normal route had to change, and we now cross the Caspian instead.

It is apparently the first newly opened route since the Peking to Paris Motor Challenge began.
Our cars went by ship to Azerbaijan the day before, and we follow by air.
Which is what gives us this half day off.

“Half a day off? Can that possibly happen?” — and yet time that really was dreamlike was waiting for us.

This one is worth watching for the mood of it.
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A spell on the Caspian (video)

 A dreamlike day off: a holiday on the Caspian

The Caspian. A place I had only ever seen on a map, and here I was putting my feet in it. Today we spent a wonderful stretch on its beach.

Everyone threw off their uniforms and larked about in swimsuits like children. Hours that took the tiredness of a long adventure away at a stroke.

The swimsuit, and my story: meeting a new version of myself

I actually bought a new swimsuit for this rally. The officials had told us to bring one, and at the time I wondered why.

And it cost all of ¥1,000 from an overseas website. But set against the beauty of the Caspian, even that swimsuit felt like something special.

For someone who lost her right breast to cancer surgery barely five months before the start, a swimsuit takes a certain amount of courage.
But larking about with everyone in a place that beautiful, that worry simply blew away somewhere.

What carries across without English

Ellen, always cheerful and always popular, called over: come and play.
With a grin like a child’s.

I can barely speak English at all, so although she talked to me a great deal, I understood almost none of it.
Even so, turned back into children, we swam and splashed each other and got on the swings — hours full of smiles and laughter that went straight past the language barrier.

Worn out from playing, we simply sat and looked at the sea.

Time that simple became a luxury unimaginable in the middle of this punishing adventure.

On to Azerbaijan: across a new border

And so we leave Kazakhstan for Azerbaijan.

At the airport everyone was dressed differently from usual, looking rather like ordinary travellers.

An hour and a half in the air, and we cross a new border.

That makes three countries. What adventure comes next? I cannot stop looking forward to it.

Next time, Day 22, and the Azerbaijan adventure begins.

Do come along with us.
Continued …