Belarus: Day 8

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Day 8:

I feel dreadful my head hurts, my body aches, my mouth is dry. I feel that I probably don’t need a drink until Minsk tomorrow. My mouth tastes a bit flyey for some reason. Yuliya wakes and makes us a coffee. She has promised both Dasha’s a run this morning. I make a barocca and have a paracetamol or two. God I’m thirsty. I lay back on the bed and finish yesterday’s Blog and post it. Yuliya gets herself dressed and wakes up young Dasha. Once dressed they both set out on their run. This morning I am not jealous. I just want to go back to bed but I have promised myself a long walk.

I get dressed and after filling up a water bottle head outside and wait for Yuliya to return. She has managed 5.5kms. Her goal is to be up to 10kms by the end of the holiday. She’ll do that no problem. Only issue is we have the three days away in Minsk which could get messy. It usually did.

I set out wanting to better my distance of yesterday’s route. I decide to go the opposite way round and add a couple of kilometres at the midway point. The day is already barmy with only a couple of clouds in the sky to break the relentless spells of sunshine. As it’s a Saturday the banks of the canals have a few more people fishing. Again looking but not responding to my greetings.

Whilst I am talking about these people there is something else that infuriates me about fishermen in Belarus. They are littering scum. This may not be the majority but it certainly seems like it to me (I’d like to point out that I have never seen Yuliya’s family or their friends litter). They come out with friends, drink and smoke all day and sometimes all night, then they leave their litter in a pile without a second thought. This absolutely spoils the gloriously beautiful setting that they live in. What really gets my goat is when they leave it behind near swimming lakes. The amount of time I have had to clear up broken glass vodka bottles from where mine and others children play is countless. They have no respect for others and as I see right now, with their dead eyes looking back at me, no common curtesy for others. They fiercely speak of their national loyalty but they shit all over the most beautiful aspects of it. You get this in England but it is not the norm. Here, unfortunately, it is! A couple of years ago the local people bought a load of oil drums and distributed them around the swimming lakes. These were stolen in a couple of days. Bloody annoying. Yuliya later told me that the reason people did not respond to my greeting was because you don’t engage with strangers. Well that’s a very sad existence and very lonely if you have no way to make new friends. Rant over!!

I cover the distance to the midway point without issue apart from I am still dehydrated from yesterday’s drinking session. I try and save my water for the second half of the trip. I set off into unknown territory and leave the main path and head off across a field following next to the canal. The path soon disappears and I walk for about a kilometre across an ever increasingly deep field until the next crossing canal. I try and cut across but my path to the road I know is just across the tree line is blocked by another canal. Arse. I’m stuck in a fucking field with canals on all sides and only one way out and that is the way I came in. I cut back through long grass which unfortunately is interspersed with clumps of hidden nettles. Well this is fucking great. What a lovely field to walk through in a pair of shorts. I finally emerge after a kilometre of pain with numerous stings and scratches (the air was blue with fucks, twats and bastards). I think it was probably wise of the fishermen not to befriend me at this point coz they would have gone swimming. Progress had been very slow. I wouldn’t be able to do the 15kms I wanted when I set out as I had a deadline. I was gutted. Once on the main track I increased my walking speed to ensure I got back for 12 o’clock (I had promised Yuliya). It was hard and it was really hot in the late morning sun. But I completed 13.7kms by midday.

Today’s blog is going to be shorter than usual as we essentially spent the rest of the day resting, swimming (not me), sleeping and playing games. Sergey, Natasha and baby Vlad headed back to Minsk with parting hugs and promises of seeing them on Tuesday for dinner.

The afternoon heat was broken by a thunderstorm which laid some much needed rain on to the parched area. The kids bounced around the house bored and we tried to get a bit of shut eye whilst Tanya (who was working last night) slept in the other house.

As the evening drew in, Yuliya asked if I fancied a short walk so I packed a bag with some drink and a blanket with the aim to enjoy the peace of the local lake and we set off. Again as I previously said it is nice to get away for a few hours. Love these kids to bits but their noise is frustrating at times. We walked one of my previous routes over to Victors fishing lake. The evening sun was setting when we arrived at the lake and we sat and enjoyed our alcoholic lemonade whilst watching the birds dancing in their hunt for their evening meal. It was stunning and certainly relieved some of the tension that I had been experiencing since the axe incident. On my previous walk I had noticed a military base across the fields behind the lake. There were 6-7 radar beacons and a guard tower with gun emplacements. When I first came to Bereoza it had been a big military area with an active airforce base a few minutes drive from the farm. I used to sit and watch the MiGs dog fighting above my head for hours. This base closed several years ago. Back to the base in the field. I searched later on google maps and it did not exist. I’ll have to ask Victor about it later. And for my own personal security this is the last thing I will say about it here.

We arrived back at the farm just as the twilight was taking hold after doing another 8.5kms. Even though I have an injury and still recovering from my Achilles damage it is amazing to see that I have completed almost 62kms in the last 6 days. I feel with all the eating and drinking I may have put weight on whilst here but I think I am feeling much stronger with all the exercise I am getting. It really has been a struggle at times to get going in the morning but it has been worth it. It is so much easier now that the kids don’t need constant attention and they can play with each other and the family which gives us the opportunity to enjoy some of the things that we like.

We are going away at lunchtime tomorrow for Minsk. We have 3 days away from the kids who are staying with Tania and Victor. We are going out for a meal with Anya and Tolik tomorrow. We will also be joined by Ira and Dima and their kids for the meal. Ira and Dima ( like Anya) have known Yuliya since she was a kid. They are a lovely couple who came over to stay at our house last year. They travel to various countries around Europe in their mobile home when ever they can. They are returning from holiday today and it will be really nice to see them. Tomorrow we stay at Anya’s house (which could get messy) then we are going to spend the day exploring Minsk and eating hangover food before going to Sergey’s and Natasha’s to stay before travelling back to the farm on Tuesday morning.

The itinerary, as you can see dear reader, is pretty packed and it would be very rude of me to sit and type my blog whilst in restaurants or being entertained. Therefore until Tuesday on the journey back I will probably be unable to push a blog your way. I will hopefully get something out on Tuesday night. For now I’m going to try and get an early night therefore you also get today’s blog early.

So peace out for now brothers and sisters. Smoke me a kipper I’ll be back for breakfast

Steve x

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