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 | The Great Russian Traverse
Grand Russian Traverse, n ewsletter 11. T + Too long.
The final chapter Hi folks, This is a follow-up email to our Russian Traverse motorcycle trip. We traveled the final leg of our trip from Germany to London via The Netherlands, where we had a cup of tea with Mark's Grandmothers, who were glad to see us safe and sound. We crossed the English channel from Hoek van Holland on the Stena Hollandica, landing in Harwich on 4 October where we breezed through the customs gates. We soon found our way to a small B&B above the Britsh Flag pub, where we asked by the publican, "a full English is it?" we looked at each other blankly, "you know in t' mornin!" Ohhh right as the penny dropped, we were glad to be back in a country which spoke English, even if it isn't quite Kiwish. In the morning we said goodbye to the old bird who was now behind the bar and set off towards London to visit the Queen. Our first petrol stop was a shock to the wallets at NZ$67 to fill both bikes.
After stopping off in Cambridge for the night with a friend we rode in to London to officially complete our journey at the gates of Buckingham palace. As we pulled up a police officer came marching up to us "'allo 'allo what are you up to then?" We explained that we just wanted to take some photos of the bikes and the palace, Jane asked him if he would do one for us but that wasn't allowed. He did however suggest that we go to the other end of the park where we could watch the changing of the guard on horseback. We thanked him for his time and proceeded around the park to watch the horses, there wasn't any yellow lines or signs to say that you couldn't stop, so we pulled over and parked the bikes where we could see the action. No sooner than we had stopped when a police car pulled over and announced that they were doing a stop and search. So 20 min latter after a lengthy interrogation about our trip, all the paper work was filled out in triplicate and our panniers opened, the stop and search was over. The police offered to stay with our bikes while we went over horses to take some photos. We accepted their offer but still felt like terrorist suspects. Jan e tried to "navigate" out of London, assuming that the road on which we came in on, would pass straight through London and out the other side. She soon realized this was not the case as we sat trapped in London traffic with our engines threatening to boil over. A friendly motorcycle courier pointed us in the right direction, and the buildings started to become familiar as we left gladly left the frustrations of London behind and headed North towards Scotland.
The weather was very drizzly and wet, - typically English. The motorway was pretty free flowing and we made good progress. We stopped off at another B&B, at least this time we knew what a "full English" was. Some one came in with a couple of dogs for a pint claiming he was taking the dogs for a "walk" and that he hadn't been seen here. We set off early in the morning hoping to make it all the way to Forres in the north of Scotland where Jane has got some very nice family, her second cousin (maternal) Geoff and his wife, Ali at "Hotel St. Leonards!" We took the scenic route and the ride up was very picturesque, reminding us of Arthur's Pass in the Southern Alps on a summers day and also of our old stomping ground the Port Hills in Canterbury. Initially our plan was to stay with Geoff and Ali for a couple of weeks while we got our lives sorted but the weeks quickly turned into months and we discovered that things sure do move slowly around here. Mark applied for his first job on the day he arrived and it took a full three months to finally sort the details out and get back into the lab. We are very greatful to Geoff and Ali for putting up with us for so long and giving us the chance for Mark to get the job he really wanted. We thoroughly enjoyed our time in the north of Scotland where we were initiated into all sorts of Scottish customs including the famous Haggis. We even got some snow, but unfortunately not enough for a white Christmas or skiing. Lucky Geoff and Ali's place was huge and we had our own little study from which to prepare our job applications from. We were even able to find a stable to store the bikes in for the winter, at a country mansion up the road. There was also a RAF base nearby so standing at the end of the runway we got to see most types of RAF strike aircraft take off, including the famous harriers and tornadoes. Mark got an interview for the first job he applied for about a month later, in early November, at the UK Atomic Energy Authority, developing measurement methods for atomic fusion (civilian!) plasma diagnostics, and a job offer came through too. In the meantime however, he'd found another job which he was really keen on, at Leeds University. He asked if the kindly folk at the UKAEA could hold off for a while while Leeds made up their mind, which they agreed to. In the mean time, while he was awaiting for the Leeds response, he got another offer from University College London studying gas phase electrochemistry! It's a crazy world around here, with a real shortage of experimental scientists. But in the end all the waiting was worth it, and Mark finally secured the job he really wanted in atmospheric chemistry research at the University of Leeds, so it's back to his gas-phase chemistry roots. The atmosphere is about the most accessible large gas-mixing vessel around, so there should be plenty of opportunity to do some interesting research. The job is pretty unique in that it involves a good deal of field work in some pretty remote locations and even flying some sorties on the FAAM research aircraft (for the aircraft boffins out there www.famm.ac.uk), and a few boat rides, possibly to the arctic and Falkland islands too. The Russian trip was a big bonus on the CV, as my employers were pretty keen to get someone who was not afraid of getting out into the field. Potential measurement locations include Chile and Malaysia, so he's sure he could even put some of the gear from the traverse to good use. We're now safely ensconsed in a wee flat in Leeds, UK, with five Yorkshire lads. It's a bit cramped, but at least it cheap (sounds familiar!)
