We have stayed in a small village at the edge of Lake Baikal and have had a really good time. It started by being dumped at Irkutsk station at 6:00 am - not the best as we were both starved of sleep as we were adjusting to the new time zone - now 5hrs ahead of Moscow (8hrs on UK). After eventually getting a bus to Lake Baikal, we went through lovely country side - thick forest turning golden with views over the river Angara. We arrived at Listvyanka - a tiny village on the south of the lake. The view here was breathtaking - blue skies with a little mist in the distance and the lake surrounded by snow covered mountains. The fact that they were snow covered gave us a surprise - first snow here is normally October.We eventually found the chalet we were staying in - about a km up from the lake with great views from our room. We then went back to the village to get information about trips on and around the lake. This proved difficult as the trips we wanted to do were logistically difficult and/or expensive. (To see the lake you needed to hire a boat and a guide). Not believing this we set off to get more information from somewhere else (a hotel). This hotel was 'around 2km down the lake' - after an hour and a quarter, we found where the hotel was but it was still a 20 minute walk away - we gave it away and instead decided to enjoy the walk home along the lake. We opted for dinner at the chalet and were really pleased we did. It was the local fish (the Omul) with lots of vegetables - the best food we have had in Russia. Next day we went to Port Baikal. This is across the river (by ferry). We saw the Circum Baikal train which goes round the south of the lake - This is a tourist train to see the bottom end of the lake - I had thought wrongly that this was a steam train - instead we looked at the mothballed engine and went for a walk on the first part of the route along the tracks. It was very peaceful as it is National Park. We stopped when it started to go through tunnels.On the last day we visited the museum, which was all about the ecology of the lake - complete with an aquarium. The seals were cute but they were constrained and they have some weird looking fish. In the museum proper there were lots about the lake which would have been interesting but it was all in Russian.Afterwards we walked up the hill to the hotel to find tourist information had moved. We went from there to a lookout - this involved another walk uphill followed by a very old chairlift which took 15 minutes to wheeze its way up the hill. We could see the ski area - it would take Fran about 2 minutes to come down it. We went to the look-out point which gave fantastic views over the lake and river (it helped that it was a beautiful day - clear blue skies and sun for a change!). We had a long walk back via the local village and the fish market - saw what we were going to have for dinner.All in all, the stay here has been excellent - really spectacular scenery, lovely weather and staying at a nice chalet with good food. Sad to be moving on.