Across the border, whoo hoo.
8th-11th June
We got up for a fairly early start, and found it was raining, looked set in too, bugger! Left the clubhouse with Tomi, but he veered off to go back home, while we continued down a different road towards the Russian border. Good road, another ferry, but it would have been much better in fine weather. Got to the border around 12.45, and finally left 3 hours later, after a small issue with our registration papers, and some help from Sebastian, the Australian Honorary Consul, who just happened to be going through the same border at the same time. When we left, it had finally stopped raining, but it was still bloody freezing! Not far past the border, Lyn heard a clunk and then lost drive, coasting to a stop. An inspection found the chain joining link had lost the outer section, started coming out, then thrown the chain off the back sprocket. I had a spare joining link with me, so fitted that beside the road, and we got going again.
We got up for a fairly early start, and found it was raining, looked set in too, bugger! Left the clubhouse with Tomi, but he veered off to go back home, while we continued down a different road towards the Russian border. Good road, another ferry, but it would have been much better in fine weather. Got to the border around 12.45, and finally left 3 hours later, after a small issue with our registration papers, and some help from Sebastian, the Australian Honorary Consul, who just happened to be going through the same border at the same time. When we left, it had finally stopped raining, but it was still bloody freezing! Not far past the border, Lyn heard a clunk and then lost drive, coasting to a stop. An inspection found the chain joining link had lost the outer section, started coming out, then thrown the chain off the back sprocket. I had a spare joining link with me, so fitted that beside the road, and we got going again.
With Sebastian in the customs hut at the Russian border, thanks for your help mate!
Finally got to St Petersburg to meet Sergio, a guy we had been talking to on Facebook, who had offered to meet us. The GPS had given up now, as we don't have maps for Russia yet, so after stopping at a servo with wifi near where we should have been about 3 hours earlier, and contacting him, we were on our way to his place. His wife Marcia had prepared a typical Russian feed for us, meatballs, vegetables, and potatoes, with black bread, delicious, went down a treat. We ended up talking until 1.00 am, then off to bed. Replaced Lyn's chain, and kept the old one as a spare, Serge knew a bike mechanics shop who helped us out. We spent a lot of time trying to get our USA visas, they have the worst website! Two days later we are still trying........ We have given up trying to get it in Moscow, as the dates for the interview keep changing, so will now do it in Vladivostok. A lot of the insurance sellers at the borders have closed up, due to Russia coming into line a bit with other EU countries, who can now source insurance for Russia, and we had to get ours in St Petersburg, that was a mission. The first place we tried got started on the procedure, then realised they couldn't give us what we wanted, so a call to our friend from the consulate got us another contact who could sort it out, great, another job ticked off! We did a walk around in the city for a day, and Serge took us out to the lake nearby, Ladozhskoye Ozero, it really is huge, about 200 kms long and 100 kms wide. There is a museum out there as well, which we went into, but it was only partly finished, so we only got to see a part of it. He also took us to the mouth of the Neva river, which has a old fort on an island in the middle of it, Oreshek, very valuable real estate years ago, as whoever had the fort controlled the river, so it has a very bloody history.
View out over the lake, it is like a sea.
Serge and I and the nearly ready museum.
Oreshek, The fort in the middle of the mouth of the Neva River. It is possible to go over to it by boat and have a look around, but it was freezing cold, rainy and very windy, so we gave it a miss.
We went up in the tower of St Isaacs cathedral, and had a look at the skyline of the city, although the weather wasn't being kind to us, rain, wind, and cloud A visit to the Peter and Paul fortress was interesting, as was the museum of cosmonautics and rocket technology. Thanks Serge, for your generosity, hospitality, and the guided tours, we really appreciate it.
The main square in St Petersburg
The Russian Orthodox Church, St Petersburg
Serge and I being cold and wet up in the tower, beautiful day for it.....
With Serge at the Museum of Cosmonautics and Rocket Technology. The ball behind us is an actual satellite that has returned from space, you can look inside and see the the control panel.
12th
We had to get going, but Lyn still wanted to see the Summer Palace at Peterhof before we left the area, so we headed off to a hostel near the palace for the night, and spend the afternoon looking around it, it really is a beautiful place, with a huge area of gardens and fountains, well worth the visit.