Now that Mark knows where he's at, Jane has started looking for jobs too. She's already had an offer but this was a two hour commute each way so decided to look for something closer to Leeds. She has since found a very exciting job as a 3d designer for a communications and event organising company who are moving into retail design. She has an interview next week, so it's just a matter of waiting to see what the outcome is going be from her efforts, which we're sure will be positive.
We're based near the city center in Leeds, about 15 minutes walk from the University, so transport is not really going to be a problem, and we've decide to leave the bikes in Scotland for a little bit longer, at least until we sort out some storage.
Leeds is quite a historic industrial town, but has recently seen a major boost to it's economy, with many financial institutions and government miniseries moving operations here, because of the cheap office space compared to London. We're about a 2 hour train ride to London. If you're in the UK and fancy visiting Leeds, don't hesitate to drop us a line, we've got plenty of room here. The next motorcycle adventure will possibly be...., so stay tuned. Thanks and goodbye. Mark Bart and Jane Keats
Grand Russian Traverse, newsletter 10. T + 15 Weeks.
 Russian Wolves
Hi Folks,
Just a quick recap: Mark and Jane decide to do an OE. Instead of flying to Europe direct they buy a couple of motorbikes and set about riding 17,000 km's across Russia and Europe. We've now reached the safety and controlled order of Germany!
Statistics: Total distance in Russia: 17,255 km Tyres: 3 rear and 2 front each. Continental TKC80 Chain Oil: Scottoiler 2 liters Petrol: about 900 liters each Oil changes: 4 Other motorcyclists: 1 Kiwi, 3 Brit, 1 Italian, 8 Germans. Bike parties (the biggest suprise): 3 Punctures: Jane 2, Mark 0 We left Murmansk after enjoying some birthday cake and visiting the famous statue of the Russian warrior on the hill. Soon we were making quick work of the 600 km back to Eric's place for another night in the old hut with spaghetti wiring. The weather was cold but dry and the autumn colours were really starting to show through.
The next morning we continued south towards St. Petersburg. After a couple of hundred km we left the main road and headed down the back road, around the northern flank of Lake Ladozhskoe, where we found a stunning camp on the lake shore amongst the oak trees. The road was narrow and twisty with plenty of mud, which made for entertaining riding compared to the straight and flat roads of the previous 1300 km to the Arctic Circle and back.
The next day we got up early and continued on the back road toward St. Petersburg. As we approached the city, the traffic was getting heavy and the daylight was fading so we decided to camp about 100 km short of St. Petersburg and peel off the remaining 2 hours the next morning. Eager to get into St. Petersburg I was setting a reasonable pace, doing as the locals do and not paying attention to the speed limit signs. Unfortunately we were in the west now, and the Russian cops had set up a nice speed trap aimed at relieving foreigners of their hard earned cash. I got done for 17 kph over the limit and Jane for 14 kph over the limit. After some negotiation we had to dish out a hefty fine of $5.00 each. Payable directly to the cop, who thought all his Christmases had come at once. No wonder everyone drives like a maniac here.
 As we rode into St. Petersburg we witnessed dramatic changes in the buildings and roading and it was obvious we were now getting very close to Europe. St Petersburg also has a small but active motorcycle scene, so we decided to find a bike shop to buy some oil and find some local bikers. We got the oil OK, but the bike business wasn't exactly booming. Finally after about an hour a customer turned up on a homemade two stroke and directed us to a biker club-cafe, which local business man Igor had set up as a hobby. Fortunately for us Igor happened to be down there with a couple of his associates, and immediately offered us an apartment to stay in, which we gladly accepted. He guided us along the footpaths through the crazy traffic to the apartment on his custom chopper, and handed us the key. He told us that he had some business to take care of and to ring him after we'd showered and rested, so, at about 8 pm, we gave him a call and he sent his wife down in her Merc to come and pick us up. She took us back to the club house where we were fed, watered and entertained all night at no charge. Another stunning example of Russian hospitality and my waistline is starting to show the effects.
