Day 13 - Samara to Ufa Samara was a detour from the most direct route; it would have saved a day and 250 miles if we had gone straight from Kazan to Ufa. We had read however that Joseph Stalin's bunker had been found in Samara and turned into a museum. It is 37 metres deep, making it more protected than any other similar instalation of its time. Never used by Stalin, it remained hidden under a public building, unknown to locals, until its rediscovery in 1990. A mystery surrounds how such a project, clearly requiring hundreds of workers to construct, remained a secret to Samarans. One theory is that prisoners were used as slave labour then later executed. Unfortunately our (well, ok, my) planning had let us down. It turned out that the bunker and ... read more

Day 11 - Nizhiny Novgorod to Kazan... So good was the food in "Bez xob" restaurant the night before, we had breakfast there. John had fried quails eggs, which came on a small frying pan with an actual nest containing the broken shells as decoration on the side. Nizhiny is a pretty city, but didn't hold any particularly unusual attractions to tempt us, so we pushed on out of there. The weather was sunny, it was a 7 hour drive to our next stop in Kazan, and we wanted to make it before nightfall. I've attached a few uninspiring photos taken out of the window along the way. The roads were getting bumpier, and it was a regular thing to see shredded remains of truck tyres by the side of the road next to skid marks. ... read more

Day 9 - Moscow: Victory Day and a night with the Wolves Victory Day in Russia is huge. Commemorating the day that Nazi Germany fell to Russian troops and the end of a war that claimed 26.6 million Russian lives, it is a 2-day national holiday with parades, memorial services and celebrations across the country. The pride that the Russian people feel for their part in defeating Hitler and the Nazi regime cannot be overemphasised. More Russian lives were sacrificed in the war than from any other country, and judging by the number of old photos of dead relatives on display in shop, house and car windows as well as on banners or just clutched in a hand, no family escaped unscathed. Commemorative St Georges ribbons in orange and black were tied everywhere. More than any ... read more

Day 7 - Rezkne to Moscow Information about the Latvian border crossing into Russia is sparse on the internet. We had prepared in every way possible though: Visas in passports, car registration, roadworthiness and insurance documents, international driving licences etc, and even a copy of our route map to clearly show our plans to travel through the country and out the other side. We also had a large meercat sat in the back to cheer up grumpy officals. First however, we had to play the Latvian leg of T.L.C.E.P. It was a grey dull morning, and we wanted to get to the border asap. Dave F therefore had to settle for a simple around-the-tree-and-back-then-hit-that-sign challenge for hole 7 in the park opposite. I was a bit nervy of hitting surrounding cars or passers by, but John ... read more

Day 5 - Gizycko to Palanga The day before, on leaving Wolfsschanze, we had noticed signs for another smaller bunker that also promised the chance to see a U-boat and a V-2 rocket. It was close to our rented apartment in Gizycko, so we headed there in the morning before our 7 hour drive to the Lithuanian beach resort of Palanga. Now called Mauerwald, it was set up as a basic museum, with shop window mannequins dressed in German uniforms posing next to pieces of WWII equipment and weaponry. There were no information boards or descriptions at all, though seeing a 3 dial enigma machine was interesting. There was also, totally out of place, a representation of the Amber Room. An astonishingly valuable treasure, the room was stolen by Nazis but never found after the war. ... read more