Череповец, rest day

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Nice easy rest day today. Found an internet place (they laughed when I called it a cafй) and updated the web site as well as checked up on messages. The city is not large, so also got a chance to walk through town. There are many larger concrete block buildings around four to eight stories tall. The bottom floor sometimes has a few shops. For a small city, there is a surprising amount of transit including busses and a tram. People must mostly eat at home because in proportion, the number of cafes is small. Otherwise, a nice quiet relaxing day in this steel town.

0km today, 3070km across Eurasia. [Photo: 556, 560]


Череповец, industrial town

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Short note, more to come later. We’ve reached this larger town on lake that feeds into the Volga River (look on the road between St Petersburg & Vologda). Having fun cycling, though roads are quite variable. Plan to rest here for a day and then continue on Saturday.

This first bit, I’ll describe as our “bicycle boot camp”, as we figure out what to eat, where to camp and how to get across this part of Russia. The roads are sometimes rough which slows things down a fair amount. Let me briefly describe our evening “water ritual” at end of the day. As we’ve completed close to 100km in a day, we start looking for a place where we might end the day. We watch for signs along the road for one of the next villages and follow the road into the small village. Here we find people we meet and use various words for “well”, “spring”, “water” as well as some pantomine to indicate that we’re looking for some water. Folks help show us where to find the water and we fill up enough for camping. We then cycle just the last little bit to find a place not far off the road to camp. Two days ago, our water ritual led to an invitation to come inside, have some soup and otherwise meet folks [PEDAL folks note, Robin gave me a few chocolates with PEDAL on the wrapper; we gave one of these to the grandson].

Today in the big city, it is quite industrial outside town, as a steel town and smells it for a while. Fortunately, the wind was blowing away from the town. It took a bit to find a hotel today; the first one we were sent was expensive and small, but we’ve found a better one. Likely plan is to stay here two nights and then continue along our journey. Not sure about internet connections overall.

Череповец, into the steel city

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Today a ride into the big city and first night in a hotel. The roads were becoming busier as we came closer to the big city. Initially it was flat riding through the woods with just a few villages marked along the way. At 15km I was pleased to see a sign for a café in 20km. So, kept riding slowly along to Суда where there was another truck stop type place. A small store provided a yogurt and excuse to stop. The nearby café somehow wasn’t serving things, so continued the last bit to Череповец.

Turnoff to the city was at 52km. From here we headed southbound again. In distance were a large number of factories belching smoke. At least the wind was blowing away. Without too much difficulty we found center of the city. Now time to find a hotel. It took several times of asking, each time would get us a little closer to the destination. We were told about the Leningrad Hotel and hence headed there. We found it not much further than the stadium. However, it was both expensive and small. We were able to ask for another hotel and sent along our way.

We found the second hotel and initially it was even more expensive, but then the price suddenly dropped when they told us it would be cheaper “вез горячий” (or something like that, I couldn’t quite find things in the dictionary). The price seemed right so we took it. Later we figured out from context that hot water had been turned off. This wasn’t a big deal for hot water heat but was a surprise on taking a shower.

We walked back through most of the town looking for a café and then back to our hotel with stop in the supermarket. Along the way, found a “computer club” that was filled with adolescent boys playing computer games, but also had connections to the internet. We are likely to take a rest day here for a short breather from tough parts of riding the road. Plan is to post this on the rest day, though photos may have to wait.

74km today, 3070km across Eurasia. [Photo: 550 554]


Чаево, waiting out some rain and working through minor troubles

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It rained. Last night a little and rained more this afternoon. The tent works fine, though would be claustrophobic for a long time. I’ve been getting up earlier each day, and so was up first on the road. This road even had some smooth parts!

The terrain today and other days has been flat with occasional villages every 5 to 10km. These aren’t directly on the road but instead have a bus stop and a sign. Where it was smooth I rode quicker than with bumps. There are lots of trees, so somewhat relaxing riding.