The next day we figured we should explore some of the plethora of historic sights around St. Petersburg, so we walked down to the underground station, which was probably the most impressive example of soviet engineering we'd seen: it included form as well and function. The underground in St. Petersburg is very deep and each station has a theme to it, with big murals of happy Soviet workers.
After a couple of minutes we emerged on Nevskiy Prospect, and were awestruck by the historical buildings, which wern't grey, dirty and falling down like most of the other buildings in Russia. We went down to the famous Winter Place and had a look at the art collection and buildings which were truly impressive. You should take a look sometime. Afterwards we took a canal cruise around the city which was an excellent way to see the sights. After a couple of hours we went back to the club house to be fed, watered and entertained all over again. This pattern went on for a few days, but after about 5 days we decided we'd better get moving or, like the lotus eaters, risk getting trapped in St. Petersburg forever.
 Red Square The M10, which is the main road to Moscow was crazy, so to minimise the risk of an accident we decided to get on to the R53 back road. Again it was the right decision. The traffic was light and the road surface was far superior. We camped out in a hay field again and had a wonderful sunset under a clear sky, which meant that frost was a certainty. Sure enough the next morning the tent and bikes were caked in a thick layer of ice and I felt a twinge of panic. Would we ever get out of Russia before the winter set in? We carried on towards Moscow, camping for what we thought would be the last time in Russia in the forest about 100 km out of Moscow.
The next morning, a Thursday, we rode into the big city (10,000,000 inhabitants) and contacted a couple of guys that we'd met on our travels. They directed us to the Moscow chapter of the Night Wolves clubhouse so we went down there and hung around for a bit. As luck would have it we happened to turn up on the same day as the gang's 6th anniversary celebrations. I sent an SMS to our mates in Kazan (see Newsletter 8) and they told us to hang tight, they were coming across for the party. I was sure happy to see them again, and soon we were celebrating our reunion as only the Russians know how. The party was a rather dramatic affair. Words cannot really describe the craziness. The pyrotechnics were delivered by angle grinder and arc welder. Everyone in the crowd (which numbered over 300 people) were given plenty of fireworks to shoot off at each other. There was also a number of guys with flame throwers and a Lada engine powered smoke machine with unprotected fan blades. All in all it was quite a party and I´m still amazed that no one was seriously injured or killed.
Over the next few days we partied some more and went to see the famous Kremlin and Red Square. It was quite moving to think about all the history that had taken place in this area over the years. By Tuesday we´d had enough though, and decided that the trip was due to come to an end. We checked into a hotel for our final visa registration documentation, and hit the road at about 2 pm on Wednesday. We had hoped to get on the road slightly earlier to try and get out of Russia in one day but it wasn´t to be. No matter the sun was shining, and we figured one night of camping would be a fitting end to our trip. We camped 300 km from the border and got up early the next morning bound for Latvia. Soon the line of trucks started and went on for about 30 km.
 Russian Hut Conveniently a motorbike isn´t a match for a stationary truck and soon we were at the front of the que. The border crossing out of Russia took a couple of hours, which was much longer than it took to come in, our luggage was searched on the way out, but not on the way into Russia, which is a real hangover from the `prevent people leaving mentality´of the cold war. I guess they wanted to make sure we wern´t exporting any secrets of the state. Soon we were riding across no man´s land and I was a little apprehensive. What would happen if the Latvians decided not to let us in? We would be stuck in no mans land forever. In the end it took all of 2 minutes as they entered Jane´s bike details into the computer and stamped her passport. Curiously they didn´t care about Mark or his bike. Later it dawned on me. The passport lady has a small office and, from where my bike was parked, couldn´t see my numberplate. Because I have a Dutch passport, she assumed I had a Dutch registered bike, so I´d already be in the EU system. Very conveniently, as far as the EU authorities are concerned my bike doesn´t exist. I guess that means that parking and speed camera fines won´t be coming my way!
