Russia 1

2.12.2017 sjetsvet2017
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Nezařazené, Russia

Rusko 1/2

Russia - part 1                

10. 9. 2017 – 23. 9. 2017         942,5km                                    

 

From​ ​the​ ​Imatra/Svetogorsk​ ​cross​ ​border​ ​to​ ​Moscow 
 
It​ ​was​ ​Sunday,​ ​10​th​​ ​of​ ​September​ ​early​ ​morning​ ​when​ ​we​ ​packed​ ​ourselves​ ​out from​ ​our​ ​sleeping​ ​packs​ ​and​ ​psychically​ ​prepared​ ​ourselves​ ​for​ ​the​ ​next​ ​grade​ ​of our​ ​way.​ ​After​ ​four​ ​months​ ​of​ ​save​ ​and​ ​worriless​ ​traveling​ ​through​ ​the​ ​pure Scandinavian​ ​nature​ ​there​ ​was​ ​one​ ​big​ ​step​ ​in​ ​the​ ​unknown​ ​ahead​ ​of​ ​us.​ ​Full​ ​of fear​ ​and​ ​expectations​ ​we​ ​set​ ​off​ ​to​ ​the​ ​Russian​ ​border.​ ​Was​ ​it​ ​really​ ​going​ ​to​ ​be​ ​as bad​ ​as​ ​everybody​ ​had​ ​warned​ ​us?​ ​When​ ​a​ ​Finish​ ​customs​ ​officer​ ​wished​ ​us compassionately​ ​good​ ​luck​ ​it​ ​didn’t​ ​really​ ​made​ ​us​ ​too​ ​much​ ​brave.​ ​Despite​ ​this​ ​we stood​ ​into​ ​a​ ​queue​ ​leading​ ​to​ ​the​ ​Russian​ ​border​ ​crossing.​ ​It​ ​reminded​ ​us​ ​of​ ​those times​ ​when​ ​there​ ​were​ ​still​ ​the​ ​border​ ​checks​ ​in​ ​place​ ​and​ ​people​ ​from​ ​Czech Republic​ ​were​ ​going​ ​to​ ​Germany​ ​to​ ​shop.​ ​After​ ​like​ ​30​ ​min​ ​it​ ​was​ ​finally​ ​our​ ​turn and​ ​when​ ​we​ ​saw​ ​how​ ​precisely​ ​the​ ​cars​ ​are​ ​checked​ ​we​ ​were​ ​afraid​ ​how​ ​much they​ ​were​ ​about​ ​to​ ​scatter​ ​our​ ​stuff.​ ​Fortunately​ ​it​ ​was​ ​all​ ​fine,​ ​the​ ​check​ ​was​ ​more or​ ​less​ ​just​ ​symbolic.​ ​The​ ​worst​ ​thing​ ​was​ ​the​ ​communication.​ ​We​ ​could​ ​totally forget​ ​about​ ​trying​ ​to​ ​speak​ ​in​ ​English.​ ​But​ ​my​ ​mom​ ​told​ ​us​ ​that​ ​it​ ​wasn’t​ ​be​ ​an issue​ ​because​ ​Russian​ ​is​ ​a​ ​Slavic​ ​language​ ​as​ ​well​ ​as​ ​Czech​ ​so​ ​we​ ​could​ ​understand each​ ​other.​ ​Well​ ​we​ ​didn’t.​ ​The​ ​officer​ ​started​ ​to​ ​speak​ ​to​ ​us​ ​“pa​ ​russkij”​ ​so​ ​quickly that​ ​we​ ​managed​ ​only​ ​to​ ​answer​ ​“da”.​ ​We​ ​have​ ​no​ ​clue​ ​what​ ​all​ ​we​ ​confirmed​ ​to her​ ​but​ ​we​ ​got​ ​the​ ​passing​ ​stamp​ ​and​ ​the​ ​gate​ ​of​ ​the​ ​Russian​ ​Federation​ ​have opened​ ​to​ ​us. 
 
We​ ​were​ ​prepared​ ​for​ ​the​ ​roads​ ​in​ ​tragic​ ​stage,​ ​heavy​ ​traffic​ ​and​ ​ruthless​ ​drivers. The​ ​fact​ ​that​ ​it​ ​all​ ​began​ ​already​ ​two​ ​meters​ ​behind​ ​the​ ​borders​ ​really​ ​surprised​ ​us. With​ ​beaten​ ​butts​ ​and​ ​shaking​ ​souls​ ​we​ ​arrived​ ​to​ ​the​ ​first​ ​Russian​ ​town​ ​called Svetogorsk.​ ​There​ ​was​ ​trash​ ​everywhere,​ ​destroyed​ ​but​ ​inhabited​ ​buildings​ ​and dogs​ ​running​ ​all​ ​around​ ​scared​ ​us.​ ​And​ ​everything​ ​was​ ​hidden​ ​in​ ​a​ ​grey​ ​fog​ ​of exhaust​ ​gas.​ ​We​ ​saw​ ​the​ ​poorness​ ​for​ ​the​ ​first​ ​time​ ​and​ ​we​ ​were​ ​pretty​ ​shocked. Already​ ​after​ ​15​ ​km​ ​we​ ​had​ ​to​ ​take​ ​a​ ​break​ ​to​ ​get​ ​psychically​ ​better.​ ​After recharging​ ​some​ ​energy​ ​we​ ​connected​ ​back​ ​to​ ​the​ ​heavy​ ​traffic​ ​where​ ​we​ ​felt​ ​safer. We​ ​managed​ ​to​ ​get​ ​to​ ​Vyborg​ ​where​ ​we​ ​found​ ​a​ ​hostel,​ ​got​ ​into​ ​our​ ​rooms​ ​and were​ ​absorbing​ ​the​ ​first​ ​impressions.​ ​Two​ ​hours​ ​later​ ​we​ ​dared​ ​to​ ​go​ ​to​ ​check​ ​the town.​ ​We​ ​survived​ ​the​ ​first​ ​day​ ​but​ ​it​ ​was​ ​more​ ​than​ ​clear​ ​that​ ​in​ ​this​ ​country​ ​we could​ ​allow​ ​to​ ​our​ ​tent​ ​to​ ​get​ ​some​ ​time​ ​off​ ​and​ ​that​ ​we​ ​will​ ​enjoy​ ​sleeping​ ​inside and​ ​having​ ​a​ ​bath​ ​every​ ​day. 