At 64km, we stopped for lunch at a local truck stop, café and store. It was surprising to see several large trucks with Dutch lettering and Russian license plates. Presumably, these were resold and not repainted?

After lunch, it started drizzling. We rode for another 11km and then found a bus stop to wait out the storm. The rain became lighter but then a little heavier. Finally, we decided to just ride for a bit and surprisingly it became lighter before stopping. At 93km we had our first small bicycle trouble. Mickey had hit a deep bump and her pannier fastener had broken. Fortunately she had another washer and was able to make the repair. Unfortunately, not much further her rear tire went. Sigh. We walked to next bus stop and made repairs. It seemed like time to end the day, so found the next village and found a place to fetch water before camping for the night. As we cycled the last bit, I noticed that my fender stay had broken. Looks like the pannier had banged into it enough to break the fender stay. In the evening, I removed the fender and stabilized the panniers.

104km today, 2996km across Eurasia [Photo: 545 547]


Покровское, so long Leningradskaya oblast

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So long Leningradskaya oblast, we will miss you along with your mostly smooth roads. Today at 56km we crossed over into Volgodaya oblast.

It was fortunately warmer waking up. We continued a pattern I’m sure will repeat with me leaving a little earlier and Mickey cycling faster and catching up. The first 39km were wonderfully smooth road. Some headwinds but otherwise great riding. We stopped in Сомино at 41km at a café for a snack. More good Solyanka soup and tea that really hit the spot. From here cycling to the oblast boundary which we crossed at 56km.

The first 7km of the new oblast were a horrible concrete road that had deteriorated with large gaps. I slowed to a crawl. Fortunately, the road improved after that, though a combination of wind and roads kept things slower. Finally at 78km in Сазоново was another café and another soup. Unfortunately, no alcohol for the stove here either. We did stock up on some more food since we were warned that this was the last café for 100km.

From Сазоново it was a slow slog into the wind. At around 103km we had ridden our 100km for the day, so found a village and went for the water ritual. We spotted a man by a house and asked. He invited us in. The grandmother had soup ready in a microwave and the grandson showed his toys. We ate and explained our trip, and tried to thank them for the hospitality. We did decline the offer of some vodka. Of course, we also left loaded with water.

Towards evening, the wind was picking up and hints of rain. So we quickly found a campsite nearby and packed in the tents. My hubba worked fine for the small storm and was a great end to the day.

104km today, 2892km across Eurasia [Photo: 540 542]


Новли, cold night and bumps begin

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Today was a surprisingly tough day, and I’m now a little worried about my back wheel. We had some rough roads and I’m seeing a few stress lines (in the wheel not me) and the wheel is slightly out of true.

It froze last night with frost on the tent. Fortunately, the sun helped warm things up. I left a little earlier and Mickey caught up around 10km. We continued to have nice smooth roads at first, though around 40km it suddenly became bumpier. Bump, bump, bump. I stared at the rim too long and was a little worried. At 48km we came to Усть Шомушушка and a chance to eat. There was even a small hotel here. It helped me adjust back to not worrying about that wheel as much.

After lunch we took the (bumpy) road into Тихвин. I was unimpressed by this town or its roads but it had an ok supermarket and a chance to buy alcohol for the stove. I had a very small alcohol burner and Mickey had both a gas canister and alcohol stove. It turned out later that the alcohol was likely lamp oil and hence didn’t burn well. Gas canisters will run out, so it would have been handy to not have mailed home my MSR stove.

Once we left town there were some more bumpy roads but became very smooth at 80km. Hooray! At 93km we came to the turnoff for Пикалево and this time elected to stay on the smoother road and bypass the city. It remained smooth for 6km, but wasn’t real bad after that.

Finally, our water ritual. We found a small village and started asking for water. Folks pointed out the big house and nearby was a well and friendly person who help us fill up on water. It was just a short ride from here to the campsite. This was good since I had forgotten a water bottle and walked back to the well again. A surprisingly long day.

