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| Russia
: section 3 |
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| 12-07-2003 |
| Relying
now purely on the GPS we made our way across Moscow
back to BMW Autodom in order to say our final farewells
and thank-yous to the people that had looked after
us so well. With the bikes loaded up we were ready
to leave and make our way to St Petersburg - it
was now around 12:00. Unfortunately the rear Ohlins
shock on the 1100 had different plans and had decided
to drop the contents of the pre-load adjusting oil
all over the floor! Without being able to pre-load
the rear shock and with questionable road quality
ahead of us we needed to try to sort this problem
out whilst in Moscow and amongst friends rather
than risk trying to get to St Petersburg and make
the problem worse. Several hours and phone calls
later and with the help of Autodom, Vladimir Tchaikovsky
and some serious scrounging it was resolved that
the shock could be repaired but this wasn't going
to be done until the following day. With the bags
once again unloaded and the 1100 tucked up for the
night in the workshop, we were now ready for another
night in Moscow. Denis, the service manager for
Autodom, had kindly offered to be our host for the
night, offering us both his house and a tour to
what he described as 'his Moscow'. Following Dennis
back through Moscow traffic at speed we arrived
at his place in time for a quick wash and then off
we went again, this time with Lisa as pillion on
Dennis's bike. Some 20 minutes later we arrived
at a large junction of where two sets of dual carriage
way meet right in front of Moscow's main University.
The area also provides a great view across Moscow
where for the first time we could start to get an
idea of the immensity of the city. The area is also
the main meeting point for about 200 Russian motorcyclist
and custom car fanatics who use the road to street
race. It was Saturday evening and anybody who was
anybody in Moscow was here to show off their purring
two-wheeled steed. We pulled up and parked and within
minutes were deep in conversation with new friends
talking about the trip. A barrage of excited questions
followed. How far had we come? How had we managed
it? Where were we going next? Both of us were hungry
but we were enjoying ourselves to much to stop and
eat. The atmosphere was electric with several hundred
bikes coming and going. Custom bikes roaring as
there riders rev looking for attention. Scooters
whizzed passed us, ridden by kids who looked no
more than 12. Race ready R6 sports bikes screeched
up and down the concourse at breakneck speed only
to be pulled to a stop at the very last minute,
purely for the thrill of it. We watched in amazement
and horror all evening as bike after bike hurtled
down this busy main road with front wheels reaching
skyward as the battle for the highest longest and
fastest wheelie commenced and then continued. We
spent most of the evening expecting to hear the
heavy grating of polished metal on concrete as someone
lost it 'big time' and slid down the road. Luckily
no one did. Finally thirst and hunger had got the
better of us and it was time to leave. A quick stop
off for beer and food on the way back saw us arrive
back at Dennis's about 10pm. Sleep finally halted
conversation about 2am the following morning. Dennis
you're a STAR!!! |
| 13/14-07-2003 |
| Bleary
eyed, we rolled out of b ed early as we were meeting
Vladimir at MacDonald's and following him with
Dennis to see the 'Ohlins man' -A 45 minute ride
out of Moscow we arrived at what looked like a
run down block of flats but which turned out to
be the ex-headquarters of the former Soviet motocross
and speedway teams. Dozens of hard won trophies
still line the corridor, simply left to gather
dust. The 'Ohlins guy' turned out to be Yuri,
the former head technical engineer for the motor-cross
team. We couldn't have asked for a better man
to be looking at the rear shock. Within 40 minutes
the problem had been diagnosed and solved with
a donation of a Ohlins pre-load unit from Vladimir.
Relieved, we happily accepted the repaired shock
back and then made our way back to Autodom. On
route we stopped off at the bike market to pick
up a set of fork gaiters for the F650GS, whose
previous gaiters had by now been shredded. This
was all on a Sunday and Vladimir and Denis were
doing all of this for us on their day off!We were
finally ready; gaiters fitted, rear shock fixed
and St Petersburg waiting for us. We had received
the kind of welcome and enjoyed a level of hospitality
and help that we could have only have dreamt about.
