A Taste of Russia

A refreshingly different Ride Report written in an entertaining style.

Excellent stuff....keep it coming. :beerjug:

Can't wait to see what you made of the Irbit motorcycle rally.....I spent a weekend there a few years ago and it was something between a totally unregulated Wild West town and Mad Max 3 on acid. :D

Hope you went to the Ural factory in Irbit or at least the Irbit Motorcycle Museum. :thumb2
 
Melch, The next pack of popcorn in the microwave. Awaiting the next instalment. This Friday evening is a ride report day for me :) better than movies. Makes such easy reading - absolutely brilliant ride and report ... C'mon ... Please please Don't keep us waiting for long. :)
 
C'mon we are waiting :p

Melch, The next pack of popcorn in the microwave. Awaiting the next instalment. This Friday evening is a ride report day for me :) better than movies. Makes such easy reading - absolutely brilliant ride and report ... C'mon ... Please please Don't keep us waiting for long. :)

Ok, ok dammit. I thought I had got away with it and it had sunk down the list nicely. Now you buggers have brought it right back to the top. :D

Feeling suitably shamed I'll finish it off.
 
Ok, ok dammit. I thought I had got away with it and it had sunk down the list nicely. Now you buggers have brought it right back to the top. :D

Feeling suitably shamed I'll finish it off.

If you don't hurry up we will have to arrange for one of the strict ladies to give you a test run in some of your special furniture :whip:whip:whip
 
Brilliant so far, please finish it, I'm off to the Atacama desert in September. I won't be able to concentrate unless I know the end!!
 
All right, all right. You lot are like a nagging wife that wants shelves put up. :D

I'm on it...watch this space.
 
Get this finished, and you can crack on with Morocco 2014!!:thumb2
 
We finally crossed into Siberia. Yeehaa – finally out of Europe proper and into Asia. The landscape was becoming more remote. I knew that some river crossings/bridges were treacherous affairs in Russia/Siberia. We approached this bridge with a certain amount of trepidation.



Ok, ok, the Vitim River bridge it aint (Google it) but please don't piss on my chips, I felt special. We heroically crossed without so much as a quiver of the bottom lip and didn't so much as dab a foot down. We carried on for the day with not a lot to report until it was time to find accommodation. We had little chance as it was a bit too remote to find a hotel so rough camped here.



A lovely spot marred only by the amount of mozzies that were the size of small eagles with an appetite to suit. The only thing to do after eating was really to smother ourselves in Deet (nasty bloody stuff) and retire to our respective tents. The pic is of the following morning with Guy strolling back after having evacuated his bowels amongst the trees (sorry to shatter the romantic feel).

The following night we again had to look for a place to rough camp. We pulled into what we reckoned was a suitable place on a track through the forest (no shortage of forest in Siberia). We rode a couple of miles but the forest was so dense we couldn't find a place to pitch the tents. The track was getting more and more overgrown until we could go no further forward. We turned round and went back to the one and only clearing that we had seen for miles. It was perfect except for the fact that there was already a little one man tent on it. There was still plenty of room for us so we stopped. As we stopped I wondered the reaction would be and what the Russian was for "oh for fucks sake, seriously? Mile upon deserted mile of forest and you have to camp right here, feet from my tent". Oh well too bad, no choice, sorry. An inquisitive head popped out of the tent.

Meet Dimitri.



We did our well practised sign language communication in an attempt to converse with the chap. Turns out he was on his way to a music festival and was walking there.........from Ukraine!!!! and as much as he could though the forest. Here we are pawing over maps excitedly.



Before we stopped we thought we ought to try and get food for the evening. We stopped in a little truck stop place where there was a very small shop. Turns out not only was it very small but they had sod all in it. We bought a banana each, a bottle of beer each and a swiss roll. Boy are we gonna party tonight! I was secretly hoping that Dimitri had a stack of pies and a keg of ale stashed but looking at the size of him thought it unlikely. Turns out he was living on what he could forage in the forest.

Next morning we packed up, brewed a coffee and had some swiss roll for breakfast. We gave Dimitri a coffee and some swiss roll. I thought that we should hot foot it out of there pronto after feeding him as I was concerned the combination of caffeine and a sugar rush from the cake might kill him. Call me heartless but I thought it prudent not to get caught up in that palaver.

Next night we were almost at our destination and as we were a day early found a hotel and watched all the prostitutes ply their trade from the cafe window. It was at this hotel that I made a fatal (well, nearly) mistake.
 
very interesting

looking forward to more of the same
 
:clap

Melch, come on ..... hurry up ..... more please, it's chucking it down outside, this brightened my day no end. Made me chuckle when you found the grown up banjo player in the woods foraging.

The phone app earlier was brilliant.

More please sir x
 


Back
Top Bottom