We had to get going, but Lyn still wanted to see the Summer Palace at Peterhof before we left the area, so we headed off to a hostel near the palace for the night, and spend the afternoon looking around it, it really is a beautiful place, with a huge area of gardens and fountains, well worth the visit.
Lyn out the front of the Summer Palace at Peterhof
View from the back of the palace, the channel goes out to the Baltic Sea
The back of the palace, the fountain is at the end of the channel from the sea.
The palace was bombed by the germans in 1944, this is what it looked like before it was restored.
Another of the many fountains in the palace grounds
13th
All geared up to make some miles today, (it's over 800 kms to Moscow down the main highway, and we wanted to use back roads), so packed and jumped on the bikes, only to find Lyns wouldn't start, battery was dead flat. It still had the original one in it, 7 years old, so I shouldn't complain. With the help of a tradie who was working on the rooms, we located a bike garage about 5 kms away, that had a battery that would fit, so off I went to get it. This bike garage was unsigned, and in a compound with a boom gate that looked like an army base, I rode past it twice before the guard on the gate waved me in and pointed me in the right direction. Of course they didn't take cards, so I had to go and get cash, then come back and get it. Finally left around 1.30, so much for the early start. Heading south along a fairly good road to Luga, Lyn pulled up with a vibrating helmet peak, the new one I bought in oz while we were home had broken in the same place the old one did! Another repair job for that night. After leaving Luga, heading for Shimsk, the road turned to really bad gravel, with big potholes everywhere. Maximum speed was around 40 kph, we tried going faster to go over the top, but the holes were just too big. It was good to hit the bitumen after about 50 kms of this. Rolled into Staraya Russa around 7.30, and found a room for the night, good value at about 30 aud. A friendly local on a BMW 650GS helped us find the place, thanks mate. Lyn visited the supermarket and bought food for dinner, breakfast, and lunch for under 20 aud, got to be happy with that.
14th
We left around 10.30, heading for Kholm, more really bad road, the potholes that had been filled were as rough to ride over as the ones that hadn't! Parts of the road were gravel, parts semi bitumen. It was overcast, and it started to rain lightly, but not for long. Once we arrived at Kholm, we pulled into the servo for fuel, and found the whole town was without power, luckily we had enough to get from there down to Velikiye Luki. Heading east from there the road improved a lot, as it is the main road from Riga in Latvia to Moscow. Lyn's helmet peak broke again, another repair job coming up. We stopped at a couple of road side hotels, but they weren't what we wanted, so we kept going, should have stopped there! They all disappeared from then on, and we ended up finding a place about 9.00pm in Shakhovskaya, about 150 kms west of Moscow. More than we wanted to pay, but a nice room and bed, and we were too tired to keep going, and weren't sure what was available further down the road. The hotel was above a car wash, and we could lock the bikes up in one of the wash bays overnight, we were advised by the hotel they would be gone in the morning if we didn't! The whole town had an air of menace about it, and the guys we asked for directions from looked like the local mafia enforcers......... Not a good place for a holiday.
15th-22nd
The road from there to Moscow was good, and as we got closer the traffic got worse. We still had no GPS, so were relying on Maps Me on the phone, and it got us through to Segiyev Posad, to the north east of the city, where we were meeting Eugene, another biker, and a friend of Sergie from St Petersburg. After meeting him in the middle of town, we followed him on his Honda VTX to his place, where he had set aside a room for us. There we met his wife, and parents, great people, and very welcoming. It was Eugene's birthday, and he was having a party on Saturday night, so a lot of his friends and fellow bike club members were coming over, looked like a couple of big nights coming up!