113km today, 2788km across Eurasia [Photo: 534 537]


Хвалово, getting used to riding again

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Nice day of cycling as we reached the northernmost point of our journey. Just 3km after start we were back to the M18 motorway and even had signs to Murmansk (over 1500km away). It was a divided highway with two lanes each way. The shoulder wasn’t wide but also not a lot of traffic. At 10km a brief breakfast stop. This area still had many dachas and also people along the road selling potatoes. After a bit the road narrowed to one lane each way and mostly stayed this way after that. Mickey cycled faster than I, so I mostly made sure not to pass when she stopped. I also wasn’t feeling 100%.

At 45km a nice stop at a café with Solyanka in Дусьево. From here a steady ride on mostly flat terrain. We would pass the occasional small village and stopped at 65km in one of them. My Russian works ok in the small shop situation where you can point and gesture as well. At 78km, a turn southbound onto a new road. This road was a little worse in spots, though also less traffic. I kept going a little slower here.

At 109km one last stop in Хвалово, where an older woman helped us find the store and two shy girls led us down to the river to find a spring and fill up with water. Once full with water, we made a short ride out of town and a camp site for the night. These areas are surprisingly marshy and wet.

113 km today, 2675km across Eurasia [Photo: 531 532]


Шлиссельбург, the trip starts again

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Nice to be back on the road again! First night camping and I discovered that I had a one person “hubba” tent instead of the two person “hubba hubba” model. Not quite sure how that happened but the hubba works fine for now.

Last night I tossed and turned some with excitement about the trip. I had breakfast and thanked my host family before departing. Roads were becoming busy but I went via Nevsky Prospect and took a brief look at the artillery marker. Mickey was ready with bicycle, but unfortunately hadn’t slept well for another reason. A bottom front tooth had become loose and inflamed? What to do now? Dentistry options worsened from here, so we set off across the city to find a solution. Fortunately, we found the “American Clinic” and they could take care of things at noon. By 1pm we were back on the road, but needed to keep it easy at first, so walked southbound from Sennaya Plochad they way I had ridden before.

Before 2pm we found a McDonalds (last one for a while) for a brief lunch stop and then headed on bicycles southbound. At 11km was Moscow Metro station and a turn to the east. I reset my odometer at the dentist. The eastbound road was quite busy and occasionally narrow so we walked at times. I walked across the bridge across the railroad tracks. Finally at 25km, the road became the M18 motorway. It was a busy road, but smooth and flat and we had a tailwind! We made some good time and at 53km crossed over the Neva River for the second time. We cycled from there to Шлиссельбург before finding a camp site off the main road. This area had many weekend Dachas and we had company close by. It is still nice to have some distance today and especially nice to be on the road again.

64km today, 2562 km across Eurasia [Photo: 527 529]


Санкт-Петербург, third week of school

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A few notes from my last week of school in St Petersburg.

Monday: I notice more signs and banners going up about the upcoming Victory Day holiday. Not certain, but I’m also seeing more soldiers and sailors in uniform walking through the city streets. The 62nd anniversary of the end of World War II is still clearly an important holiday (huge sacrifices were made and ~25 million Russians died – this compared to less than one million for US and Great Britain combined). Most of the museums are closed today, so a day to wander though the city. It is also warmer today and finally feels a bit more like spring than winter.

Lessons were more straightforward again. I’m remembering more, though still feel like I’m held back some by not knowing enough vocabulary. I still try to review after school, before bed, in the morning and again before school.

I found an interesting great circle program. For my likely route, following are some “as the crow flies” distances from St Petersburg:

  • Yaroslav – 612km
  • Nizhniy Novgorod – 905km
  • Kazan – 1201km
  • Ufa – 1634km
  • Chelyabinsk – 1914km
  • Omsk – 2582km
  • Novosibirsk – 3117km
  • Krasnoyarsk – 3586km
  • Irkutsk – 4427km
  • Chita – 4912km
  • Khabarovsk – 6214km
  • Vladivostok – 6556km

The actual distances will of course be longer. For example, I expect road distance around 6200km to Irkutsk and 11000km to Vladivostok. As a comparison, I am 8150km from home, so not that much further than to Vladivostok.


