Siberian towns and friends

We spend the week end ( 16th and 17th July) in Novosibirsk. 

Andrey left us the use of his beautiful flat and went to his parents'.

They live in the scientific in city, about 20 km south of Novosibirsk. The city is built in beautiful woods, within walking distance of the labs, universities and even what they call the "sea". 

A large dam on the river Ob has created a massive lake, so big, it looks like a sea, with beach and all. 

This is where the locals go during the summer to get a tan. 

We went to lunch with Andrey and his parents, at their flat and they walked to the Sea. 

Our wonderful hosts:

The next day we went with Andrey and his dad, Constantine, to the town centre of Novosibirsk. The town is the third biggest in Russia, and is quite recent as well, so no old buildings. 

We visited the local museum , it was very interesting, but I was not sure I could take pictures, so none taken. 

It is indeed a modern vibrant busy city. 

This is of course Lenine, but here he is represented next to three figures, each represent the proletariat, the peasants, and the red army. 

In the evening we went back to have dinner with them. Such an amazing hospitality! Although my brother is very good friend with them and work closely with them, for what I understand ( I am no physicist!) for them we were still complete strangers, and yet welcome us as if we were family! 

Day 37 - Monday 18th of July  - Tomsk - 300kms

We left not too early, under a very grey sky. It took us a while to cross town and get on the main road. Then the rain started, as always! 

I had booked a flat through booking.com in Tomsk. It would be a good opportunity to clean everything, including panniers, bike gear and all our clothes! The flat had a washing machine, I clearly checked and made sure of it! 

After getting into the flat, we emailed our friend Anton. We met him on our way to Mongolia, two years ago, and rode with him, and Vladimir, last year, in the Altay. 

Anton had received the parts for the TTR. We rode the bikes to his grand mother garage. It also has lots of tools to work on the bikes. 

Then it was time for few beers! 

Tuesday was spent, Alistair and Anton working on the TTR, me on buying supplies and doing the laundry and various other chores. 

Wednesday and Thursday, we had a good walk into town. 

Tomsk is an old city, very provincial in feeling, but very young at heart, with many students around, it has many cafes, bars, pubs, night clubs, restaurants...

 It has 6 universities, most of them among the three best in Russia, in their fields. Mainly scientific and technical, come again. Russian seem rather brilliant at these fields ( science, technology...).

Tomsk is a very beautiful and charming city. It has a flavour or St Petersburg, with its pastel low rise buildings, combined with a Siberian twist with many big wooden houses. Most streets are lined with trees and there are many parks. It is a very green city! 

One of the universities:

Botanical gardens:

The boys working hard on the TTR:

Departure tomorrow, to get to Gorno-Altaysk. It will take three days. Things should become more interesting as we plan on leaving the highway and taking some back roads! 

Into Siberia

Day 29- Sunday 10th of July - Perm, 0kms

Perm hasn't got the touristic charm of Petrozavodsk, with its bohemian bars and Parisian cafes, it hasn't got the faded beauty of Velikyi Ustyug, with its many crumbling churches and monasteries, Perm is a business town. 

If we had any doubts, it's very wide avenues, with tall business buildings, its luxury designer shops, its many business hotels and the few Porsche Cayenne speeding past would put you right. If still in any doubt, the big signs of Gazprom, Luk Oil as well as the  small office of StatOil ( Norway Oil company) over massive offices, confirm what this is all about: oil! 

Perm has two lines painted on the ground, for tourists to follow. Unfortunately there is not that much a great interest to see. Even the Monastery is under hiding, with its tower under massive restoration work. 

In the afternoon the weather turns to storm. We take refugue in the hotel, catching up on laundry. We even manage to wash our riding jackets, they were starting to look embarrassingly dirty! 

The forecast for the next day is not great. 

Alistair visits the Bear that is the symbol of the town. If you rub its nose and make a wish, it may be granted. He wished for good weather. 

His wish is realised. 

Day 30 to 35-  federal highway to Novosibirsk - about 2,100 kms

 We bypass Yekaterinburg, Tyumen and Omsk. We have one mission, get to Novosibirsk, where we are expected. Usually we prefer to avoid large towns and their crazy dangerous traffic and traffic jams. We live in a very big town, we prefer small communities and countryside, when we get out of London. 

Ekaterinburg, and the Urals Mountains, mark the separation between Europe and Asia. We are finally in Asia! 

