Blogs from Brest Voblast, Belarus, Europe

After a bad night’s sleep (a combination of the potato pancakes and sleeping next to the main railway line from Moscow to Europe, with freight trains thundering by every few minutes) we get up and go for breakfast. Surprise, surprise it’s pancakes. Add some jam – call it breakfast. I google potato consumption and am not surprised to see that Belarus has the highest per capita consumption in the world. After breakfast we set off for Belazkaya Plushcha National Park. It’s only 80 miles, but Google Maps takes us on an interesting cross country route which involves less tarmac than is ideal, but enables us to see plenty of rural Belarus. We reach the park around midday. Outside of Minsk, very few people speak English but I get by with my few words of Russian combined ... read more

Day 15: I woke at 3am. Creeped past the kids and Yuliya sleeping. Carefully unlocked the door. Sneaked across the lawn, bent over and screamed at the top of my lungs” Get up you tw@t” into the dogs kennel. The dog yelped and ran backwards to the other side of the kennel hitting the wall. “See how you like it you bastard!” I then walked back to the house with a grin of satisfaction on my face. Yuliya is awake by the time I get back and announces she is still drunk from her gin bonanza last night. We all sit down for a cup of coffee. We decide to drag the kids up this year and dress them rather than carry them in the car in their PJ’s. They dress bleary eyed but are excited ... read more

Day 12: I wake up without a hangover!!! I feel dreadful. I have the shakes I’m craving any drink immediately. Only joking. I feel great but I am still very tired from the last few days. Yuliya gets up early and makes a brew. She and the two Dasha’s are going for their morning run whilst I decide if I can be arsed to go for a walk. Surely a day off would be a good thing. They return and I have made my mind up to do a short one. Jamie has sprouted a stye on his eye lid and Yuliya asks me to go out to the chemist to get some eye drops. It is a 4km walk into town so I agree not really realising the practicalities of the job at hand. I ... read more

Day 7: I woke early with Victor coming in to make himself breakfast. It was 6.30 and the sun was just breaking through the morning mist. We had a few hours until Natasha’s parents Lida and Sasha arrived for the day. I was told that I had to try and socialise and therefore I wouldn’t be able to do a big walk later. I therefore had a coffee and juice, filled my water bottle and set out in the dawn light to complete a walk. Kissing Yuliya goodbye I told her I would be back in a couple of hours. I didn’t have the time for exploration and set out walking along the footpaths alongside the canal system. The morning was lovely but the long grass on either side of the path was covered in dew. ... read more

Day 5: I couldn’t really sleep during the night. Don’t know whether it was the weather or the anticipation of the run and the manual labour ahead of me. I woke at 3am and went to the kitchen for a cape and swig of water and sat watching the stars through the window. Behind me Yuliya and Jamie were lay sleeping holding each other. They looked adorable and I felt very lucky to have them. Maia, Katya and Young Dasha were sleeping in the veranda next door. I returned to bed and through fitful sleep awake when Victor coming in before going to work. I shook his hand and rolled back over to sleep a little while longer. I was awoken by my alarm at 7am and looked over at Yuliya who was checking her work ... read more