Baikal holds about a fifth of all the unfrozen fresh water on the planet, in a rift so deep that its floor lies more than a kilometre below sea level. At this point near Listvyanka, where the Angara River leaves the lake as its only outflow, you can stand on the shore and look across a body of water so clear that stones are visible many metres down, and so cold that even in August a swim is a quick, gasping affair. In the middle of the river's source lies the Shaman Stone, a rock the Buryats held sacred and around which many legends are told.
The lake is ancient, around twenty-five million years old, and it has evolved its own world of life: hundreds of species found nowhere else, from the nerpa seal to translucent fish and sponges. The Baikal Museum in Listvyanka explains it all, with aquariums where you can watch the seals play. The village itself is a long strip of houses, hotels and cafes along the shore, busy and touristy in summer, with markets selling smoked omul, the lake's famous fish, and stalls of cedar nuts, berries and souvenirs.
As the finish of a ride along the Angara from Irkutsk, this is a fine end. The road follows the river through forest, then reaches the lake and runs along the shore into Listvyanka, with views across the water to the mountains of the Khamar-Daban range on the far side. The surface is good, though traffic is heavy in summer. A chairlift near the village climbs to a viewpoint named after the geologist Ivan Chersky, from which the view over the source of the Angara is magnificent, especially at sunset.
Listvyanka has fuel, shops, cafes and restaurants, and plenty of accommodation. Try the smoked omul, hot from the smokehouse, eaten with bread and a cold drink on the shore. In winter, the lake freezes solid and the ice becomes a highway for cars, skaters and walkers, with cracks, bubbles and blue hummocks that are mesmerising. At any season, watching the light play across the water here is the best way to end a day of riding.