To Alex (Manager of Autodom), Vladimir (BMW Russia),
Dennis (After Sales Manager Autodom) and Marina
(Autodom), we owe you a very, very large thank
you. You made our stay in Moscow all the more
memorable. Alex maybe we'll see you in South-Africa
in February 2004, who knows!At 5pm we made our
start to St Petersburg (formally Leningrad). Little
did we realise it was going to be a marathon ride.
We started in torrential rain, riding in Moscow
rush hour. We had travelled 4 miles in about an
hour. Finally we reached the bottleneck. The 3
lane carriageway we were on was completely flooded
on the outskirts of the city. The water must have
been 8-12 inches deep in places as we made our
way through, praying not to have to stop. The
rain finally subsided and after a brief stop at
Mcdonalds (bloody hell that's twice in one day)
for coffee we began again. We had been determined
to leave Moscow on the 13th and with hindsight
should really have left it another day. The road
to St Petersburg is long (roughly 800k), it is
also the main lorry route, so contrary to what
the 'Lonely Planet' guide book says about the
road quality being good, sorry, but 'BOLLOCKS',
is it!!! The road is potted but worse it is also
very badly ridged. Deep troughs, which go on for
mile after mile have been pushed into the roads
by the continuous onslaught of overloaded lorries.
Cars have a better time of it, but on bikes it's
bloody horrible as you find the front and back
of the bike continuously fighting to go indifferent
directions, being pulled by the deep ridges in
the road. Concentration has to be 110% just to
keep the machines upright. Night was drawing in
and we needed to make a decision to either keep
going or stop for the night. So far none of the
small towns we had passed through had looked particularly
secure. We decided to keep going. At dusk the
rain started again. 2 hours further on and things
were getting frightening. Lorry drivers frustrated
by our speed (50-60 mph) were overtaking us in
silly places. It was now pitch black and the road
was getting worse with the bikes weaving about
underneath us. Mile after mile passed very slowly.
We were getting overly tired and concentration
was becoming a problem. At around 2:30am we pulled
into a garage, parked up and hauled ourselves
off the bikes and slumped pathetically on the
kerb. Still in our kit that was black with dirt
and sopping wet, we rested back against the forecourt
office. Within minutes we were both asleep. Not
one of our more glamorous moments! 30 minutes
later, feeling slightly refreshed we were off
again. At around 4:30am the rain stopped as dawn
broke and at 6pm we stopped again desperate to
close our eyes. This time we simply pulled off
the road, put down the side stands and fell asleep
on the bikes. When you're this tired your tank
bag becomes welcoming pillow. We couldn't decide
if falling asleep on the bikes took us one step
closer to 'rufty tufty' bikers or just plain desperate.
Our egos prefer the thought of the first. By 7am
we were back on the road and at 9:00 we were approaching
the centre of St Petersburg.
The
first hotel we approached said they were full,
but being the largest with a few thousand double
rooms we thought they didn't like the way we looked.
I'm not surprised though because we didn't like
the way we looked! Sweaty, grimy with filthy clothes,
boots and hair with a 5'oclock shadow (and that's
just Lisa!)…not a pretty sight! We were told
however that their sister hotel across the road
had some space and so off we went to battle through
the morning rush hour traffic - we never seem
to time it quite right when we arrive in cities!
Our Lonely Planet book once again said that this
hotel was at the cheaper end of the travellers
budget - me thinks they need to update! Being
tired, hot etc…we decided that despite the
price, which was well over budget, we couldn't
face getting back on the bikes in order to hunt
for another and cheaper abode. The bikes also
had secure parking with three armed guards (!)
at an additional cost of $10 per 24-hour period
per bike - apparently not a bad price in St Petersburg
as secure parking is few and far between. Our
hotel was situated on Nevsky Prospekt, which is
one of the main streets running the length of
St Petersburg's centre (the Soviets tried re-naming
this street 25th October Avenue in honour of the
revolution - the name never stuck - I wonder why?).
