I slept over 11 hours last night which wasn't surprising. I didn’t wake up perky - I think the high altitude takes it out of you (we were now sleeping at 3200 m) - but I was well enough to eat an egg and a rice cake for breakfast.
We set off for Köl (pronounced Kel) Suu lake which I thought I could manage as it was 7 km each way and only a 300 m ascent (at 3200 m ahem). The valley was beautiful. It was all you’d expect from a remote Krygyz region: crystal clear waters cascading down, cattle and yak grazing, sheep munching grass, blue skies, snow capped mountains made a perfect scene. When we asked Timur and Jusup which was their favourite walk on our trip, they said the Köl Suu walk. I can see why.
Occasionally a group of tourists on horseback trotted past but we mainly had the trail to ourselves.
I was very grateful to be on terra firma today. I managed the walk, although my ability to ascend was curtailed by my lack of energy and altitude. Timur and Yusup made the most of our slow speed to lie down. [Ed: JC the photographer was holding up proceedings was as much as Ruth the not-so-fast walker].
It was certainly worth reaching the lake, at 3520 m above MSL, and I was glad I'd pushed myself. Kol Suu is 17 km long and pretty narrow. Lake number 5 for us. For info, in Kyrgyz, Kul = lake and Suu = water. But I'm counting all Kuls and Suus as one and the same.
We stayed at the north end, basically because the mountains reached down to the lake side and there were no routes around.
There were boat trips here which kind of took the edge off the peaceful remote lake. Again I avoided, not just because they were £30 each, but because I was trying to keep my breakfast where it should be.
We lunched in the sun by the lake which was a delight, and I managed two rice cakes and a banana. JC took the drone for a spin. I love this overhead shot of us (I'm the blob sitting to the top of the image).
The walk down was easy and we yak spotted again. JC flew the drone over the river getting some amazing shots.
Timur and Yusup had a chill-out on some rocks, only appearing as we passed underneath them.
Once back, JC declared he wanted to head out again for sunset shots. He wasn't surprised when I declined to join him, and instead I had a much needed rest in the yurt. The yurt camps are improving on the accommodation/toilet block front but the views are less spectacular.
JC got some wonderful shots as you'd expect.
I managed to eat supper and, just as we were finishing, a cry went up that there was a car stuck in the river. So Jusup and Timur rushed out to help. It was dark so some cars drove down to light the scene, and Jusup, who was the type of guy that would help anyone, waded into the icy water. Some horse riders went in too. Eventually it was pulled out by an amphib vehicle. Although seemingly mad to drive across a river at night, the young chap was on a mercy mission to rescue a tourist who had broken their leg.
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