Tuesday: My bicycle isn’t ready yet. I walked to the bicycle shop after school and they said it wouldn’t be ready until end of the day tomorrow. Not quite sure why. They said they called, though I don’t know how to access phone messages and don’t see any indication of missed calls. Tomorrow is a holiday, though they told me they work until 7pm. I will stop by tomorrow evening, but will feel less worried when I have my bike back. What they need to do is simple and they’ve had nine days so far. [Footnote added later: The bike was done the next day!]

Today we started lessons an hour later. We went through some new topic material including imperative forms of verbs. After a few weeks of intensive classes, I’ll be ready to have some of this soak in further and just work on learning more vocabulary. Not quite sure what I can after that to keep learning some more language. I had some additional vocabulary at the bicycle shop – though it took some time to make sure to clarify when I asked “what time” and they said 7pm, whether they were indicating when the shop closed or when the bicycle would be ready. It was actually both, though then they indicated to stop by at 6:45pm.

The photo at right shows, that regardless of the box, the bananas I see here come from Ecuador.

Thursday: Working through my grammar today, I seem to get myself confused at times. It works better if I stop and carefully think through things and then I get them right. We’re touched on another case (instrumental) today. It is nice to know when the blini vendor asks “с собои” that they are asking if I want to take it with me. Sort of fun how I have grammar lessons and then immediate on street applications. Today I understood the question and answered affirmatively. The blini vendor smiled.

Some overall thoughts about the school and the home stay (1) the school is quite well structured and organized, it is clear they have done this many times before and have developed and fine tuned a set of systems, teaching materials and procedures to work with many new students (2) I am impressed with the patience shown by the staff – so many different little interactions where opportunities for misunderstanding abound and yet the staff was extremely patient with us students (3) immersion home stay has been good, I struggled a bit at times though would definitely prefer this to other alternatives. For someone who wants a more rigorous introduction to Russia, this seems like a good start to the country; though I would also recommend having taken some language lessons before. I also like the different perspective I think I have on living in St Petersburg than a classic tourist view. It has also been nice to work through simple transactions such as having a bicycle serviced.

By now I am also getting excited to be on the road again. Mickey and I met up to walk through town and for dinner. That also helps some of the excitement to actually be getting on the road soon.


Friday: Last day of school today. We worked through comparisons, superlatives and just barely touched on several additional prefix forms added to the verbs of motion. My mind wasn’t concentrating quite as hard today and struggled occasionally. However, I do feel like I’ve built up more Russian in these past weeks, particularly a solid review of some of the grammar and picking up some more vocabulary. At the same time, learning this language is tough and feel at least as much of how much more I need to keep learning.

Towards end of the day, the Liden Denz school came and presented me with a completion certificate. On the language level scale, my speaking/listening was listed at A2 level and my reading writing at A1+ level. I think they were generous, but I had my own final exam in mind. As a bicyclist, I had extra gear including school books and some clothes that I wanted to send away. Hence, the immediate goal was to find a post office and see if I could mail them away.

As I walked to Nevsky Prospect, I saw a post office on the right. I stopped in and showed my bag of what I wanted to send. The official told me “not at this post office” and showed me on the map where to find the correct post office. I walked to the next post office, here there was a long line but as I got close I asked. The first word was “private” and then there was some reference to registering. I wasn’t quite sure if this meant registering of the visa (my copy was at home) or registering the mail. The line was long enough that I decided to find the private post office instead.

