WE FIND SOME INTERESTING PLACES BUT MUST BID FAREWELL TO RUSSIA

Our Russian adventure comes to a close, since leaving Pusan in South Korea we have travelled overland for about 30,000 km, but still have about 4,500 km to travel before we leave the Russian Federation. We have left Kazakhstan and head north of Yekaterinburg towards the Urals, this ancient mountain range is the boundary between Asia and Europe, then west and north through the Golden Ring, past memorials for those fallen in both WWI and WWII and earlier times, memorials to the last Tsar and his family, and finally memorials to tens of thousands of Russians killed by their own people in detention camps. We stray inadvertently into a “closed” town, the four of us are confronted, questioned and detained for the afternoon by army and police officers. As we head for the Latvian border meet a wonderful friendly couple who live in Moscow; Alexander and Rida invite us to their home and we spend the next day with them seeing the local sights. Meeting Alexander and Rida is a real treat as we depart Russia and reminding us of the warm hearts of the Russian people. Mindful that the four of us are on six month business visas in Russia, we make sure we are in a position to exit the country before the visas expire.



The roads in western Russia are excellent, but are somewhat busier with large trucks and semitrailers than we are used to. In contrast to difficulties we had in the rough and remote areas, there are now no problems with our tyres nor the constant vibration from rutted roads and tracks.




The weather now turns against us. North towards the 60th parallel, the days grow shorter, the Sun sets around 4pm and the weather colder. We often have snow falls day and night and snow is deep on the ground, nights are sub-zero and days hover around zero. A couple of mornings Troopy’s starting battery is affected by the cold, he needs a boost from Essy’s battery in cold morning starts. On cold and wet days we find shelter in local hotels; if dry or not snowing, we camp. To keep warm we need wood available for campfires. Still the adventure rolls on.



Yekaterinburg is a large and busy city on the east of the Ural Mountains. There are many beautiful streets, but also many memorials for sadder times. Connected with the Russian revolution, Tsar Nicholas II, his wife and children were killed by soldiers in a house in the city in 1918. The site now has a magnificent church erected in their memory, called Church of Blood. Also on the site is a modest wooden chapel in memory of the royal family’s great aunt also murdered by soldiers. Outside Yekaterinburg, the Romanov’s bodies were secretly disposed of in a pit, not being rediscovered until 1976. The pit included the remains of the Tsar, his wife Alexandra, three of their four daughters, their royal doctor and three servants. This discovery by local scientists was politically sensitive even in the 1970’s and was not made public until 1991! The site now is now a pilgrimage site known as Monastery of the Holy Martyrs, set in a quiet birch forest. These sites were a sobering experience for us.



Also on the outskirts of Yekaterinburg we visit the Memorial to the Victims of Political Repression. During the 1930’s under Stalin’s rule, there were some 25,000 people killed in Yekaterinburg due to their political views. It was not until later in the century that the size of this staggering event became public. After the dissolution of USSR, in 1992 the memorial was opened with the victims’ names engraved on granite plaques. We travel East through the Ural Mountains towards Perm. Here we visit Perm-36, one of the few remains of a massive network of labour camps for Russian people sent for “retraining” by KGB. There were many camps setup from the 1940’s, throughout central and eastern Russia. Mostly the camps were secret and were not dismantled until the late 1980’s. Much of the evidence of these camps was destroyed; Perm-36 is now a museum as a reminder of this harsh period. Another sobering day, reminding us of freedom.





Northeast of Moscow is the so called “Golden Ring”, where there are some of the oldest cities in Russia. We explore some of the wonderful old towns and villages. In the historical town of Suzdal dating back to 1024, we find a local home stay right in the centre of town, a refreshing experience to be away from hotels. As the weather is now very cold overnight, down to -7.5C, we don’t camp.



Our Russian visas will soon expire, to save time we decide to take a shortcut across the “Golden Ring” along some minor roads. Obviously very few visitors take this road, as we find ourselves detained and “invited” to the police station for questioning, as we have stumbled into a “closed town”. The police and army officers are perplexed why we were not stopped and turned away by the security guards outside the town. We are advised we are subject to five days detention just for being in the town! One of the interviewing officers is very interested in our business visas that allow us freedom to travel widely in Russia, apparently he has not seen these previously. After we have been answering questions individually and standing in the police station for about two and a half hours we are told we can leave, but must follow a police car from town so the police can see we are well on our way. Apparently there are intercontinental ballistic missiles hidden in the forest nearby. Another interesting experience..….



After spending the afternoon in the summer home of Tchaikovsky in Klin, we head towards Borodino, the scene of fierce battles between Russian forces with Napoleon as well as with German troops in WWI and WWII. On the way to Borodino, we meet a very friendly Russian man, Alexander, who speaks perfect English. He comes up to us and says “Have you really driven this car from Australia?” He kindly helps us find some accommodation by a lake. The accommodation is in a building owned by Moscow University, currently with few visitors due to the time of year. Alexander invites us to his home to meet Riga and to have a cup of tea. This turns into a wonderful dinner spread of traditional Russian dinner, we spend the night discussing many things, especially asking Alexander questions of differences in culture that can only be answered by a person with excellent ability to translate between the two languages. The next day Alexander and Riga take us on a sight seeing trip around Borodino, battlefield sites, memorials and in particular the Kheiski monastery built in memory of a General killed in WWI. With much appreciation we bid farewell to Alexander and Riga.




On our last night before reaching the Russian-Latvian border we find a lovely campsite in a pine forest, beside a lake. Although the firewood we find is quite wet, we manage to start a fire, so we are set to camp one more evening before we leave the Russian Federation.



The next day we pass through Russian customs and border control with some relief, and without an issue. We are welcomed into Latvia by wide smiles from the Latvian border guards.





Our trip westward continues into the first country of the European Union for us, we stay the night in a lovely hotel at Ludza, Latvia. It is here the two vehicles will split for our journeys west. Alastair and Bron heading for the UK so will take a more northerly route through Europe, Ann and Chris heading for Italy so will take a more south-westerly route. Our chapters on Europe will follow soon, so cheers for now.