Day 5, resting day. 35 km in the evening
In Velikiye Luki I had a resting day and stayed in the hotel until late afternoon. Then I packed all my bags an carried them down to my bicycle. Once I heard someone saying: " you should not own more than you can carry". So I tested if i could carry all my four panniers, my sleeping bag, my sleeping pad, my tent and my backpack in one turn, from the fifth floor down to my bicycle. And I could!
When I had checked out I rode to a bank to change money. Next to the bank there was a shop called Capital Sports. I remembered that I needed gloves, so I checked if they had some. They had very expensive ones (990RUB=200SEK) and the wrong size. So I did not buy them, but I went to a food store and bought some food. When I finally left the town it was already 7 pm. and i rode only two hours that day.
I found a nice forest and this time I tried my mosquito repellent. Actually it worked, they did not bite me. Still they were very annoying. It was difficult to breath in the cloud of mosquitoes and after I had shut the zip I still had to kill about 50 of them. At the same moment it began to rain. I had checked the forecast on www.klart.se and knew it should rain a little in the night, still I did not think about that the floor of the tent could become wet.
Day 6, 130 km in the rain
It rained very much all night through and in the morning I woke up in a pond. Also my clothes and my map were wet. I packed all my wet things and thought it should be better do ride now and take a break when it had stopped to rain, so I could dry everything. So I rode in the rain for four hours. The road was in a terrible shape. Many kilometres there were road construction works and I could not ride so fast. Still all other vehicles had to slow down much more; they drove at about the same speed as me. There were huge ponds of water hiding deep potholes and I could not do anything but ride through them.At least now I am sure that my bicycle should be strong enough to bike down what steps whatsoever.
At noon I came to a coffee. I unpacked my sleeping bag and let it dry while I ate some lunch. I checked the weather forecast again, now it was changed and it should rain even in the afternoon. I waited until 4 pm (took a shower and washed some laundry). But it did not stop rain.
At a gas station I found some protection gloves that made me able to continue five more hours. My problem had been that when I was biking in temperatures below 10 degrees and it was raining for a long time, I was unable to change gears because my fingers were so cold and stiff. The gloves I bought were not so fashionable but they were very functional and did cost only 40RUB = 8 SEK!
In the evening I placed my tent on the western side of a glade in a forest, because I knew it should be sunny next morning.
I did not take any pictures because it rained the whole day, more than 24 hours.
Day 7, 100 km and a lift to Tver
Next day it was sunny and perfect drying weather. I rode just a little bit to a gas station and unpacked my wet laundry and my map and let it dry in the sun.
While it was drying I oiled the chain and did some service on the bicycle. Then I continued. I had only 300 km left to Moscow and the weather was wonderful.
But somehow I was bored about just being with myself and not be able to talk with anybody. I thought that if I only followed this road I would not see and experience so much of Russia.
After a while I saw that a driver in a small truck gave me a sign that meant "Do you want to put your bicycle in my truck an get a lift?" I was not late to show him that I was and he pulled over. He introduced himself as Mustafa, helped me with the bicycle and then we drove away.
He was only 21 years old originally from Azerbaijan and he did not speak English but we understood each other very well. He also was a skilled driver.On the picture above he actually drives above max speed. But sometimes we came to bad road sections and he had to sick sack between all potholes which he a lsodid very well.
He told me that he was driving bread for his fathers company and that he was driving this way every day, seven days a week.
After some kilometres we saw an exactly same type of van at the roadside. He instantly stopped and said it was his friend who had got a puncture. He went out to assist and chat for a while.
The other driver was well prepared and changed the wheel as if he was doing it every day. He even had a watercan in his car to wash his hands when he was finished. The wheel rim was dented, it looked as if had been driving too fast over a pothole.
I had passed about 20 trucks before staying on the roadside and changing wheels, but this was the first time I saw the whole process, how routined all drivers seem to be!.
When the spare tire was fastened the other driver drove even wilder than Mustafa and I was happy that he did not follow his mad over-takings.