I walked down Nevsky Prospect to where I had seen an Express Post, first door on the right sign. I went to the door, but the lady told me Westpost was now elsewhere. Fortunately, a second person helped me find their door. At Westpost, they looked at my bag of things and told me I needed to go to the regular post office and sent me to yet a third post office. I walked to the third post office. Once again, long lines. Finally, I gave up and walked to where I had seen a “DHL” sign. At the DHL office, I asked how much to send just my school book. It was a bit expensive but probably the critical thing to send away. The extra clothes and school notes are probably more expensive to send than they are worth, so I’ll carry the clothes some more and copy over the notes. So much for the final. As far as the Russian Post office goes, I probably am somewhere around A1+ or almost A2.

I noticed that Herman Veldhuizen has a tough issue on his bicycle trip to Tibet.

I am not sure where we’ll next see an internet connection. From here we’ll first take off eastbound and on our way across Russia. I’ve enjoyed my time in St Petersburg, but also excited to almost be on the road again.

Санкт-Петербург, Victory Day

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Russian word for the day: Победа or “victory”.

Today a holiday to celebrate the end of the “Great Patriotic War” (World War II, in Europe). Despite a cold wet rain, today had much more of a holiday feel to it than May 1st (today felt like a combination of 4th of July, Veterans Day and Memorial Day; May 1st felt like Columbus Day). The celebration is still a big deal in this city that survived a blockade of 872 days and where about a million died in that blockade. Today was a huge celebration for the veterans and current soldiers and sailors: banners had been strung up for days. Many people wore commemorative orange and black banners or carried red carnations. Soldiers in full dress uniform were everywhere.

The day started with a visit to Двортсовая Плошад (Palace Square) in front of the Hermitage. A large crowd was watching troops marching in formation around the square in front of the reviewing stand. Bands played military marches as the crowd watched. Despite being a large square, it was difficult to see over all the umbrellas.

After this the streets were busy. Red carnations and orange/black ribbons were everywhere as were soldiers in uniform. The second photo shows a memorial where people were placing flowers. I wandered through town stopping at an internet café and got email that Mickey had cycled into town. I also wandered through some of the shops to stay out of the rain. The third photo shows a military band playing in front of the large Gostiny Dvor shopping center.

At 5pm, the large parade started down Nevsky Prospect. This was a soldier’s parade with a few additional groups marching as well. The fourth photo shows a group of soldiers and sailors marching past.

What I found particularly moving were the veterans and survivors groups. If the war ended 62 years ago, most of these soldiers would have to be in their 80s (or 90s) now. Some walked such as in the fifth photo. Others were driven in old military jeeps. People clapped and cheered as they went past. The sixth photo shows a group marching under a banner “children of the blockade – 900 days”. The city then known as Leningrad was surrounded by the German armies in fall of 1941. Rather than attack the city, the Nazi plan was to starve the city and otherwise bombard and shell the city. The Soviets brought some supplies over the frozen ice of Lake Lagoda but at times rations were down to 175g of bread a day and up to 30,000 died per day.

Following the main groups in the parade were several others. The seventh photo was part of a collection of military vehicles. It is a US military jeep with soldiers in US uniforms and a large Soviet flag. I’m not 100% certain if this commemorates the large amounts of “lend lease” aid sent from US factories to Russia or the US troops in World War II themselves. The last photo was part of the communist party group that followed the main parade. The women in center are carrying some of the few photos of Stalin you see here (statues of Lenin are seen frequently).

Once the parade was past, the people filled the streets to join the end of the parade in walking to Palace Square. Despite the rain, many more people turned out for these parades than on May 1st. It also felt like a more emotional commemorative day. I found the sharp contrast between how the Russians view the war [Победа] and how the Latvians view the war [lumped together with Soviet times as part of “The Occupation of Latvia 1940-1991”] particularly striking and also a way of describing some of the emotions surrounding the current war memorial controversy in Tallinn, Estonia.

After the parade, I walked to the bicycle shop and my bike was ready! I then cycled a little further to the youth hostel and met up with Mickey. Nice to see she has arrived and we can now figure out how to go further from here on Saturday. In the evening, the windows rattle slightly from the fireworks.