Tuesday 29th June

Another 30 miles of dust road--come to juction as we had hoped, found diesel and filled up tank fo about £22 --33pence a litre------now going south east towards Alal sea, on tarmac road, well for 5 miles anyway, back to normal gravel and huge potholes and chunks of road just missing---road blocked off for repairs again--in places there is thousands of pounds worth of machinery but you never see anyone doing anything, no matter what the time of day------got my lap seatbelt on tight - it stops me from banging my head on the roof---the car is full of dust, lots of twisters today----suddenly we see what looks like a huge lake but its a mirage---the temperature has gone off the scale it is 55 degrees plus!! As we pass lorrys we get engulfed with dust and can't see anything for a few seconds---eventually 3pm a bit of not too bad road----and a sign Aral 116km---------Arrived, huge place but not modern at all except for what is like a town square with statues-----rubbish is dumped everywhere, slums all around and many cows---we find a tiny shop, a young girl- maybe 16 - speaks to us in English, we ask her where the sea is, but she has ;no idea, and neither has anyone else they just say its a long way-----back to desert to camp for the night....