All geared up to make some miles today, (it's over 800 kms to Moscow down the main highway, and we wanted to use back roads), so packed and jumped on the bikes, only to find Lyns wouldn't start, battery was dead flat. It still had the original one in it, 7 years old, so I shouldn't complain. With the help of a tradie who was working on the rooms, we located a bike garage about 5 kms away, that had a battery that would fit, so off I went to get it. This bike garage was unsigned, and in a compound with a boom gate that looked like an army base, I rode past it twice before the guard on the gate waved me in and pointed me in the right direction. Of course they didn't take cards, so I had to go and get cash, then come back and get it. Finally left around 1.30, so much for the early start. Heading south along a fairly good road to Luga, Lyn pulled up with a vibrating helmet peak, the new one I bought in oz while we were home had broken in the same place the old one did! Another repair job for that night. After leaving Luga, heading for Shimsk, the road turned to really bad gravel, with big potholes everywhere. Maximum speed was around 40 kph, we tried going faster to go over the top, but the holes were just too big. It was good to hit the bitumen after about 50 kms of this. Rolled into Staraya Russa around 7.30, and found a room for the night, good value at about 30 aud. A friendly local on a BMW 650GS helped us find the place, thanks mate. Lyn visited the supermarket and bought food for dinner, breakfast, and lunch for under 20 aud, got to be happy with that.
14th
We left around 10.30, heading for Kholm, more really bad road, the potholes that had been filled were as rough to ride over as the ones that hadn't! Parts of the road were gravel, parts semi bitumen. It was overcast, and it started to rain lightly, but not for long. Once we arrived at Kholm, we pulled into the servo for fuel, and found the whole town was without power, luckily we had enough to get from there down to Velikiye Luki. Heading east from there the road improved a lot, as it is the main road from Riga in Latvia to Moscow. Lyn's helmet peak broke again, another repair job coming up. We stopped at a couple of road side hotels, but they weren't what we wanted, so we kept going, should have stopped there! They all disappeared from then on, and we ended up finding a place about 9.00pm in Shakhovskaya, about 150 kms west of Moscow. More than we wanted to pay, but a nice room and bed, and we were too tired to keep going, and weren't sure what was available further down the road. The hotel was above a car wash, and we could lock the bikes up in one of the wash bays overnight, we were advised by the hotel they would be gone in the morning if we didn't! The whole town had an air of menace about it, and the guys we asked for directions from looked like the local mafia enforcers......... Not a good place for a holiday.
15th-22nd
The road from there to Moscow was good, and as we got closer the traffic got worse. We still had no GPS, so were relying on Maps Me on the phone, and it got us through to Segiyev Posad, to the north east of the city, where we were meeting Eugene, another biker, and a friend of Sergie from St Petersburg. After meeting him in the middle of town, we followed him on his Honda VTX to his place, where he had set aside a room for us. There we met his wife, and parents, great people, and very welcoming. It was Eugene's birthday, and he was having a party on Saturday night, so a lot of his friends and fellow bike club members were coming over, looked like a couple of big nights coming up!
Lyn and I, with Eugene and Anya, and his Dad and Mum in the middle
Our home for a few days, what a great spot!!!
Eugene doing a number on his cake, it was too good to eat!
New rear tyres being fitted, should get us all the way to Vladivostok, I hope!
We were to meet up wth Jeff Smith here, and we had heard he was staying the night just south of Moscow, so would be here next day. Then a message saying he was feeling really ill, and wouldn't be riding at all, then told us it was serious. We advised him to call an ambulance, which he did, was taken off to hospital, and diagnosed with a heart attack and operated on within the hour. He was told if he had waited any longer, he would not have survived. That night he had another heart attack while he was in hospital, so it looks like his trip is over for a while. Eugene and Anya were terrific, interpreting for us between the hospital, doctors, the US consulate, and the hotel manager Sergie, (the guy who rang the ambulance), who went well over and above what would be normal assistance, even visiting the hospital and talking to the doctors, and giving us updates on the situation when he could. Thanks Sergie, you have been a godsend! We spoke to Jeff briefly, and will get down to see him as soon as we can. No-one is allowed in to visit him at the moment. Eugene arranged with a friend for a couple of new rear tyres for the bikes, even getting them delivered, so I fitted them, and gave the bikes a good clean and check over before we head off into the next section of the trip. Eugene and Anya took us to what he called the waterfall, that turned out to be a natural freshwater spring that comes out of the ground at a constant 4 degrees, summer or winter. People come and bath in it, or get under it and shower in it, Eugene did, but I just couldn't, too bloody cold! The buildings around it are all built from local logs, and the craftsmanship is awesome to see, I love buildings like this!