But after some more kilometres there were two cars on the roadside an a man signed Mustafa to stop again. Again he pulled over. The man introduced himself and told that he was in a terrible situation. I did not understand exactly everything he said and maybe I changed something in the story but broadly the story was about that he had run out of gas. Mustafa immediately said he could pull his car with a rope to the next gas station. But the foreigner (he had mentioned that he was from Bulgaria) said this was not what he needed. His brother(?) in the other car could do it. The problem was that they did not have any money to pay the gas (I did not catch if they had lost it or if they had been robbed, but as he told it he often went up into the falsetto and he really sounded convincing). The only thing he could pay with was his gold-ring. He asked and begged on his knees if Mustafa could give him some money so they could drive home? Mustafa found some Rubles in the glove compartment but the man said that was not enough to buy gas for the whole way. If he could give him a little more he could get the gold ring. Mustafa looked again on the ring checked its weight and its stamp and finally he gave him so much money that he was satisfied.
The first thing I asked Mustafa was how much he had given him. He said about 50 US-dollars. I took my purse and gave him 500 RUB and said that I did not believe that the ring was genuine. But Mustafa said that it was so heavy and that it had a stamp inside. He also took a knife and scratched on the inside (while he was driving). Anyway, it was not plated silver.
I said it could be brass but Mustafa did not want to believe it. He asked me if I could google what the stamp 585 meant. So I did and soon I found out that it meant that it was 58,5% gold which was the same as 14 carat. He told me that if he came home without the money and a worthless ring he would get slapped in his face (he showed me smiling, demonstratively on both cheeks). I said that I hoped it was real gold but only an expert could tell. He said he knew a jeweller in the next town. I told him that I was very curious so we soon stopped there.
Mustafa began to ask how much the kilo-price was for 14 carat gold.The jeweller was interested and wanted to look at the ring. He brought a test-set with different acids and had some acid on the ring. At once there were bubbles on the ring and the liquid changed to a green colour as oxidized copper. The Jeweller asked if he had got it from a man at the roadside who was asking for gas. He told Mustafa that he was not the first one. Many had been in his shop before and told the same story...
Mustafa was not happy at all. I asked him if he would like to go to the police. But he did not. He asked me how far I estimated it should be to go back to the man. When I said it certainly was more than 20 km he abstained to return, which I was a relieve for me because I did not want to get involved in any physical violence.
Mustafa now was sad and angry. I had planned to go on the same road as before towards Moscow but his goal was Tver a town on the road between St Peterburg and Moscow. I decided to follow him and tried to cheer him up. I said nobody could blame him because he was a nice and helpful guy. But Allah (who he had talked about before) certainly did not like the guy who had cheated him!
In the end Mustafa also thought that 50 dollars was not so much but he said I should have warned him. I should have stopped him to give away the money!
Actually I was not quite sure about my feelings...
In the beginning I think there were twice as many lorries as cars driving on the road. Most lorries were loaded with fancy cars from West. And we were meeting many empty lorries going to St Peterburg to fetch more cars...
In Velikiye Luki I had a resting day and stayed in the hotel until late afternoon. Then I packed all my bags an carried them down to my bicycle. Once I heard someone saying: " you should not own more than you can carry". So I tested if i could carry all my four panniers, my sleeping bag, my sleeping pad, my tent and my backpack in one turn, from the fifth floor down to my bicycle. And I could!
When I had checked out I rode to a bank to change money. Next to the bank there was a shop called Capital Sports. I remembered that I needed gloves, so I checked if they had some. They had very expensive ones (990RUB=200SEK) and the wrong size. So I did not buy them, but I went to a food store and bought some food. When I finally left the town it was already 7 pm. and i rode only two hours that day.
I found a nice forest and this time I tried my mosquito repellent. Actually it worked, they did not bite me. Still they were very annoying. It was difficult to breath in the cloud of mosquitoes and after I had shut the zip I still had to kill about 50 of them. At the same moment it began to rain. I had checked the forecast on www.klart.se and knew it should rain a little in the night, still I did not think about that the floor of the tent could become wet.