Nevsky Prospekt is Russia's most famous street
running 4km from the Admiralty to the Alexander
Nevsky Lavra (monastery) from which it takes its
name. The inner 2.5 km to Moscow station is St
Petersburg's seething main avenue, the city's
shopping centre and focus of its entertainment
and street life. Pushing through its crowds is
an experience in itself. After long showers and
lots of sleep we ventured out onto Nevsky Prospekt
and found St Petersburg to be very cosmopolitan
with plenty of cafés and bars. Parts even
look like Venice as large waterways run through
the City. We'll have a better look tomorrow. |
| 15-07-2003 |
| St
Petersburg truly deserves its reputation as the
Venice of Russia. We awoke to glorious weather and
spent the day walking the city. Half hours walk
from our hotel was BMW St Petersburg. Both the 1100
and 650 were in need of front brake pads (Autodom
in Moscow had been out of stock). Natalie welcomed
us and our bikes were booked in for 10:00 the following
morning. 15mins later we were off again making our
way through this beautiful city on our way to the
Winter Palace where for one and a half centuries
the Tsars had ruled Russia. Using the golden dome
of St Isaac's cathedral as a ''beacon' we made our
way through the city. Looming just south of Ploshchad
Dekabristov the huge dome dominates the St Petersburg
skyline. 30 mins and two ice creams later we were
standing on the steps of St Isaac's cathedral. The
cathedral is truly magnificent and huge! Work began
on the cathedral in 1818 and was only finished in
1858. To give you an idea of its size, special ships
and railways were built in order to carry the granite
for its pillars all the way from Finland. These
granite pillars are not jointed in any way - they
are one solid column of granite and there are well
over a dozen of them on each external side - we
didn't go in as there was a 'special' booth for
all those individuals who are not Russian and this
was inside the museum. Had we not spent our money
on a guide in Moscow we may well have paid to go
in but didn't feel like we were missing out on anything
as we felt that it was enough just to view the outside
of this wonderful building. Behind the cathedral
lies the Admiralty gardens and the temptation to
stop here for a cold beer was just too strong, so
the Winter Palace was going to have to wait just
a few mins longer! A short while later we finally
arrived at Dvortsovaya Ploshchad (Palace Square)
where the stunning green, white and gold Winter
Palace is situated. The Palace and the square immediately
in front of it has an impressive and sometimes gory
history. The Palace is now part of the Hermitage
Art Museum, a collection so big that it spans 5
massive buildings and is still only able to display
10% of its entire collection of Russian art. We
were now quite happily wandering in the square taking
pictures on the very spot where Tsarist troops had
fired on workers who had peaceably gathered in the
square, it was this shooting that had sparked the
1905 revolution and led to the storming of the Winter
Palace by the revolutionaries. It was amazing to
actually be in the very spot that both of us had
learnt about in our history lessons at school. With
our eyes bulging and our feet a little sore and
having enjoyed the Palace and its surroundings we
started our walk back to our hotel. We made our
exit from the square through the grand arches at
the end of Bolshaya Morskaya, which are topped by
a huge chariot of victory, a monument to the Napoleonic
wars. Through the arches we were once again standing
on Nevsky Prospekt |
| 16-07-2003 |
| We
arrived at BMW St Petersburg at 10:30 - we were
late as usual. Like the day before Natalie greeted
us with a smile like long lost friends. Within minutes
the bikes were whisked away for the pads to be fitted.
The day was again getting hotter and whilst waiting
for the bikes we used the time to take some photos
of the bikes and our hosts at BMW St Petersburg.
Like BMW Moscow, they automatically applied, without
being asked, a good discount to our bill. After
asking advice on the best way out of St Petersburg
and being assured we should have no problem, we
set off with our bikes loaded once again. 45 mins
later we had managed to get ourselves into a rundown
industrial area where all signposts had deserted
us! Even the GPS now read 'don't ask me I haven't
got a clue!' We pulled over and within minutes an
unnamed hero came to our aid. "Do you have
a problem?" we were asked in pigeon English
- we explained our difficulty and quickly came the
reply "it's no problem - follow me". So
we did and 23 miles later we found ourselves on
the outskirts of the city with our new guide waving
enthusiastically that our route lay straight ahead.
Before we could even stop and thank him properly,
our guide was already doing a u-turn and heading
back into the city. We were left amazed that someone
we didn't know would put themselves out by a round
trip of 50 miles! But this has been so typical of
the friendliness of the Russian people we have met.