Timber buildings at the Spring, brilliant construction!
The spring where it comes out of the ground, from there it goes to a pool, and a shower hut.
The shower hut, that pipe going in the back carries your nice fresh 4 degree water!
The pool, I did put my foot in it.......... Then some guy came along and just walked down the steps into it, swam around, dunked his head under, and then got out as if it was a heated pool, crazy bastard.
Awesome looking truck that was in the carpark
After the partying had died down at Eugene’s, we got a lift down to Moscow with one of Eugenes friends to Sergie's hotel where Jeff had been staying, and claiming to be his brother I managed to bluff my way in to see Jeff for a couple of minutes, even though we told by phone still no visitors. He was in a lot of pain, and I was hustled out when it started getting worse, so not much chance to talk to him. We were told come back tomorrow at 11.00am, which we did, and I managed about 5 minutes with him, he was a lot better the second visit. We have also been talking to Marie, Jeff’s wife, who was still in Australia, must be hard for her. She was organising her flight, and coming over to be with him. Some friends from their church group were also trying to get in to see him, and were going to look after Jeff’s gear and bike. There was nothing more we could do to help, so we did some sightseeing around Moscow, including a walking tour taking in Red Square, and the outside of the Kremlin, and a tour of some of Moscow’s Metro stations, which are superb. The communist government decided that the poorer people should be able to see and feel how it was in more opulent surroundings, so they set up the metro stations in various styles so everyone could enjoy them, and did a top job. Statues, chandeliers, mosaics, stained glass, marble, all really nice. Our guide gave us another clue on the Metro, if a train is heading away from the centre of the city, the voice over the PA is female, if it is heading into the city it is a male voice. Makes it easy to know if you are going the right way or not. We also watched the changing of the guard at the tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and were going to look at Lenin’s Tomb and tour the inside of the Kremlin on wednesday, but it was all closed, as it was the 71st anniversary of Germany attacking Russia in WW2, and Putin and a few other ministers were doing a "by invitation only” parade and speech in Red Square, so no-one could get in. Since Finland we had been riding with no paper maps, and the GPS wasn’t working, so we managed to get the Reise maps we needed right across to Vladivostok from a bookshop in the city, with the help of their distributor, really good maps too. Thanks for that Natalia! We had checked out of our room at the hostel, and met Anya at the State Museum of Oriental Art where she works in the city. She showed us around, very interesting too. We met her there again later that evening for the train trip back to Khot’kovo for the night, before setting off towards Kazan in the morning.
Red Square, with the red building at the end a museum
Looking across at the Kremlin, Red Square is on the other side of it
Lenin's Mausoleum, outside the Kremlin, on the edge of Red Square
St. Basils church, who wasn't a saint, but a homeless guy, who lived on the streets nearby, but who everyone respected.
The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, outside the Kremlin
One of the superb Metro stations, more to follow,
One of the churches in Sergiyev Posad, part of the "Golden Ring" near Moscow
23rd
Finally got away around 11.00am (had to wait for last night’s washing to dry), and found our way to the ring road, and then down to the main road heading east towards Kazan. Good weather, and pretty good roads, but a lot of traffic on the M7 heading east, especially near Sobinka, where the roadworks had the traffic banked up for over 3 kilometres. After pulling up for something to eat just before Vladimir, we discovered Lyn’s phone was missing. We pulled everything apart, but it wasn’t there, so a call back to Eugene and we found it had been left behind. We had done over 200 kms, and didn’t really want to battle the traffic mess behind us again, so as Eugene was going to be in Nizhniy Novgorod on Saturday we decided to slow our progress and meet him there, and get the phone off him then. We continued on to Vladimir, then north to Suzdal for the night, and tomorrow will continue to NN and spent saturday looking around until Eugene arrives. Suzdal is an interesting town, in that it has a Kremlin, we will go and have a look at it tomorrow morning.