Each day follows the same routine. We get up, pack up and ride. The ride is interrupted by stops in petrol stations and cafes, to buy petrol, water, food. Each night, I use Yandex App, to plan the next day ahead, calculate distances, and find our next hotel ( usually truckers stops!) , on the way. 

The forest, that has dominated the landscape since East Germany, starts to give way, occasionally, to fields. None of those fields are as we would see in Europe. The forest is still present everywhere, sometime in the middle of a field, crops surrounding it....

For days on end this will continue... The dense forest conceding temporary defeat, but always omnipresent, as if to say, "I dominate this land!". 

It speaks of ancients times, where giant bears or mammoths walked unchallenged, when men were just beasts among beats. It was here long before men, it will be here long after we are gone. The forest, that has been so intense for nearly a month, remains. It owns this land, all the way to Kamchatka. It is the heart of Russia. Somehow, during those long rides, a name comes to mind for it: Pangea. It seems to suit the forest.

Mile after Mile we keep riding, cafes are all cafeteria, often 24/7, with food on trays left there until it is gone, unrefrigerated,  with flies around and no glass to keep the food away from them. LukOil Petrol stations' Cafes  are a bit better as they offer pastries, in glass cabinets. Not great for my poor stomach but less chance of rotten food!

 It is slow going, as the highway is only a dual carriage way, and it can often turn into single track with the many road works! With its contestant stream of trucks, we are always behind a truck. 

On a couple of occasion we buy a bottle of beer that seems to have gone off! How can beer goes off? Eventually, when we reach Novosibirsk, Andrey tells us that lots of food and drinks are counterfeit, so the beer may have been done with who knows what. 

People on the federal highway are very different from the Russians we know. Most are sulky, with sullen faces, unfriendly staff, indifferent, even aggressive. When someone smiles, it feels like a miracle! I come to hate that road. I understand now why some bikers, who cross Russia and stay all the way on this federal highway, have such a  negative view of Russia. Had I done this road before anything else, I would have never returned either! However, to make some progress, we have to use it. It's mood sips on me and I become myself grumpy and sullen.... Time to get out! 

By Friday evening, after dreadful traffic jams across Novosibirsk, we finally arrive at Andrey's flat, in the Scientific City. The day was wet and we are covered in mud. A bit embarrassing arriving at his immaculate flat with all our bags, rain gear, boots, helmets and us covered in mud and grime. Such are the roads. 

We had been in contact with Andrey since we rode to Mongolia, two years ago. At the time we  did not ride past Novosibirsk.

 Andrey spent two years working with my brother in his physics lab, in Angers. Andrey  is a theoretical physicist. Funny enough, him, my brother, and Andrey's father, all share the same birth day (27th of August!) and funny enough, all three are physicists in the same narrow field of Optronic ( whatever that may be, to do with lasers and optic fibres is as far as I understand !).

We have never met before but he is close friend of my brother and always insisted we should stop. So done. We are welcome into his flat. The bikes packed to the underground carpark at his dad's flat , a mile away. 

Then we are offered dinner and then Andrey leaves us and go to sleep at his parents' flat, leaving his flat all to ourselves! 

Riding East!

Day 24 - Tuesday 5th of July - Velikiy Ustyug - 0kms

Velikiy is an ancient town that is now enjoying a sort of Renaissance since 1998. This is when the then Mayor of Moscow declared Velikyi Ustyug to be the home of the Russian orthodox Santa Claus: Ded Moroz. It means Grandfather Frost. 

He brings presents to children on The 31st of December. 

Since then, the post office in Velikyi has received many letters from children. Ded Moroz is often depicted wearing both a blue as well as ared coat and looks very much like Santa. There are images of him everywhere in town.

The town is still run down, with pavements of dust and sand, many churches and monasteries that are pretty much falling in ruins. I thought despite of that, or because of that, they were very beautiful in their faded grandeur. 

High street:

Many churches! 

What seems like a massive monastery, but closed: 

And mor churches:

After a long walk into town and lunch and a beer at the town centre main cafe ( it even had an English menu!!!!!!) we walked back to the hotel, a mile away, and spent the end of the day with Alistair working on the bikes and fixing stuff, like his loose fuel tank, and other bits, while I did some research for the next few days ( places fro the night on the way etc...)

