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Published: August 5th 2006
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Welcome to Volgograd.
The western approach to Volgograd, previously known as Stalinigrad, the easternmost advance of the Third Reich where a German soldier was killed every eight seconds, Russian casualties were markedly greater, however no exact figure is known. A NOTE ON PHOTOGRAPHS: As you will notice during this journal, the quality of photos vary greatly. This is due to the sharing of images from four cameras, and the different formats they posess, not to mention the ways that images need to be sent. As the journey progresses, it's worth looking back through the travel journal for extra images that have been added which will be made available over the next several months. Thanks. ANDY.
Day 62, 1st August.
Rostov na Donu - Sahty - Belaja Kaltiva
Two months on the road already and over 3,000 miles cycling done. That’s about 50 miles a day and we need to do more to get to Chelyabinsk for the 15th of August, we are predicting to do about 90 - 100 miles a day.
In the hotel restaurant we ate our free breakfast. I ate a bit of it because here they don’t seem to have a concept of being veggie! So we set out at 9am and found it easy to negotiate our way onto the M4, the main Rostov to Moscow road north. It was a busy road with many arduous, rolling hills. The best
Lenin.
The imposing statue of Lenin, near the river and next to the ruins of the mill, the only structure left standing after 1945 to the memory of the near million Russians killed by the Third Reich. thing was the KBAC, pronounced kvass. It’s a malty beer-like drink without alcohol, served at the roadside from small tanks, quite refreshing.
Our day of rest did us well…. that is, except Toby who had no energy again. Foolishly, he’d not brought anything with him to eat except a bag of pistachio nuts. He ate loads of chocolate bought at the roadside, but this appeared to do nothing. During the journey, Toby decided that tomorrow he’d have to take the train to Volgograd. When we turned east off the M4 onto the Volgograd road the scenery changed, it was rolling grasslands with the setting sun behind us. At a farm we picked up water and later free camped and ate pasta before it went dark.
Total Miles: 3088.66 Todays Miles: 96.71 Average speed: 12.3 Time on bike: 7:49
Day 63, 2nd August.
Belaja Kaltiva - Solohovskijy - Morozovsk
We set out for town at 9 and bought food at the market before finding the railway station for Toby to get the train to Volgograd. It took ages for him to get things sorted out, by this time we’d eaten. His train was at 2pm
Socialist art
North of Volgograd just before crossing the Volga, this was adorned on the side of a factory building. so we arranged to meet in Saratov in 5 days time, by which time he may be feeling much better? Scott has a suspicion that he’s suffering from a form of diabetes because of all the chocolate he’s eating?
By the time we had found our way out of town it was midday. The going was good, slightly rolling hills, sparsely populated fields within grasslands, and people turning their heads whenever we passed. We were aware that this area is a touch volatile due to the close proximity of Chechnya, the other day a bus was hi-jacked by Chechen freedom-fighters! We had to be alert.
It was difficult to obtain water, the season must have been very day - yellow grass and cracks in the earth. We camped in a quiet gulley, way off the road. There was a full mon, and it was the first time for weeks that I slept in my bag instead of sweating profusely on top of it!!!
Total Miles: 3164.78 Todays Miles: 76.12 Average speed: 12.0 Time on bike: 6:20
Day 64, 3rd August.
Morozovsk - Surovikino - Kalac na Donu
Awoke to a beautiful sunrise and
Mother Russia
Half the height of the Eifel Tower, Mother Russia stands on a hill made from the rubble of old Stalingrad, ever visible from all corners of the city. Truly inspiring! another clear day of blue Russian sky, it doesn’t feel like we’re in Russia! The journey was uneventful except for the first breakfast stop at a petrol station where the shelf-stacker sported a Kalashnikov machine gun, a pistol, and a bag of other assorted nasties!
The landscape was rolling grasslands again. We found water a few times, but still had loads of fizzy sugar-water drinks to keep up the energy levels. It was a successful days cycling, stopping every 10 miles for a short rest and drink for 3 minutes, they carrying on. The road down to the River Don was a surprise, it was steep and the grasslands ended in cliffs on the huge river, then all was flat after the bridge and the obligatory *DPC checkpoint.
About another 15 miles eastwards we found a spot to camp in a field near to the Don-Volga canal and used it to wash our clothes and the salt from our bodies. We’d done 107 miles! We eat made our own sachet of super-noodles then watched the sun set at half past eight to the sound of crickets.
*DPC - which in the Cyrillic alphabet looks like ANC is
The ruins of the Mill.
The oldest building in Volgograd, everything else dates from 1945 onwards as the remains of the city after the war were bulldozed in order to create anew. a branch of the security forces which has checkpoints on all major highways, usually on large bridges or on the approach to cities. They are no problem for cyclists, in fact a blessing in two ways; there’s always water there if you run out, and they will remember you’ve passed through if you’re reported missing. I hope the latter never happens?
Total Miles: 3272.40 Todays Miles: 107.61 Average speed: 13.4 Time on bike: 7:58
Day 65, 4th August.
Kalac na Donu - Volgograd - Primorsk
Today was to be a day of great changes… We headed the 30 miles into Volgograd stopping for bread, cheese, eggs and milk on the way. Scott made a good roadside find; a Soviet passport complete with leather holder and 1,500 roubles! I don’t know what he’ll do with it. At the Volgograd sign we made a stop for photos, then headed for the centre, ending up right outside the Hotel Volgograd where we thought Toby may be. Rory checked, and he was there! Toby had had the chance to see some of the city yesterday and took us down to the steps overlooking the Volga river - it’s massive.
The banks of the Volga.
The place where the group split and I went my own way, hoping to meet up again in Chelyabinsk 10 days and a thousand miles from here. There we had a beer and an unexpected round of decision making.
Toby had bought a train ticket to Ufa, then Rory admitted he couldn’t push 100 miles a day to Chelyabinsk, Scott agreed he couldn’t either, besides - he had his visa to sort out. They asked me if I’d consider taking the train to Ufa, then cycle as a group over the Urals to Chelyabinsk. This would mean missing out 500 miles, and more than that, a defeat of what this trip is all about. My decision was absolute inasmuch as I was cycling the whole way, even alone if needs be. And so it was decided, I would be alone now until Chelyabinsk. Before I left the group, I had a look at the destroyed mill, all that is left of the devastation of world war two, a big Lenin, and a monolithic statue of Mother Russia. We all drank coffee, then I left, heading north over the Volga dam then to the east side of the river and on northwards through flat grasslands.
I managed to do a further 50 miles since leaving the guys, I had mixed feeling about being alone also. On
Boat trip
From Volgograd the other guys took the cruise up the Volga to Samara. Here, leaving Volgograd. the one hand, I felt sad that the others weren’t able to do the whole trip, and on the other a kind of release, I felt a bit guilty because of this feeling, but now I could do whatever I wanted to do without thinking of someone elses abilities and sensitivities. I found a good spot to pitch in the trees - and then was truly alone.
Total Miles: 3355.05 Todays Miles: 82.65 Average speed: 11.1 Time on bike: 7:26
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Tot: 0.044s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 11; qc: 28; dbt: 0.0237s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
The Nomad
Camo
Great trip!
Hey mate. Looks like you guys are having a great trip. I'm sure you'll have all sorts of cool adventures riding that far. Take note that someone I know tried a similar trip and had a real hard slog through the Gobi Desert in Mongolia, the hardest part of the trip he reckons. Good luck and it appears that you and I share the same travel sponser. I'll be following your trip with interest. CAMO