Finally got away around 11.00am (had to wait for last night’s washing to dry), and found our way to the ring road, and then down to the main road heading east towards Kazan. Good weather, and pretty good roads, but a lot of traffic on the M7 heading east, especially near Sobinka, where the roadworks had the traffic banked up for over 3 kilometres. After pulling up for something to eat just before Vladimir, we discovered Lyn’s phone was missing. We pulled everything apart, but it wasn’t there, so a call back to Eugene and we found it had been left behind. We had done over 200 kms, and didn’t really want to battle the traffic mess behind us again, so as Eugene was going to be in Nizhniy Novgorod on Saturday we decided to slow our progress and meet him there, and get the phone off him then. We continued on to Vladimir, then north to Suzdal for the night, and tomorrow will continue to NN and spent saturday looking around until Eugene arrives. Suzdal is an interesting town, in that it has a Kremlin, we will go and have a look at it tomorrow morning.
Suzdal Kremlin in the background, with a church wall in the foreground
24-25
Walked to the kremlin, but it was 800 roubles to get in, to see buildings from the outside we could see over the wall, so didn’t bother. Headed off from the guest house, back towards Vladimir, then east towards Nizhniy Novgorod. More traffic snarls at roadworks, heavy traffic on 2 lanes, then putting them into one lane for bridge works caused chaos. traffic banked up for miles, with the bikes we went down the side of the road and got through in half the time. We stopped at a servo for fuel, and you have to pay up front before they start the pump here, this one wanted cash, would not hold the credit card until we filled up. We took a punt on what the tanks would hold, and rode off not full, after paying what we thought they would take. They must do themselves out of a heap of money doing it this way. They road was boring except for the crazy drivers zooming in and out changing lanes, two lanes each way, with 60% of the vehicles trucks. We got to NN late afternoon, and found a room in the Shato Hotel for two nights not far from the centre of the action. Nice room, and lock up parking for the bikes in a yard off the street Heaps of traffic, all mad drivers. It showered with rain late in the afternoon, then the sun came out, but we were nestled in by then, and had had a wine, so didn’t care. We went for a walk and look around the next day, while waiting for Eugene and Anya to arrive, had a look at the Kremlin in the city, and a couple of museums in it, but everything was in Russian, so we didn’t know what we were looking at. Really good views over the river Volga from the lookout inside the Kremlin, it is a big river, with tugs and barges carrying goods up and down it, and a lot of cruise boats about as well. It started raining about 3.00pm, so we got wet walking back to our hotel, bugger! Eugene and Anya arrived about 9.00pm, and after they had a shower, we all grabbed a taxi and went into town for a meal. The taxi’s here are different, no markings, they look like a private car, and the meter is a smart phone mounted on the dash. Obviously there is an ap for the phone that does the taxi meter job. We got a cab back home, and it was the same. We asked Eugene, and he said most of the taxis were like that. Very practical, just looks a bit dodgy.
Walked to the kremlin, but it was 800 roubles to get in, to see buildings from the outside we could see over the wall, so didn’t bother. Headed off from the guest house, back towards Vladimir, then east towards Nizhniy Novgorod. More traffic snarls at roadworks, heavy traffic on 2 lanes, then putting them into one lane for bridge works caused chaos. traffic banked up for miles, with the bikes we went down the side of the road and got through in half the time. We stopped at a servo for fuel, and you have to pay up front before they start the pump here, this one wanted cash, would not hold the credit card until we filled up. We took a punt on what the tanks would hold, and rode off not full, after paying what we thought they would take. They must do themselves out of a heap of money doing it this way. They road was boring except for the crazy drivers zooming in and out changing lanes, two lanes each way, with 60% of the vehicles trucks. We got to NN late afternoon, and found a room in the Shato Hotel for two nights not far from the centre of the action. Nice room, and lock up parking for the bikes in a yard off the street Heaps of traffic, all mad drivers. It showered with rain late in the afternoon, then the sun came out, but we were nestled in by then, and had had a wine, so didn’t care. We went for a walk and look around the next day, while waiting for Eugene and Anya to arrive, had a look at the Kremlin in the city, and a couple of museums in it, but everything was in Russian, so we didn’t know what we were looking at. Really good views over the river Volga from the lookout inside the Kremlin, it is a big river, with tugs and barges carrying goods up and down it, and a lot of cruise boats about as well. It started raining about 3.00pm, so we got wet walking back to our hotel, bugger! Eugene and Anya arrived about 9.00pm, and after they had a shower, we all grabbed a taxi and went into town for a meal. The taxi’s here are different, no markings, they look like a private car, and the meter is a smart phone mounted on the dash. Obviously there is an ap for the phone that does the taxi meter job. We got a cab back home, and it was the same. We asked Eugene, and he said most of the taxis were like that. Very practical, just looks a bit dodgy.