Latvia was biker heaven compared to Russia. What a surprise and what a relaxing difference! The roads were smooth and un-potholed, the drivers courteous, road rules were obeyed... Wow. Unfortunately there is a price for this luxury: petrol prices had instantly quadrupled and it now cost $78 to fill up the bikes compared to about $20 in Russia. Our budget was suddenly in pretty bad shape. We made quick work of Latvia and rode into Lithuania, another well organised smooth road paradise. After a couple more hours we found some guys on sports bikes and they showed us to a lovely little hotel. The surprises were continuing....For about 50 Euros were were given first class service. A proper bed, showers, clean linen. This was Europe alright, the poor quality, expensive hotels of Russia were now just a memory. Wow.
The next day we made quick work of the first half of Poland and stayed at a lovely road house. The hostess was a real old gem and cooked us up a huge traditional Polish meal for a few dollars. Poland was a bit of a throwback to Russia; the drivers were a bit crazy, the roads weren´t in perfect shape and we saw a few Ladas. Ah the good old days. It was a very scenic country though with trees lining the roads and small farms in the distance.
The next day we made for the German border. In typical German style the border crossing was very efficient and soon the Autobahn started. There were gas stations with proper toilets, you pumped gas before you paid, there was a public telephone system that actually worked... I could go on.
It started to get dark so we decided to go into a small town on the outskirts of Berlin. I saw a guy on a late model Kawasaki and asked if he knew where a hotel was. Fortunately (again) for us he´d been to New Zealand and liked it, had just built a big house and was recently divorced. This meant there was plenty of room for a couple of dirty motorcyclists and no one would complain about it. He took us up to his place and we were soon swapping stories over a cold beer.
Jane and I had a few jobs to do on the bikes, including finding some tyres which were more suited to the Autobahn and organising 3rd party insurance, which is compulsory in Europe. Good job it was a Sunday though so we couldn´t do any of those jobs. Instead Kirk and I went to pick up his car from his workplace, which was 30 km down the Autobahn. Kirk insisted that we take his bike, so I jumped on the back and 11 minutes later we were at his car (you do the math). He asked if I wanted to drive the Merc or the Kawasaki back. The decision was simple and soon I was legally doing over 160 kph on a late model sportsbike, the owner of which I´d only met hours before.
The next day we sorted out our tyres and insurance (5 minutes at the German AA and 22 Euros later we were done - boy these Germans are efficient) and headed down to Isny in south Germany, where Mark has some family and which is where he´s typing this letter from.
On Sunday we head to Holland and expect to hit London next Thursday, where the motorcycle adventure will finish and the job hunting adventure will start!
Finally we want to say a big thank you to all our sponsors and suppliers. All your equipment has worked perfectly, and we haven´t had any serious problems. We will be updating the website and putting together a short DVD about the trip over the next few weeks, which will include full resolution photos and video, which we will post out to you.
We´re planning to have a little party in London, so those of you on the newsletter list who are up there at the moment, let us know and we´ll sort out some details.
Do Svidanya und gutten nacht. Mark and Jane.
Russian Traverse 2007
www.russiantraverse.co.nz
Grand Russian Traverse, newsletter 8. T + 11 Weeks.
Hi Folks,
Just a quick recap: Mark and Jane decide to do an OE. Instead of flying to Europe direct they buy a couple of motorbikes and set about riding 15,000 km's across Russia and Europe.
We've been hard on the gas for the last few weeks, and we've clocked up a total of over 11,000 km now. We left Krasnoyarsk with fresh Continental tyres and made quick work of the 700 km to Tomsk. Camping for one night along the way at a surprise freshly mowen "golf course" clearing in the forest. Turns out that the locals had been making hay only hours before. Tomsk is a nice university town, but the museums were closed because it was Monday (again) but friendly biker on a V-Max led us into town and a secure parking spot. The weather was notable, a mix of heavy rain showers, thunder, lightning and bright sunlight. Tomsk is a city off the main railway line so it has been a bit of an economic back-water for a number of years, but we felt that this was positive becasue it had not been destroyed by the usual soviet apartment blocks and grey concrete administration buildings.
That afternoon we rode a few miles out of town and decided to camp again. We've mostly given up on staying in hotels as they are expensive and poorly serviced. Most of the time the tent is far more comfortable, with fewer mosquitoes than the hotel rooms.