Day 6, 130 km in the rain
It rained very much all night through and in the morning I woke up in a pond. Also my clothes and my map were wet. I packed all my wet things and thought it should be better do ride now and take a break when it had stopped to rain, so I could dry everything. So I rode in the rain for four hours. The road was in a terrible shape. Many kilometres there were road construction works and I could not ride so fast. Still all other vehicles had to slow down much more; they drove at about the same speed as me. There were huge ponds of water hiding deep potholes and I could not do anything but ride through them.At least now I am sure that my bicycle should be strong enough to bike down what steps whatsoever.
At noon I came to a coffee. I unpacked my sleeping bag and let it dry while I ate some lunch. I checked the weather forecast again, now it was changed and it should rain even in the afternoon. I waited until 4 pm (took a shower and washed some laundry). But it did not stop rain.
At a gas station I found some protection gloves that made me able to continue five more hours. My problem had been that when I was biking in temperatures below 10 degrees and it was raining for a long time, I was unable to change gears because my fingers were so cold and stiff. The gloves I bought were not so fashionable but they were very functional and did cost only 40RUB = 8 SEK!
In the evening I placed my tent on the western side of a glade in a forest, because I knew it should be sunny next morning.
I did not take any pictures because it rained the whole day, more than 24 hours.
Day 7, 100 km and a lift to Tver
While it was drying I oiled the chain and did some service on the bicycle. Then I continued. I had only 300 km left to Moscow and the weather was wonderful.
But somehow I was bored about just being with myself and not be able to talk with anybody. I thought that if I only followed this road I would not see and experience so much of Russia.
After a while I saw that a driver in a small truck gave me a sign that meant "Do you want to put your bicycle in my truck an get a lift?" I was not late to show him that I was and he pulled over. He introduced himself as Mustafa, helped me with the bicycle and then we drove away.
He was only 21 years old originally from Azerbaijan and he did not speak English but we understood each other very well. He also was a skilled driver.On the picture above he actually drives above max speed. But sometimes we came to bad road sections and he had to sick sack between all potholes which he a lsodid very well.
He told me that he was driving bread for his fathers company and that he was driving this way every day, seven days a week.
After some kilometres we saw an exactly same type of van at the roadside. He instantly stopped and said it was his friend who had got a puncture. He went out to assist and chat for a while.
I had passed about 20 trucks before staying on the roadside and changing wheels, but this was the first time I saw the whole process, how routined all drivers seem to be!.
When the spare tire was fastened the other driver drove even wilder than Mustafa and I was happy that he did not follow his mad over-takings.
But after some more kilometres there were two cars on the roadside an a man signed Mustafa to stop again. Again he pulled over. The man introduced himself and told that he was in a terrible situation. I did not understand exactly everything he said and maybe I changed something in the story but broadly the story was about that he had run out of gas. Mustafa immediately said he could pull his car with a rope to the next gas station. But the foreigner (he had mentioned that he was from Bulgaria) said this was not what he needed. His brother(?) in the other car could do it. The problem was that they did not have any money to pay the gas (I did not catch if they had lost it or if they had been robbed, but as he told it he often went up into the falsetto and he really sounded convincing). The only thing he could pay with was his gold-ring. He asked and begged on his knees if Mustafa could give him some money so they could drive home? Mustafa found some Rubles in the glove compartment but the man said that was not enough to buy gas for the whole way. If he could give him a little more he could get the gold ring. Mustafa looked again on the ring checked its weight and its stamp and finally he gave him so much money that he was satisfied.
The first thing I asked Mustafa was how much he had given him. He said about 50 US-dollars. I took my purse and gave him 500 RUB and said that I did not believe that the ring was genuine. But Mustafa said that it was so heavy and that it had a stamp inside. He also took a knife and scratched on the inside (while he was driving). Anyway, it was not plated silver.