The Volga at Nizhniy Novogorad
Memorial inside the Kremlin at NN
Awesome mural on the side of a building in NN
26-28
We headed off fairly early (for us) after waking the other two up to say goodbye, and had a fairly uneventful trip to Kazan, except for the storm we rode through about 100 kms before we arrived. Just before the city, there is a big section of the Volga with a bridge over it, very impressive to look at. We had arranged to stay with Teo and Lilly, a couple of bikers that have done a lot of long trips, including the US and Canada, and nearly all of Europe and Asia. They are now living in Kazan, with their one year old baby Leo, and looking at starting a bike touring business. Teo’s mother from Italy was staying with them as well, and she is a great cook, so we were spoilt with food for a couple of days! Teo took us sight seeing in the city, and we had a walk around the Kremlin, Kazan is a very pretty city. Lots of water, with the Volga getting quite wide there, really nice. Lyn did a bit of shopping as well, and bought a different size lens for her camera. Teo and I went for a ride to the Blue Lake, about 20 kms away, and I managed to drop the bike in the soft sand on one of the tracks, but no damage. With Teo’s help I did some checking around for a couple of front tyres for the bikes, we don’t need them yet, but will soon, so thought i’d get prepared, but no luck, I was very surprised, they are a common size, 90/90-21, but the only ones available are motocross pattern, not really suitable for what we want. We will try further along. There are not many bikers in Kazan, so not much in the way of parts for them. Due to the severe winters, bikes can only be ridden 4-5 months of the year, so it makes them an expensive luxury, hence the lack of support for them.
We headed off fairly early (for us) after waking the other two up to say goodbye, and had a fairly uneventful trip to Kazan, except for the storm we rode through about 100 kms before we arrived. Just before the city, there is a big section of the Volga with a bridge over it, very impressive to look at. We had arranged to stay with Teo and Lilly, a couple of bikers that have done a lot of long trips, including the US and Canada, and nearly all of Europe and Asia. They are now living in Kazan, with their one year old baby Leo, and looking at starting a bike touring business. Teo’s mother from Italy was staying with them as well, and she is a great cook, so we were spoilt with food for a couple of days! Teo took us sight seeing in the city, and we had a walk around the Kremlin, Kazan is a very pretty city. Lots of water, with the Volga getting quite wide there, really nice. Lyn did a bit of shopping as well, and bought a different size lens for her camera. Teo and I went for a ride to the Blue Lake, about 20 kms away, and I managed to drop the bike in the soft sand on one of the tracks, but no damage. With Teo’s help I did some checking around for a couple of front tyres for the bikes, we don’t need them yet, but will soon, so thought i’d get prepared, but no luck, I was very surprised, they are a common size, 90/90-21, but the only ones available are motocross pattern, not really suitable for what we want. We will try further along. There are not many bikers in Kazan, so not much in the way of parts for them. Due to the severe winters, bikes can only be ridden 4-5 months of the year, so it makes them an expensive luxury, hence the lack of support for them.
The Kremlin in Kazan, a very pretty place
Inside the Kremlin
View from inside the Kremlin, I think it is a college or part of the University, can't remember
On the side of the lake, used mainly for weddings
With Teo and his mother, Lilly, and the little bear is Leo, just turned 12 months old
29
Left to go further east along the M7, heading for Ufa. As we were coming into Naberezhnye Chelny, Lyn got pulled over by the police, just a document check, then back on the road again. The roads were OK, even divided with 2 lanes either way in parts, but heaps of traffic, mainly trucks. It was overcast most of the time, but no rain to speak of. The further east we got, closer to the Ural mountains, the more hilly it got, still no mountains yet, but at least it wasn’t dead flat. As the day wore on, we started to look for somewhere to stay, and stopped at a place advertised as a hotel. A quick look at the room and we kept going, would have been better sleeping under a bridge! After getting about a kilometre down the road, I realised I had left my sunglasses behind, so went back to look for them, but they were gone. Bugger! As we had crossed the time line, we lost 2 hours, and had to move our clocks forward, the day got suddenly shorter. We ended up stopping at a place about 90 kms from Ufa, with lock up storage for the bikes in a garage, (either side of a service pit), more expensive (about $40 aud), but it was a lot better.