Day 25th - Wednesday 6th July - Velikyi Ustyug - 0kms

Alistair woke up very early and very sick. He blames the beer at the cafe at lunch time, it was cloudy instead of clear, and rather flat. I did not drink it,  so I was fine. The only thing we did not both ate or drank. 

He was way too ill to ride, so I strolled to the admin desk and paid for another night.

We took some rehydration salts, me for my on-and-off upset stomach, him due to his bad day. 

Nothing much was done that day as it was a rainy cold day and Alistair was too ill to walk.

Day 26 - Thursday 7th July - Sharya -320 kms

We left Velikyi mid morning.

The destination was Perm, but it would take three days to get there.

Sergio, our friend from St Pete, had introduced me to a Russian App called Yandex. It calculates itineraries but also shows hotels on the way, fuel stations and much more.  I finally managed to find the English version! It is amazing! Love it although it does not seem to have all the functions he was telling me about. The Safari version is better but still not complete. In any case, using it I found a place to break our journey, in Sharya.

The road was good, the weather wet and rainy, still riding through dense forest. It was a boring ride south all the way, but we got to Sharya and found the hotel by the side of the road. It was simple and cheap. It did the deal. 

It even had wifi! 

Day 27 - Friday 8th of July - Belaya Kholunitsa - 370kms

Belaya was just another dot in my map. Once again, Yandex showed a couple of places where we could stay, for the night. 

The settlement ( can't call it a town!) had a feel of frontier town, local drunks and junkies hanging around, lots of passage , two small hotels between a petrol station. Just a stop over place. 

The hotel was virtually empty, like everywhere we go, but it was a new building with a nice bathroom and it was perfect for the night. Still very cheap. I was concerned about the bikes but we were able to put them in a factory yard, with a very savage looking dog in a large pen. The bikes would be secured! 

Although we took the sheepskins off, as I already had a sheepskin shredded to pieces once, by a guard dog, in Argentina.... And as we know from bitter experience, finding a sheepskin is not that easy! 

I tried to get online  to book a place in Perm, but the wifi was not working! Usual thing in many places. Do you have wifi? "Yes".

Does it work? "Yes".

Actually not, it does not work! 

Oh well! 

We had a small walk out to the local Stalovaya but it was a small poor display in a sort of self service, like school canteen. I was not hungry as we had had a descent Plov for lunch in a little Cafe.

We bought some bread and cheese spread ( a bit like the "Vache Qui Rit", but a big square of it).

So much bread was not a good idea for me! 

Day 28 - Saturday 9th July - Perm - 430kms

It was a long day ride. Although, surprisingly, the forest cleared out occasionally to reveal (you will never guess this!) farmland! Yes, not huge, but fields and villages of farmers. Well massive buildings, probably of the cooperatives. 

The day was windy, but at least the sky cleared up. Eventually we had nice weather with white clouds dotting the sky. Our first day of really nice weather! 

We stopped at a cafe to have breakfast (fried eggs) and continued, punctuating our ride with stops at petrol stations, for fuel, tea, water and toilets! At least Yukol petrol stations have real toilets, not the hut at the back with a hole in the ground and a stench that makes you wonder how anyone can come close to it! Give me the bush any time! 

Unfortunately, none had any wifi, so we could not book  any hotel online. 

 At the day progressed I started feeling unwell again. It could not have been dehydration, the weather of the last few days had not been hot, or dry, and I had been taking some rehydration salts, just in case. They did help for few days.

Eventually I had to make an " emergency stop" and run behind a bush! The problem of being on the road is eating  a lot of crap that does not agree with my stomach anymore. Eating lots of bread with cheese the night before was a big mistake! As I only had the fried eggs from breakfast and no lunch, on the day, I can only blame dinner the day before. I have to cut on bread ( and pastries and all stuff loaded with wheat). 

I had the same problem with grapes. I used to eat grapes, then, once, years ago, suddenly, I was very sick after eating some. Trying again few months later, the result was within two hours! A third time confirmed! I had not touched grapes since! One or two is ok, a lot is not. I will test my wheat theory by reducing or cutting my bread/ pastries  intake. My usual diet is mainly protein and vegetables, and if I eat cheese it will be with few small crackers only.

Anyhow, we continued. The day was very windy and it was rather tiring, as none of our bikes has any fairing. 