I said it could be brass but Mustafa did not want to believe it. He asked me if I could google what the stamp 585 meant. So I did and soon I found out that it meant that it was 58,5% gold which was the same as 14 carat. He told me that if he came home without the money and a worthless ring he would get slapped in his face (he showed me smiling, demonstratively on both cheeks). I said that I hoped it was real gold but only an expert could tell. He said he knew a jeweller in the next town. I told him that I was very curious so we soon stopped there.
Mustafa began to ask how much the kilo-price was for 14 carat gold.The jeweller was interested and wanted to look at the ring. He brought a test-set with different acids and had some acid on the ring. At once there were bubbles on the ring and the liquid changed to a green colour as oxidized copper. The Jeweller asked if he had got it from a man at the roadside who was asking for gas. He told Mustafa that he was not the first one. Many had been in his shop before and told the same story...
Mustafa was not happy at all. I asked him if he would like to go to the police. But he did not. He asked me how far I estimated it should be to go back to the man. When I said it certainly was more than 20 km he abstained to return, which I was a relieve for me because I did not want to get involved in any physical violence.
Mustafa now was sad and angry. I had planned to go on the same road as before towards Moscow but his goal was Tver a town on the road between St Peterburg and Moscow. I decided to follow him and tried to cheer him up. I said nobody could blame him because he was a nice and helpful guy. But Allah (who he had talked about before) certainly did not like the guy who had cheated him!
In the end Mustafa also thought that 50 dollars was not so much but he said I should have warned him. I should have stopped him to give away the money!
Actually I was not quite sure about my feelings...
At 5 pm we came to Tver and I Mustafa told me that it was only 180 km to Moscow. He said that Moscow was a very beautiful city. He thought whole Russia was ugly accept of Moscow and St Peterburg.
I rode about 50 more kilometres before I again slept in my tent in a wood.
Day 8, 130 km - Finally Moscow!
The road between St Peterburg and Moscow E105 was much better than the road between Riga and Moscow. Of course there was much more traffic but the road had four lanes. In Riga I wondered if it was legal to ride on such highways but now I had found out that there were no other options.
The good thing with this highway was that there often was a roadside with pavement. Sometimes there was none, but anyway, the lorries could more easily pass me because there were two lanes in the same direction.
The road was going next the river Volga which there was like a lake. Sometimes there was water on both sides of the road and below the roadsides I could see many fishermen. Even families with children were dropped off by cars to spend some hours for fishing.
Sometimes it was difficult to pass all kind of obstacles laying where I was supposed to ride... But somehow it always worked out.
The road was framed by typical Russian houses. Near Volga you could buy fish in almost every house. Often 24 hours a day!
When I came closer to Moscow there was an area where you could buy shashlik (skewers) at almost every house. And then there was an area where you could buy home-grown flowers at every house.
The closer you came to Moscow the less ramshackle houses you could find and the more the old Russian houses were extended in different ways and stiles.
This old house with the typical shape of roof has been enlarged many times. Still everything is only one complex (except of the garage).
Big international (finish?) business chains were convinced about the growth of Moscow and had recently built huge Do It Yourself-stores with generous opening hours.
Closer to Moscow there were also more and more cars (not only lorries) and even more traffic lights. Sometimes I was fastest of all vehicles.
Sometimes there were so many lanes it was difficult for me to choose which one I should take ( because of the traffic it was difficult to choose the left ones).
Finally in the evening at 7:30 I came to the house of my hosts I found at www.warmshowers.com, Irina and Michael. They live in northern Moscow in a little flat on the fifth floor but they asked me to take my bicycle with all its bags inside the flat. The first thing I did was to take a shower, then I gave a shower to my bags too.
We really needed it!
Danke für die ausführliche Beschreibung, die tollen Fotos (besonders die Reisetaschen in der Badewanne!) und den guten Rat, NIEMALS einen Goldring einzutauschen!Ich bin gespannt, ob du in Moskau in eine DEMO gerätst!
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