Today a day to just take a breather and a slightly easier day. We had been riding long days five in a row and needed to get ourselves around the next big city. Last night it rained as well with thundershowers overnight. I waited just a little longer until the last one subsided before getting up for the morning. We packed in wet tents and set off. It was smooth roads again with gentle rises and falls as we came along the Volga.

The last few kms through Заволжье were along a high dike. We stopped in the cafй before setting across the Volga. The idea was to bypass Нижний Новгород on other side of the river. Across a high dike and bridge was Городец. We came to outskirts of town and did some quick errands, buying screws and washers, trying to find a post office to send email and somehow started looking for a hotel. We were sent to center of town for that hotel, and then down along the river. Eventually we found it only to be told they had no rooms and sending us further to the next hotel. This one was 4km further and also no rooms (though we didn’t see a person in the rooms). We eventually decided to just make an easier day and found a place to camp outside town. I made my way back to town to find place to post a short internet update.

55km today, 3698km across Eurasia [Photo: 598, 600]