About 70 kms before Perm, we came across a junction into a busier road. It was absolutely packed with slow trucks, impossible to overtake, crazy impatients drivers in 4x4 cars, in a hurry to meet with their ancestors, driving erratically, ( maybe drunk or on drugs? How can anyone drive like that otherwise?) and lots of very bad stretches of Tarmac and gravel, where the trucks crawled at walking pace and the car drivers became even more hysteric, if such thing is possible . 

It was slow going and full of near death experiences! 

We finally arrived in town. Few days before, I had selected few hotels that had private parking for our bikes, and taken pictures of them in my iPad. 

We had programmed the GPS for one of them. We arrived, the place was empty. We had a room, cheaper than in booking.com and with an additional 15% off in addition! Way to go! 

The bikes put aside in the guarded carpark, we got changed and showered and went for a dinner. 

Since Lithuania we had been on Moscow time ( 2 hours ahead of the U.K.), even at a small stop 150kms before town, it was still Moscow time. Then, in Perm, we lost not one but two hours. 

It seems that there is hardly any time zone "Moscow -1 "! And next time zone we will most certainly lose again two hours at once! 

Our route so far:

The missing cattle mystery...

There is something that has been bothering me for a while. 

Over the last two years, we have ridden thousands of miles across Russia (west, southern and central Siberia), flew over it twice, and crossed it on the trans-siberian train too... And yet, everywhere we went, I never saw a farm, any  crops, or any animal farm anywhere! No chickens running around in the villages, no cows, sheep, pigs, horses or goats grazing around in the fields, and no fields as we know it anyway, only dense forest or waste land of wild flowers. Sure , everyone seems to have a small vegetable plot, but no animals....

The only exception was a reindeer farm in the Altai, kept for the horns that sell for a fortune to the Chinese market as a remedy! 

Surely, from my history books there used to be many peasants in Russia, which means there were crops and animals.... And the Russians eat a lot of meat, and lots of eggs! So.... What is going on? 

Why are the fields empty, why is there not even a couple of chickens running around in the villages?  Where are the crops? What are people on those villages doing there, if they are not farmers?  We saw plenty of logging ( they have plenty of forest so wood is big business) but that's about it, otherwise, complete wilderness....

So I checked the CIA website country files. For those not familiar,  there is a CIA website with fact files for every country of the world, including details of economic data. It is an interesting website but I did not find my answers there, I had to dig further, but with Alistair sick, I had some time today as we are not riding. 

So it appears that agriculture is still fairly  underdeveloped since collectivisation. At the heyday of collectivisation, the production of a Russian farm were only 10% that of a US modern farm ( comparing like to like). Currently production is in the Volga region mainly. Due to geography and climate, only 10% of Russia's land is suitable for crops. From what we xperienced, most land is sand, beneath the grass...

What remains of collective farms are set up as cooperatives. However, it seems that over 40% of food production, like potatoes, come from dacha plots... i.e. small vegetable plots that most Russians seem to own everywhere. So there, microproductions! 

Currently it seems Russia is near self sufficiency for most of its food, ( thanks to all those vegetables plots!) and,  following the international sanctions, Russia is now trying  to invest and become a net exporter of GM-free organic food by 2020. They certainly have the space and water necessary for it... ( source RT.com). 

Still, where are the cows? 

Northern Russia taking its toll

Outside town we refuelled and reassessed the situation. No place to stay for a long time. What to do? 

Camping was pretty much out of the question. Every time we stopped we were surrounded by millions of mosquitoes, massive flies, wasps and millions of midges that flew into our eyes, nostrils, mouth etc... Difficult to breath sometimes! 

 We had to leave the area as we did not know how big the "special permit zone" was. 

After an hour ride, through bad roads and gravel or dirt, we stopped at a cafe. We were very dehydrated, it was incredibly hot. We had a drink and a snack, and asked the cafe owner if she knew of a hotel around. She did not. However, a couple overheard us and told us where we would be able to find one, about 100kms away. We rode and rode but never found it. 

We finally reached the intersection with the M8 and spotted a fuel station. We stopped for fuel and make a decision. 

The M8 could take us north to Akhangelsk, ( among detour north, nothing to see there but plenty of hotels, then come back the following day) or ride south and hope that the highway would have few truckers' places. It was getting late. We were tired, covered in dust, sand, dead flies.... We asked the cashier about a hotel, she gave us the card of a guest house, about 40kms away! Our lucky moment! 