We rode on through Novosibirsk without stopping, trying to avoid the expensive hotels and tricky visa registration red tape that this city is notable for. We were on the steppes now and the surrounding countryside was very flat and swampy. The road was built high off the swamp on a large mound of gravel, and was in relatively good condition.
We found another hay field to camp in, and made quick work of the 500 km to Omsk the following morning, where we were hit by an incredible thunder and lighting storm, which soon started dumping hailstones the size of large marbles on us. Most people were caught unawares in their summer clothes and soon the main street turned into a wet t-shirt contest! Our Motoline wetweather gear and Spidi gloves with OR overmits kept us warm a dry though. The water in the main street was at least 500 mm deep but we managed to gas through OK without drowning the bikes.
After 20 minutes the weather improved slightly and we continued out of Omsk to look for another camp site. After driving past a large Soviet industrial site, belching large quantities of black smoke, we found a small road leading into the forest. I pulled off the main road at about 50 km/h, which turned out to be way to fast for the muddy road-shoulder, and the bike started fish tailing badly. I held it together for about 10 meters but the bike hit the tarmac edge and down I went. I quickly looked back and saw Jane go down in the mud too. The mud was a classic, clay based sticky muck and we were covered head to foot. So were the bikes. Our Stylemartin boots soon felt like lead soled moonwalker boots and we struggled to pick up both the bikes. A quick assessment of the bike reveled that one of my panniers was slightly distorted and one of Jane's panniers had been partially ripped off its frame, but thankfully the Ulrich aluminum had not ripped or split. We managed to get onto the small forest road, riding in the grass strip along the edge trying to clear the back wheel of mud. We found a nice flat spot and set about taking the panniers off to affect the repairs. The mozzies were pretty bad but our large mosquito net was fantastic. After a good sleep we got up early the next day to finish off the pannier repair job which went without a hitch and get back on the road. A few hours of riding across the Steppes I spotted a grossly overloaded Honda Dominator, sporting British plates, heading east. We flagged down the rider, Paul, and it turned out to be lucky we did. Paul was a picture-book Scots man, with a large red beard and crazy accent. His bike was incredibly overloaded and his frame, suspension and engine were struggling with the load. His luggage was piled so high front and rear that he could barely fit on the bike. He was intending to ride the "Road of Bones" to Magadan and finish up in New York to run in the New York Marathon. Good luck Paul! After chatting for a while he handed us a card with the Night Wolves motorcycle club contact details on it.
After a few more kilometers we finally found a nice camp spot near one of the first organised picnic rest areas, similar to the type that we are accustomed to in New Zealand along our main roads. After a good sleep we woke up early for some instant porridge and hit the road, bound for Tyumen where we were planning to stay for a few days to have a look at the sights and do a bit of work on Jane's bike, which had been cutting off while hot when idling from time to time. Gavin had sent us a detailed problem solving flow chart for the bike so we decided it was time to have a look at it. We also needed to do some washing as our clothes were getting pretty bad. In the far east it was possible to stop by any river and drink the water and clean our clothes, but on the great Siberian Lowland this was no longer possible as the rivers were polluted and stagnant.
We managed to find a cheap hotel and parking and decided to check out the local shopping center to get some food. It was a shock when it suddenly dawned on us that we were drawing nearer to Europe. The mall was exactly like any Western mall with clothing shops and a food court. It suddenly dawned on us that the real old Russian part of the trip might be coming to an end, and we were a little sad.
The next day we went to the circus which was fantastic and shocking. The acrobatics and clowns were a great show, but we were shocked and saddened to see the treatment of the panthers and leopards, which looked like they were drugged and abused. It was a shame to have such a fantastic acrobatic show tarnished by animal abuse. The next day we set about having a look at Jane's bike and replacing the spark plugs, which seemed to make a difference, although in the end it didn't cure the problem. We also send an email to the Night Wolves in Kazan and finished our washing. The next day we hit the road bound for Yekaterinburg and camped, about 40 km out of town, off the main road in another forest clearing. The road had been good and we were making excellent progress, but the next day a slow start and another spill in the mud put an end to our plans to get into Yekaterinburg early to check out some of the Museums. In the end we stayed in the clearing for the day, lounging around in the sun and sleeping. The next morning we did manage an early start to check out Yekaterinburg. The town was very nice, but the museum's were a bit stogy, with 30 year old exhibits which had hardly been cleaned or maintained.