Anyway, we had to figure out how to get to Moscow. The former plan was to go on the main M10 road but after the first experience with the local traffic we started to doubt.The alternative would be the side roads about which we read in guides that they look more just like dusty paths. On the very next day we decided to try this option. To our surprise we were riding on a new asphalt road with almost no traffic and leaded with a nice forest. It was a great ride. We didn’t even feel like in Russia. The army vans which we suddenly started to meet returned us back to reality. Everything was even stranger when we arrived to a village Kamenka which was full of soldiers. With an inconvenient feeling we continued on the road along which there was a concrete wall on both sides with several entries to the village once in a few meters. We had no idea what this was supposed to be and we didn’t even try to pull out our camera from our bag. Later on that day we found on the internet that it was a military village in which there are also normal civil citizens. We were getting out of energy but fortunately we had already found an accommodation so we looked forward to stop by there. But guess what, the hostel wasn’t opened. Neither the next one on the way. Neither the one after that one. We didn’t have any other chance than to continue another 30 km to a spa town situated by the sea called
Zelenogorsk. There were more choices where to stay over. We were already pretty exhausted when we arrived to a cheap hostel which turned out to be an expensive hotel. Never mind, there was one more accommodation including a camp nearby. We set off in that direction but after a while we heard a loud “bang”. A wheel spoke cracked. It didn’t manage the quality level of Russian roads. And then we found out that the accommodation with a camp is under reconstruction. Hell yeah. Since we couldn’t have gone far with the cracked spoke and this country wasn’t very safe after the sunset we had to go to the hotel and enjoy the luxury, breakfast included.

In the morning we repaired the cracked spoke. We found a service place as a
backup plan but it wasn’t needed, we managed it easily. We were close to St.
Petersburg where we were expected by our hosts from the Warmshowers. Slava
and Masha were fantastic and they helped us even with planning some sightseeing around the city. Despite the bad weather we enjoyed our staying in St. Petersburg a lot. We took the local metro which is in some parts up to 100 m underground and is much faster than the Prague one. In the city center there are many historic buildings, parks, museums and the river Neva where you can pay for a cruise around the city. The city is clean, very popular among tourists and for us one of the most beautiful so far.

For the next part of our journey our hosts recommended us to use the train so we
took it and arrived to Veliky Novgorod. If you are interested, the train looked
completely the same like those in Czech Republic. Veliky Novgorod is a historic city whose sights are listed in UNESCO. In the middle of Novgorod there is a monument visualizing 1000 years of the Russian history. Another sights didn’t really excite or we were already too spoiled from St. Petersburg. We booked an accommodation by Petr and Julie who advised us to really not use the M10 road on our way to Moscow. So we chose the longer but safer way on the side roads.

Here we found out what the „lower quality roads” really mean to be. We were
jinking between the holes and our butts were crying. While we were passing by the town Staraya Russa the situation got even worse. It started to rain and the holes got filled up with water so it wasn’t clear how deep they were. Poor Paja accidentally ran into one of them and half of her front wheel suddenly disappeared under water. Since then we paid a lot of attention to the road. We were wandering in the town trying to find a hostel but vainly. Our Russian language skills improved with like 10 words so we started to ask for help by the people on the street. But those 10 words were apparently still too little. One man didn’t stand it to hear us anymore so he drove Paja directly to the nearest hostel and then drove her back to Kata and bikes. The accommodation was great, we felt almost like at home what definitely can’t be said about what happened on the very next day. In Demyansk, our next top, there was only one hotel so we couldn’t have chosen too much. The room was clean but what we were worrying about was the big flock of mosquitoes in it. At 1 am we gave up and simply built our tent in the middle of the room and spent the
rest of the night inside. On the next day we weren’t really relaxed but we had to go further.

And the path got even worse. The broken asphalt switched to a sand. “Well, we’ll
manage this, at least it isn’t raining” Kata said. 10 minutes later it started to rain.
The drops mixed with the sand and our wheels began to get stuck. How happy we
were when we spotted the good old broken asphalt after 30 km on which we were
jumping right into the village Novyy Eltsy. What a village! We were scared how our hostel was going to look like. The situation of finding it was the same again. In Russia it is not common to have signs on the buildings with accommodation offer. But the people here were fortunately very curious, attentive and willing to help.

Somehow we got into a town called Torzok where we decided to eventually try the
main road M10. At first it was hard to get used to the busy traffic again but our
safety was the path lined with white stripe at the edge of the road. It wasn’t always
easy. Sometimes this bordered path was full of holes or shatter or it was very
narrow. The closer we were getting to Moscow the more road paths, in-roads and
off-roads accrued. Suddenly we were cycling on the four lane road. That was quite
an adrenalin. We were glad we didn’t have to stay on this way for more days. It was very difficult to keep the attention due to the noise, dust and mainly the horrible smell from cars. But thanks to the kindness of Russian drivers who were not aggressive at all, on the contrary they were nice, we arrived to Moscow alive and in a good condition.

Nezařazené
Nezařazené

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