We rode to Emetsk. Even with the GPS it was not obvious but after asking, we found it. A big house, no sign. 

I knocked on the door and two guys came to answer. I asked about a room. They were only guests, to speak with the owner we had to phone. I cannot speak Russian much, even less over the phone! 

Luckily, Constantine helped us by getting, after a long while of trying, in touch with the owner. There were lots of talking over the phone.  Constantine said she was reluctant because the house would not be clean enough for us! She obviously did not see the state of us! 

Eventually, the guys invited us in the entrance/ kitchen and we had water and tea with them, while we waited for the owner to come. They offered food and snacks but we were not hungry and too polite to eat their food! They were very welcoming, and luckily, one of them, Elia, spoke good English! 

There was suggestion that we could stay in another place, although the huge guest house was empty, apart from Elia and Comstantine. 

The guys, and their driver, were living in the guesthouse for few weeks. They are surveyors for the electric companies and survey electric pylons. 

Eventually the owner came and we were able to stay. We had a big clean room with 4 beds and private bathroom all for us. 

Unfortunately the water was out, we had to wait for a shower. Instead, with Elia we went to the local shop which was closing. It was 9pm and Sunday! He managed to convince the owner to reopen just for us. After buying some snacks and water and a couple of beers, we went back to the house. We had not had any lunch or dinner that day, but to be fair, I was just dehydrated and extremely hot. I just wanted  a shower. 

Back to the house we had a drink with the guys. Their driver was busy watching football in his room, but Constantine fetched his computer and we saw few videos of their job! Obviously they love it. One was Elia with his skis trying to reach a pylon,  with his instruments, clipping off one skis and plugging into very snow down to his neck. Getting out of this was hilarious to watch. Another was him using a beavers' bridge to pass a river... The pylons are in the most remote and difficult areas to reach so make for interesting viewing! 

Comstantine on the left, Elia on the right. Two top guys who were very welcoming and super friendly! What a pleasure to meet such kind and friendly guys, especially after such a day! 

Finally there was water and I went first to have a shower. Just as I came out of the shower, the owner came back. She was swimming in a lake with friends and wanted to invite us for a swim! A bit late for that, although we were so far north that it did not get dark at night. We woke up hearing the guys talking, we thought they were getting ready for work, as it was fairly light outside, but it was only 1am! 

When we got up the next morning, the guys were gone to work. 

Day 23 - Velikiy Ustyug - Monday  4th of July - 480kms

The day started ok. We had nice weather, good road, we found a cafe, about 90 kms down the highway and had a smal breakfast with fried eggs and bread. 

We then took the turn off toward Kotlas, the last town in the Oblast of Arkhangelst. It started fine, but after a bout 20 or 30km, it turned into a gravel/ sandy road. I can tell you that this is the WORSE gravel road since Bolivia! And I rode across Mongolia! 

It was incredibly loose gravel mixed with  insane corrugation and deep sand. Keeping the bike up was a struggle , my front wheel was all over the place and I was very concerned that I could not make it all the way! 

After about 10kms I lost control of the bike in a sandy section And broke the brake lever. I had enough length on the lever  to continue. Alistair helped me to pick up the bike ( well, he did it while I watched!) and we discussed whether to continue or turn back. It was very hard going... And scary! A bad fall and it is easy to break a bone. Also, there was a lot of traffic on that road, buses, trucks, many cars, barely slowing down and not giving us much space... Once wobble at the wrong time and  we would be toast! 

We pressed on. After a while we came across a fuel station. By then we had covered a good 30km of gravel. We asked the guy how much we had of gravel or if it was all like this. We would have some Tarmac he said. That kept us going.

After about 30km we had a bit of Tarmac , briefly. By then I had found my balance on the bike. Sand has always been my nemesis, mainly because there is nowhere to train in sand in the UK. Also, I was not familiar with the Heidenau tyres, my previous tyres were more off-road orientated and gave me better grip on deep mud. These are more dual sport. Tyres are always a compromise in such trip! 

I manage good speed and somehow, through all the 300kms that this road was until Kotlas, with about half of it horrendous gravel, we managed without further problem, despite few hairy moment; but the road took its toll on the bikes.

The TTR's Acerbis fuel tank was loose. It is fixed to the frame on two brackets and two screws. Obviously, not strong enough for such bad corrugation. One screw disappeared, another one sheared. 