30
Woke up not feeling real well, but took some Neurofen, 2 cups of tea, some breakfast, and got going. It was misting rain on and off, not heavy, but just enough to be a pain in the arse. Pulled into Ufa where I wanted to pick up some spare joining links for the chains, and Teo’s friend came through with flying colours, he had 2 in stock. Thanks Teo, and Mr Mechanic, really appreciate your help. We were going to head south from Ufa to Sterlitamak, then east to the border from there, but I was strongly advised against it, as with the rain we had had, the dirt road would be like grease, and it would take 2-3 days to get through, so we continued east towards Chelyabinsk on the main bitumen road. It was still raining on and off, and I was still not feeling flash, so we stopped around 5.00pm near Sim, at a road side hotel, better than last nights accommodation, smaller but more comfortable, once again with a lock up area for the bikes in a woodshed. Cost was 1,000 roubles, or about $20 aud. There was a Japanese couple travelling two up on a Harley Sportster booking in for the night as well, they had come from Vladivostock going the other way, but had stayed on the main road in Russia and bypassed both Mongolia and Kazakhstan. They spoke as much English as we spoke Japanese, so although we tried talking to them, a lot was lost in translation. Still it was good to see some more travellers on the road, we had only past 2 or 3 other travelling bikers since we hit Russia. We had a feed downstairs at the hotel, and tried for an early night, it had been after midnight every night for the last month, sometimes until 2.00 am, so we needed an early one.
1st July
Well, didn’t get an early one, after midnight again, bloody computers! Did wake up late though, after 9.00 am, and got ready to hit the road. The Japanese couple were long gone, room empty, bike gone, didn’t get to say goodbye and safe travels. A check on the weather showed rain all day, it was drizzling when we left, and kept it up for the first 150 kms. We stopped for a feed at a truckstop beside the highway, 2 meals, 2 cups of tea, and 2 glasses of orange juice, came to just under $7.00 aud. The traffic was horrible, the trucks just don’t stop coming, and no matter how many you pass, there is always more in front. We were passing through the Ural mountains now, but they were more like Ural Hills , not very high. At the top of the hills in the fog, visibility was down to about 10 metres at one stage, then truck headlights would loom out of the cloud in front of you. We passed a couple of nasty truck smashes, one looked like it had not long happened, it would have ended badly for the driver, there was nothing left of the cab. The rain did ease, and for the last 100 kms into Chelyabinsk it stopped. Still overcast and cold, but I was drying out, hate sitting in a pool of water while riding. We found a room online, and used google maps to get us there, the GPS is still useless. Arriving at the address, we parked and started looking for the entrance. There was no sign anywhere, and the building did not look anything like a hotel. A phone call got the receptionist outside looking for us, (we do stand out from the norm), and we were shown the door, through the back of the building, and up 11 flights of stairs. There is no way anyone could find the place if they weren’t shown it, even if they could read Russian. I thought it was a fire escape door. Anyway, the room was nice, and there was bike parking about 400 metres away in a locked yard with security for an additional fee, (about $3.00 aud), run by a private firm. By this time it was after 5.00 pm, so we had a wander around the shops where I bought some new sunglasses, and went to a supermarket for supplies for dinner and breakfast, as the room had a stove, microwave, fridge, and sink. Sheer bloody luxury! This would be our last night in Russia for a while, we would head into Kazakhstan tomorrow.