We rode out of Yekaterinburg bound for Perm-36 an Russian Gulag which had been torturing political dissidents as recently as 1988. Given that the Gulag was a 300 km detour off the main road, didn't have information in English, and closed at 15:00 we decided to give it a miss and ride straight on to Kazan to meet the Night Wolves gang and have a look around. We decided to take a back road and in the end it turned out to be one of our best riding days. The road was deserted and in great condition. The sun was shining and we had the biggest smiles. The scenery was a lot like the Tuki-Tuki valley in Hawke's Bay and I felt right at home. Of course it didn't make sense that such a fantastic road was deserted, but we didn't care about that; we were laughing in our helmets too much. After some 300 km of smooth blacktop the potholes started. At first it wasn't so bad, and we were able to ride around most of the holes but then the tarmac vanished all together and we were riding on deep sand, fishtailing left and right. This continued for about 30 km until the road stopped all together, our progress hampered by a 1500 m wide fast flowing black river. The bridge had long gone... Lucky a local entrepreneur had managed to get a log barge and a small boat and was ferrying people and cars across the river. After waiting in more than 30 degree heat for about an hour the barge came across to pick us and a couple of dozen locals up. It all took a very long time but we finally got across after about 2 hours and were soon on our way again, albeit suffering from dehydration and heat exhaustion.
We finally got in to Kazan at about 20:00 (after gaining 2 hours due to a time zone shift) and rode onto the main Lenin square and parade ground. Soon a Night Wolf gang member came to meet us and took us back to the club den where we unloaded our gear and got changed. A couple of the senior NW members took us down to a great local cafe, filled us to the gills with food and alcohol and also picked up the bill. Another example of fantastic Russian hospitality. After hanging around the den for a couple of hours we were invited up to a senior member's house and stayed in a high rise apartment high above the city of Kazan, a clean and very westernised city despite its recent 1000th birthday.
The next day we did some washing and relaxed, and in the evening we went down for a Chinese style meal (which was highly entertaining. The cook was extremely upset at the prospect of cooking and had a hissy fit. He point blank refused to make dessert.) We then strolled up to the UNESCO world heritage Kremlin site http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/980 and witnessed a spectacular bright red sunset, due to the nitrous oxide photochemical smog and particulate pollution from the large refinery industry here.
That night senior gang member Alex insisted on taking us out to the local nightclubs for a bit of entertainment. Fortunately for us he had already had 500 grams of vodka so his drinking had slowed to an agreeable pace. We hoped in a taxi and I immediately felt a bit nervous. The taxi driver looked slightly prehistoric and drove his rusty Lada at break neck speed with mouth open, drooling slightly, looking only directly straight ahead with fixed focal distance. He had a job to do, and by god he was doing it. Fast. We're all OK though!
Alex was obviously in the know with night club security and got us in through the VIP area in about 3 minutes. After standing around checking out the girls (ratio 5 girls:1 guy) for a while we decided to move on and get another taxi ride to State 51, a rather exclusive night club. Jane and I were concerned that we wouldn't get in, because, unsurprisingly, our clothes looked like they'd been used for a three month motorcycle adventure. Fortunately Alex was in the know and got us in through the VIP line again in less than a minute. The rest of the queuing punters were clearly less than impressed. Soon we were inside a great club, with plenty of the things that you normally see in a Russian nightclub.
We eventually got a taxi back to Alex's and the next morning we rode back (in Alex's Hummer!) to the den where we set about striping our carburettors to try and solve Jane's stalling problem (again). The temperature has been hovering around 30 degrees again, and the sun has been shining on us for our fantastic Kazan experience. Long may it continue to do so!
Thanks for your attention for this rather long newsletter.
We really do like hearing news from home, so please drop us a line. Do Svidanya
Mark and Jane.
Russian Traverse 2007
www.russiantraverse.co.nz
Grand Russian Traverse, newsletter 7. T + 8 Weeks.