Some bulbs need to be replaced and I hope this is all. So some fixes to do.

Once we reached Kotlas, we took the southern road to Velikiy Ustuyg. It had many hotels and seemed rather pretty, unlike Kotlas, It was only another 50kms and the road was good! At last! 

We found a hotel in town. We must have been quite a sight, panniers covered in white dust from the sand, us covered in a mix of sand and dead insects! At some point we need to clean our riding suits maybe! 

This had been our hardest day in this trip so far! Any worse road, I won't be able to make it! It tested my balance to the limit!  I found that sand behaves like mud, so I rode accordingly ( this is my only reference point after all, after the winder riding the muddy trails of Surrey!), but worse than that would be pushing! These muddy days in the green lanes had been productive to get me familiar with the bike and finding, somehow, my balance! I will never be a good enduro rider, as I will never be a good horse rider, but I muddle through, and I guess this is good enough. 

I still managed to keep up to speed and we arrived in town before 6pm despite the long distance! I was quiet please with myself! :)

Health wise, I had been plagued by diarrhoea on and off since St Petersburg. Every two or three days it comes back. Not the best time on that road but we found a pit toilet in a fuel station. I may have to get some antibiotics if it does not get better! Luckily, in Russia, there is no need for prescription to get antibiotics, so I will get some ciprofloxacine at a pharmacy today. 

I leave you with the best building you will ever see for KFC: ( in Petrozavodsk!)

Cosmodrome and KGB... Just another day on the road!

Day 21 - Sat 2d July - Pudozh - 370kms

We packed up and left Petrozavodsk under a glorious sun! We had decided to ride around the north shore of lake Onega. The road was pretty good, to start with, and we made quick progress. 

We got fuel about 60km out of Petrozavodsk. 

We reached the north west side quickly and stopped at a fuel station for a quick snack and rest. We still had plenty of fuel ... And the area is popular with holiday makers, so surely, plenty more fuel stations? Wrong. We passed many road works, but no more fuel! At Least now I know that I can make a full 310km on a tank! 

By the time we got to Pudozh, our stop for the night, I was a bit worried! My reserve light and been on for a while! We bought 9l but we have no idea about the precise size of the fuel tank on my bike! You see, even in the US they have different sizes depending on the model... And I have a Japanese import! I hope it is 10l! 

Once we reached town, covered in mud and dust, thanks to the massive road works and gravel sections, we rode to the hotel I had found online. It was full! We looked for the second one in town . It was Saturday, and the road there was blocked, with the cops there we could not push through what appeared to be a mix of funfair and market.

We went around few tracks, and same problem. We tried a third time and we still failed to even get close! No clue where that bloody hotel was! 

We rode to the third choice showing in our GPS. It was a guesthouse, but it was full! 

The owner then told me to follow him to try something. He basically took me to all his neighbours, see if one would be able to take us for one night, with no success. Eventually he phoned someone and told us it was ok. We rode two houses down the road and went into a courtyard. 

For 2000 roubles (which seems to be the going rate for a guesthouse) a family took us in for the night.

The husband, Denis, was getting his BBQ burning wood, dressed in the usual outfit for a Russian man when hanging around: a military style camouflage trousers, and no shirt of course! His wife showed us their front leaving room, next to the door. The house was brand new and absolutely enormous! Well built too with very thick walls. 

In the hallway, there was a sofa with a big riffle! Over the years, many animals have looked after our bikes. Many dogs, nice or scary, many cats, the occasional llama, alpaca and even the odd cow, but never a cat with a riffle! Not to be messed with! He means business! 

The living room had a sofa bed, a large flat screen TV with millions of channels. 

They showed us the banya, an outside building, where there was a shower as well as the usual sauna and rooms, although that banya was bigger than most London flats! It was huge too! 

We had a quick shower as we had a very hot day. 

Then, while cooking his shashliks on the barbecue (chicken  skewers) Denis asked us if we wanted to be taken into town for dinner. We said we would walk but Denis was the sort of very serious and used to command type of man, and he would not take "no" for an answer. He immediately got his car out of the garage, enormous of course, with also a brand new VW van as well a new car, and drove us to the cafe. He then came back to pick us up one hour later. 

After that, as the family was having its dinner, we went to our room. We were tired and had an early night.

