2010 – The Caucasus

Our trip to the Caspian Sea

Can you see Mos..cough anywhere?

Posted by on 5, Aug 2010 in 2010 - The Caucasus, Eastern Europe, Europe, Russia | 0 comments

Can you see Mos..cough anywhere?

On our drive up from Volgograd we saw quite a few fields with stubble burning in progress. Some fields had got out of control and burned nearby trees and hedges and one field – not a stubble burn just waste ground – was ablaze right next to a petrol station. The flames were literally within inches of the forecourt and the Russians were happily filling up taking no notice! We didn’t see any foray fires and all the crops in the 1000km drive looked very healthy. The foray fires outside Moscow though have been getting worse and this morning we got an email from the British...

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Moscow

Posted by on 4, Aug 2010 in 2010 - The Caucasus, Eastern Europe, Europe, Russia | 0 comments

Moscow

Our campsite In Moscow is at the Danilevski Hotel 2 stops on the metro from the Kremlin and in the grounds of the Danilevski Monastery which is the Vatican of the Russian Orthodox Church. It is very quiet – no loud music is allowed here – and the hotel has pictures of bearded priests on almost every wall. We overlook the gardens and one of the churches here, it really is a perfect spot! it can only be booked through Perestroika Tours in advance of arrival and we are very pleased we did this. Its also about 300m from the metro and a western style supermarket which makes you...

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Visas & Russian Bureaucracy

Posted by on 30, Jul 2010 in 2010 - The Caucasus, Eastern Europe, Europe, Russia | 0 comments

Visas & Russian Bureaucracy

Russia is famed for pointless paperwork and the enthusiastic nature of its policemen to fine you (and keep the proceeds) so we have been VERY careful to drive below the speedlimit and not attract any unwarranted attention From the Police. We’ve been stopped a few times – like everyone else at checkpoints – and found the police to be generally helpful and polite. We’ve only had one lot try to fine us (for going over a white line which apparently is regarded here as a much more serious offence than say fiddling the country out of a few billion and then buying a football...

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Roads, boredom and the Kamkaz

Posted by on 29, Jul 2010 in 2010 - The Caucasus, Eastern Europe, Europe, Russia | 0 comments

Roads, boredom and the Kamkaz

We’re now half way in our three day drive to Moscow and today the scenery has gone from long straight roads with the odd bend and fields full of Sunflowers and wheat with trees interspersed to trees interspersed with fields full of wheat and sunflowers with the odd bend on long straight roads! The roads in the morning were pretty poor and we bumped along losing one speaker, some interior trim, 2 broken shelves in the fridge and the hose for the windscreen washer along the route to vibration damage. Its not so much one bang that does it its more attritional. So at lunch we stopped for...

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Stalingrad

Posted by on 28, Jul 2010 in 2010 - The Caucasus, Eastern Europe, Europe, Russia | 0 comments

Stalingrad

The Volga Stalingrad – its one huge war memorial Russian War Memorial New Stalingrad German War Cemetary More Russian War Graves More Russian Graves The drive from Elista was through non stop steppe – slightly undulating, grassy and monotonous. You can see Volgograd from miles away on the horizon gradually getting bigger and bigger. The city stretches for over 60km along the Volga, but you can almost through a stone over it widthwise as it hugs the land between the mighty river and a bank of hills that run parallel to the city. Its a 2 hour drive from top to bottom or a 5 minute...

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Not that left!

Posted by on 24, Jul 2010 in 2010 - The Caucasus, Eastern Europe, Europe, Russia | 0 comments

Not that left!

We left Rostov in a hurricane and it felt like we were driving on two wheels for the first 100kms as the wind swept across the flat land. Our route was planned to keep us off the main roads and take us on the small roads to Volgograd. These by and large have been of reasonable standard and cut through the now Fenlike farmlands in a series of long perfectly straight roads with a bend every now and then to keep you on your toes. There is very little traffic, few villages just farmland growing sunflowers and some kind of wheat. After a day and a half the farmland begins to give way to steppe...

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