Our arrival at the Russian - Estonian border had
been delayed by about 2 hours due to a small incident
with……er…..um…..us and the local
police! We had, sometime earlier, passed a roadside
police checkpoint and had seen a local officer flag
someone down unsure as to whether he was directing
his attention to us we rode on …but 4 miles
later we were being pulled over by a police car
and a somewhat 'pissed off' officer! If ever there
was a time to play the dumb tourist - it was now.
Undeterred with our lack of understanding and with
his right hand resting on his gun holster it was
apparent we were to follow him back to the checkpoint.
This took a little longer than we all anticipated
and we thought our luck was in when his dated vehicle
refused to start. Unfortunately with the aid of
a passing motorist they managed to bump start the
protesting vehicle. So around we turned and rode
the 4 miles back. The next hour and a half was spent
in the office with the officer now being joined
by his colleagues - we were surrounded! It was like
feeding time at the zoo and we were feeling like
the menu. We were informed that we had been doing
85kmp in a 60 zone (we had not as Simon had checked
the GPS on the way back) but determined to get some
roubles out of the tourist the officer stuck adamantly
to the fact that we were both 25kmp over the speed
limit. We would have to pay 500 roubles each as
a fine. We didn't have 1000 roubles on us as we
were within a few miles of leaving the country and
this we explained to the officer. We were ordered
to return to St Petersburg and go to the bank and
draw out the money, ("bugger off" we both
thought) but after he tried to explain this to us
for around the fifth time and with us playing dumb,
he gave up. It was now just a battle of will as
to who was going to get frustrated the faster. Luckily
for us this turned out to be the officers and after
rummaging through our wallets we ended up handing
over the grand sum of 120 roubles (around £3).
Now resigned to play the game out, the mood broke
and became lighter and we were issued our penalty
paperwork. With a smile from the officer he handed
over the paper saying " soouuveneer, soouuveneer!"
Feeling infinitely more confident that we had a
little earlier, we even asked permission to take
a few photos with the officer and the penalty paperwork.
When he found out that this was for our website
and that he would be on the Internet - he suddenly
became our best friend and happily posed for us
after telling his fellow officers of his impending
fame. We had been warned continuously about dodgy
Russian police extracting fines at will and although
this incident had proved a little tense, we both
felt lucky that having ridden the length of Russia,
this had been our one and only negative experience.
Exiting Russia at the crossing into Estonia took
us 4 hours. We arrived at around 4:30 pm and joined
the existing queue to enter the exiting Russian
compound. As with most countries there are good
and bad officials - and here at the border we meet
a great one! Captain Vasili, with 5 stars on each
shoulder he was clearly the guy in charge here.
As our paperwork was being checked he left his office
especially to come and talk to us and was keen to
learn about our trip and our experiences in his
country. Now bearing in mind that this is still
a full blown Russian border crossing with all the
officialdom and restrictions that come with this
title - again we were allowed to take photos of
the Captain with him barking an order at a fellow
traveller in order to have his photo taken with,
the poor guy nervously snapped away until he was
told to stop by the Captain! With a smile we were
gratefully informed there would be no need to search
our bags or bikes, even though every other vehicle
without exception were being investigated thoroughly.
It really is who you know, not what you know! Before
long we were back on the road and passing through
the Estonian border without fuss. Heading towards
Khotla-Jarve the Estonian miles were already proving
to be easier than the Russian ones we had left behind.
The roads were smooth, traffic was calmer and rather
bizarrely the countryside now resembled the Cotswolds.
The day was taking its toll and we were both now
feeling tired and worn - the day had proved to be
much longer than we had anticipated. Dinner was
courtesy of the local petrol station and after a
bowl of local soup and a bread roll we headed back
up the road following the signposts to the Sanatorium.
Now many of you may be thinking our visit to the
Sanatorium is long over due but over here the sanatorium
is a place of rest and relaxation as well as mental
health. Cheap camping, great facilities and this
one comes with a bonus - a beautiful beach view. |
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ok
the Russian leg is over
click here
to go to the Estonia section |
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