The next morning, as we started packing the bikes, Denis reappeared and asked us if we wanted coffee or tea. He took us to the enormous kitchen, we had a quick look at the same time at the second massive living room!  We had a breakfast with bread, cheese and sausage. I never saw Denis smile, he was very serious, with an air of authority, and we hardly saw his wife and son, but he was very kind to us. 

Day 22 - Sunday 3rd July - Emetsk - 570kms

The day was sunny again as we rode off. The plan was for a medium day riding, and stop at the only place for at least 300km  before and after, that showed about 3 hotels. The town was Plesetsk. 

I had researched the name on google, why would there be hotels there and nowhere else? Apparently, there is a secret cosmodrome nearbye. Well not secret anymore but used to launch military and governement satellites. It is still used and will become more used for commercial launches too as Baikonur ( in Kazakhstan) is very expensive to use for the Russians. 

I thought it was cool and maybe we could glance at something on the way. In any case, it was the only town with a bed for the night.

The road was rather bad, we soon ran out of asphalt and it turned into a bad gravel and sand track. It was compacted enough so we managed to make good progress. 

By mid afternoon, we got to Plesetsk. 

We found a hotel near the station. I got in and asked the receptionist if she had a room. The place was dead, no one around. She looked at me as if I came out of the space station, with round eyes, before say no, no rooms! Strange! We rode through the horrible tracks and donkey trails that are the streets of this little town and found another place eventually. 

I got up to the reception area. I asked the administrator again about a room. The place was enormous and did not seem to steam with activity! She asked lots of stuff I did not understand. Eventually she asked for my documents. Finally,I understood that  we could not stay as we did not have a special permit from the FSB ( ex KGB!) . Usually foreigners need a special permit around border zones ... Damn! The woman confirmed we needed a special permit to be in the region! Not good. If caught in a special permit zone without one, this is very serious and would be prosecuted!

I reported back to Alistair and we got on the bikes! We had to move quickly and avoid the police! 

(I will write the rest tomorrow....) 

Republic of Karelia. - Russia

On our last day in St Pete, the weather was not so nice. 

In the afternoon we took a stroll to the local botanic gardens. Sadly we could not visit the huge green houses, not sure why! Everything was in Russian. The green houses were locked. A group of students got in but we could not follow! It is surprising, in a town as touristic as St Petersburg, that not much is done to put information in English, or any other language than Russian. 

In the evening, Sergio, a Russian biker, met us in our hotel. He took us to the local 'Stalovaia' (столовая ). We did not know about those little places. They serve cheap traditional food. Russians tend to go there, as restaurants are more formal and much more expensive. In small villages, there may be a Stalovaia but no restaurants. So now we will know what to look for, or to ask, on the road. 

After dinner we stopped at a mobile phone shop. We had tried to buy a PAYG SIM card but failed miserably. So Sergio was in hand to explain to the shop assistant what we needed. Unfortunately, Alistair's phone was locked. He thought it was not. So no SIM card. In case of emergency we will use the UK SIM card despite cost. We are not too bothered by Internet access or not. If we find Wifi, fine, if not, no big deal. 

Sergio got us laughing out loud with his stories of bears and clueless tourists. But now I am worried about bears and wolves in the wilderness of Russia! 

He also took Alistair to a shop to buy motorcycle oil. Thanks Sergio! 

Day 17 - Tuesday 28th June - Sortavala - 280 kms

As we started packing our bikes that morning, it started to rain a lot. We set off under fairly heavy rain and had a very miserable day on the road. 

The Russian Federation consists of republics, krais, oblasts, cities of federal importance, autonomous oblast, and autonomous okrugs, all of which are equal subjects of the Russian Federation. 

So we left the Oblast of Leningrad, where St Pete is the capital city, and entered the Republic of Karelia. 

Each "region" seems to be responsible for its roads, this is very clear when you change Oblast or Krai. The Oblast of Leningrad seems to have not bothered with the last few miles before Karelia, as we ran out of Tarmac and the road turned to gravel and mud. Under the very heavy rain it was no fun but we hardly slowed down. Our bikes are built for that sort of terrain and we wanted to get to Sortavala. Once in Karelia, Tarmac reappeared, although of less good quality. 

After the never ending straight flat roads through dense forests, Karelia was beautiful. We rode along the Lake Ladoga, through gentle hills, small farm holdings , beautiful meadows and woods. It would have been superb if it has not been absolutely pouring down with rain! 

