On the way back from Cambridge My GPS said "A14 closed" - so I stopped off at the "Kettering Vintage Rally and Steam Fayre". A very good event - excellent parking - no queues in or out - parking marshals were highly motivated scouts and plenty of them.






These are "Field Marshalls" - when idling they bounce on the suspension like a some great green car waiting to pounce - and you start them with saltpeter paper and a shotgun cartridge.



A Jag!


Not a Jag



A rather nice Swedish lady brings her collection of board games along to steam fairs - just because she loves seeing the reaction and making people happy "Oh yes, we had that game!" [Sadly no one would play 4000AD with me - I had worked out a killer pincer tactic - result - short game - which I would invariably win]



There is an ERF club - drivers loved these British made trucks so much - that they buy them up, restore them and the drive them to fairs at the weekend! This one is done up as a weekend camper - with a caravan on the trailer.

A little trip back to Cambridge - to the engineering department (Institute for Manufacturing) and to Wolfson College...



25 years since my last visit!

Is Google making us stupid? - a stellar line up on the panel but I had the last word...

"It has been an excellent debate but we have all been wasting our time, I Googled the answer over lunch and it said 'no, don't worry'"

Kyrgyzstan - On the Silk Road

Its a wedding party (hiding in the shadow)



Its a big brick tower



Some things never change



This, I think, is the new president - the old president went bad and was ousted in the "Tulip Revolution" (they have run out of colours and have switched to flowers apparently) - the new 'democratic' president (Kurmanbek Bakiyev) has set about changing the constitution in his favour (allegedly)

Kygystan - Cuisine!

Kyrgyzstan - Karakol (Mostly)

Lunch on the way to Bishkek



If you won the fight - I think you get to put up a statue of your victim



Museum in the old town







The main church



Fire Station - at the Mosque

Kyrgystan - Cholpon-Ata

Hotel Aurora - a  "sanatorium" in Cholpon-Alta - very faded but the garden is very well looked after and the breakfast was authentic Russian - other visitors said the food was awful - either it has got better or I have lower standards (and there are so many fruit trees in the grounds - you could always feed yourself by foraging)



Lichen - what a lot of colours, frankly just as interesting as the...



(slightly) restored petroglyphs in Cholpon-Ata



The museum in Cholpon-Ata was (very) closed

Kazakhstan to Kyrgystan - a Quiet Border Crossing

Something is going to happen in (or by) 2030 - I wonder what



My first sight of the Tien-Shan



Border was (in part) DIY



The Kazakh side was all shiny and gleaming and with internet and automation - the Kyrgyz was a lonely bloke with a pen and a logbook

On the steppes of Central Asia

Last restaurant in Kazakhstan





Real steppe - the little black dots are little black horses





Charyn Canyon - boy am I glad I did not pay the $150 for the day excursion!

Kyrgyzstan - A little trip to... Altyn-Arashan Health Resort

Yes - this type of transport was really necessary




Lovely location in the Tien Shan Mountains

Here are the facilities



...and here is the road

Temirlan Stones, Kyrgyzstan

It is a big pile of stones in Kyrgyzstan - several competing stories but once more people are hanging ribbons on trees (like in Mongolia, Cyprus and Worcestershire).




View - in Winter - the stones are just above the "2009 Google" copyright text





Hotel Aurora - Issyk-Kul