Left to go further east along the M7, heading for Ufa. As we were coming into Naberezhnye Chelny, Lyn got pulled over by the police, just a document check, then back on the road again. The roads were OK, even divided with 2 lanes either way in parts, but heaps of traffic, mainly trucks. It was overcast most of the time, but no rain to speak of. The further east we got, closer to the Ural mountains, the more hilly it got, still no mountains yet, but at least it wasn’t dead flat. As the day wore on, we started to look for somewhere to stay, and stopped at a place advertised as a hotel. A quick look at the room and we kept going, would have been better sleeping under a bridge! After getting about a kilometre down the road, I realised I had left my sunglasses behind, so went back to look for them, but they were gone. Bugger! As we had crossed the time line, we lost 2 hours, and had to move our clocks forward, the day got suddenly shorter. We ended up stopping at a place about 90 kms from Ufa, with lock up storage for the bikes in a garage, (either side of a service pit), more expensive (about $40 aud), but it was a lot better.
30
Woke up not feeling real well, but took some Neurofen, 2 cups of tea, some breakfast, and got going. It was misting rain on and off, not heavy, but just enough to be a pain in the arse. Pulled into Ufa where I wanted to pick up some spare joining links for the chains, and Teo’s friend came through with flying colours, he had 2 in stock. Thanks Teo, and Mr Mechanic, really appreciate your help. We were going to head south from Ufa to Sterlitamak, then east to the border from there, but I was strongly advised against it, as with the rain we had had, the dirt road would be like grease, and it would take 2-3 days to get through, so we continued east towards Chelyabinsk on the main bitumen road. It was still raining on and off, and I was still not feeling flash, so we stopped around 5.00pm near Sim, at a road side hotel, better than last nights accommodation, smaller but more comfortable, once again with a lock up area for the bikes in a woodshed. Cost was 1,000 roubles, or about $20 aud. There was a Japanese couple travelling two up on a Harley Sportster booking in for the night as well, they had come from Vladivostock going the other way, but had stayed on the main road in Russia and bypassed both Mongolia and Kazakhstan. They spoke as much English as we spoke Japanese, so although we tried talking to them, a lot was lost in translation. Still it was good to see some more travellers on the road, we had only past 2 or 3 other travelling bikers since we hit Russia. We had a feed downstairs at the hotel, and tried for an early night, it had been after midnight every night for the last month, sometimes until 2.00 am, so we needed an early one.
1st July
Well, didn’t get an early one, after midnight again, bloody computers! Did wake up late though, after 9.00 am, and got ready to hit the road. The Japanese couple were long gone, room empty, bike gone, didn’t get to say goodbye and safe travels. A check on the weather showed rain all day, it was drizzling when we left, and kept it up for the first 150 kms. We stopped for a feed at a truckstop beside the highway, 2 meals, 2 cups of tea, and 2 glasses of orange juice, came to just under $7.00 aud. The traffic was horrible, the trucks just don’t stop coming, and no matter how many you pass, there is always more in front. We were passing through the Ural mountains now, but they were more like Ural Hills , not very high. At the top of the hills in the fog, visibility was down to about 10 metres at one stage, then truck headlights would loom out of the cloud in front of you. We passed a couple of nasty truck smashes, one looked like it had not long happened, it would have ended badly for the driver, there was nothing left of the cab. The rain did ease, and for the last 100 kms into Chelyabinsk it stopped. Still overcast and cold, but I was drying out, hate sitting in a pool of water while riding. We found a room online, and used google maps to get us there, the GPS is still useless. Arriving at the address, we parked and started looking for the entrance. There was no sign anywhere, and the building did not look anything like a hotel. A phone call got the receptionist outside looking for us, (we do stand out from the norm), and we were shown the door, through the back of the building, and up 11 flights of stairs. There is no way anyone could find the place if they weren’t shown it, even if they could read Russian. I thought it was a fire escape door. Anyway, the room was nice, and there was bike parking about 400 metres away in a locked yard with security for an additional fee, (about $3.00 aud), run by a private firm. By this time it was after 5.00 pm, so we had a wander around the shops where I bought some new sunglasses, and went to a supermarket for supplies for dinner and breakfast, as the room had a stove, microwave, fridge, and sink. Sheer bloody luxury! This would be our last night in Russia for a while, we would head into Kazakhstan tomorrow.
This was the door to the hotel, around the back of the building in an alley, not one sign anywhere with the name of the hotel on it