 We finally found our guesthouse, frozen to the bones. It was not easy to find the place, even with the GPS coordinates.

The owner of the guest house saw our Uzbekistan's visas from two years ago . He had lived there in the past. He did not speak English so not able to get the details. He was very friendly  and helpful. We got the bikes in his fenced courtyard, after removing the very savage dog that lives there. He even offered to drive us in his car to the supermarket to buy some food, as we could not get access to our bikes ( savage dog was set loose). 

The guesthouse had a communal kitchen, very convenient. We got some Plov from the supermarket and heated in the microwave. 

The place was immaculate and warm. 

Day 18 - Weds 29th June - Petrozavodsk - 260 kms. 

We left Sortavala mid morning. The day was, once again, wet! By then I was seriously fed up. Since we left home we had one day only rain free. I was considering altering our itinerary and ride south. 

Alistair was worried about the bikes, the oil level on both was very low. We should have changed it in St Pete but difficult in town to find a quite spot. And in Sortavala, due to savage dog in the yard, we couldn't, in any case the weather was against us. 

So we stopped outside town, bought some car oil and topped up both bikes. 

That done, we left the outskirts of Sortavala. We did not see any village for a good 150 kms. 

Eventually a cafe appeared and we stopped for a cup of tea to warm up, the rain was less violent than the previous day, but a constant drizzle all the time. 

We then pressed on and arrived at Petrozavodsk, capital city of the republic of Karelia, on the edge of lake Onega, by mid afternoon. We found a good deal online for a nice hotel with parking for our bikes. So I had booked it in advance. 

The town is surprisingly pleasant and well kept ( by Russian standards). We had a walk around and down the pier to book our hydrofoil tickets for the next day. The main attraction is the Island of Kizhi, about 1h30 minutes from town, by hydrofoil. 

In the evening, Alistair managed to change the oil on our bikes. He also found that his carburettor is leaking more and more fuel. Taking it apart is risky without a replacement gasket at least. 

He spoke with Brian, the TTR250 guru, in England, via email and decided against opening the carb. Getting the parts first is essential. 

So I emailed our friend Anton, in Tomsk. 4000 kms away, but we need a 'local ' address to get the parts sent to. Anton replied very quickly with the parts numbers we needed with several reasons for the leak, and saying he would rather order the parts  for us himself, as they are available in Russia. 

We will be able to get the carburretor fixed in Anton's house as he is a very smart guy and an excellent mechanic. Not his job by the way! He is a programmer for an American company, but he still can take a bike apart and back together without any problem! So Alistair will just have a look at the carb tomorrow, after Kizhi, do some bits of maintenance and checks on the bikes. 

 We decided to stay an extra day for that. 

Day 19 - Thursday 30th June - Petrozavodsk - 0 kms

After breakfast we walked to the Pier and found the boat. We were first in the queue, with the exception of a family with two kids.

Then the tour operator arrived and left...people started to get in the queue. I knew what would happen and prepared myself. I was born and grew up in Paris and used the subway there all my life,  and for the last 18 years, I have become an expert at dealing with the London Underground at peak hours! I don't get beaten at that game!!!  

As the gate opened, the guy opening the gate left  the family in, then the tour guide and its 40 or 50 Japanese ( or Chinese) tourists in priority... Well, I had been in that queue for 20 minutes, no way they would pass ahead of me! I plunged, someone grabbed my arm, I ducked pushed in and got in. I heard a guy call женщина ( 'woman' in Russian)... I did not care. This is Russia, no one is going to jump the queue ahead of me! 

The hydrofoils are horrible and the best ( very few !) seats are at the front. Else you get at the back with all the diesel fumes, as we did when we went to Peterhof. Not nice! 

I secured a seat at the front.... Alistair had disappeared at the back of the queue, for some strange reason! All the Chinese arrived but none tried to sit next to me! Maybe they got scared at the scowl   on my face! Alistair eventually joined. 

Kizhi has very ancient wooden churches and villages. Tourists cannot stay the night, it is a full day excursion. It was superb and well worth the visit.

We rented some bicycles to go around. 

Now, if someone can tell me the difference between a transfiguration church and a bog standard church, I would love to know! :)

We then sat for a drink, as the day was incredibly hot. As Alistair bought some peanuts we got ourselves surrounded by crows! My sister in law Pauline would have been horrified!