Hi Folks,
Just a quick recap: Mark and Jane decide to do an OE. Instead of flying to London direct they buy a couple of motorbikes and set about riding 15,000 km's across Russia and Europe. After leaving Chita via the northern road, we thought we'd take a short cut. The road looked OK on the map, but soon we were stuck in a boggy swamp. We were in the middle of bear country too, so we decided to turn back and get out before the sunset. Unfortunately there wasn't any gas available in the nearby village so we had to ride all the way back to Chita. The cops at the road block wanted to see our papers, and advised us to take the federal highway. We didn't take their advice though and took the long way via the northern route, which turned out to be rutted and sandy, but quite rideable and very senic.
We found a nice spot to camp near a small lake and it turned out to be one of the best spots yet, with minimal mosquitoes or gangsters.
Next morning we made good progress to Ulan-Ude, but the sun was beating down fiercely, across the infinite rolling grass plains. Fortunately we found the Ude river and went for a short swim and wash. The river was cold refresing and drinkable this far upstream.
We reached Ulan-Ude the following day and I called Alexey from Vladivostok, who happened to be having his honeymoon there at the same time! What luck. We met up near the big Lenin head (the biggest in the world they tell us) and followed Alexey and local beer salesman (very convineint) Sergey to his dacha, where, to our surprise, there was a New Zealand registered KTM in the garage! Turns out that Ian from Auckland was doing a trip to Mongolia, but had a small accident with a Volga (Russian car, only slightly better than a Lada) and twisted his forks.That night we had a real Russian experience - the banya - which is a very hot Russian sauna and involves naked beatings with birch branches. Slightly weird at first, but very cleansing. Next morning we got organised at a very slow pace and headed out to Lake Baikal, via an abandoned nuclear missile silo (the missile has been removed). The place had only been abandoned a few years earlier, but the construction method was obviously poor though and all the buildings was falling down without the aid of any US bombs.
 The road was OK in places and terrible in others, but we eventually got out to the lake by about 8 pm, giving us 3 hours of daylight to build a camp fire and set up camp. Another couple turned up later, and got stuck in a small creek.By this stage it was about 1 am and was properly dark. We managed to lever the car out though, but not until we'd ripped the front bumper off.
Lake Baikal is a beautiful place. The lake is on the UNESCO world heritage list and is over 1.6 km deep, 650 km long and contains nearly 20% of all the unfrozen fresh water in the world. The water is perfectly drinkable, and apart from the litter the shoreline is spectacular. If you ever make it to Russia we strongly recommend you make the effort to check it out.
We got back to Ulan-Ude a couple of lazy days later and met up with Ian. It was nice to talk some Kiwi with him. He was pretty philosophical about the whole accident and despite waiting for three weeks for his parts (about 1/3 of his entire trip) he was still in good spirits. The last we heard his parts had arrived and he was on his way to Mongolia. All the best Ian.
A few days, half a dozen coffees at Marco Polo (the only place that we've found so far that sells real coffee) and a couple of beatings in the banya later we hit the road, bound for Irkutsk. At Irkutsk our good fortune continued as one of the local bikers and only English speaker in town, Mike, was cruising the streets on his day off. He showed us around Irkutsk and even took us to a motorbike shop where they were selling secondhand Jap import bikes and some decent quality oil. The bike shop was closed though because of the sunny weather; the owner had decided to take a long weekend and head to Olkhon, a small island in Lake Baikal. We decided to follow him and after a feed of rather small tasteless hamburgers we hit the road.
The ferry to Olkhon was a real Soviet hangover job. The que was disorganised and poorly managed, and, although the ferry was supposed to be drive-on drive-off the front door was broken, so we had to turn around twice and still reverse off! We disregarded the que and disgruntled bus drivers though and rode straight onto the ferry. A couple of local girls came over to chat up the foreign bikers, and were visibly disappointed when Jane took here helmet off.
The island itself was very nice and it felt good to be surrounded by water again. We found a nice spot to camp with some of the locals (people and cows) and lazed around for a day. The next day we saw a couple of guys on dirt bikes, hooning around. It was too much for Mark to bear and he stripped off his panniers and went for a hoon in the mud. The DR felt like a different machine without the luggage and it was great fun. The next day we decided to check out the top of the island, and try to organise a fishing trip (which turned out to be impossible, despite all the ingredients being present, namely water, fish and boats). After getting a few supplies at the small shop we rode to the top of the island, which is about 70 km long. The views were spectacular and there were very few mosquitoes, which was a relief.
After que jumping at the ferry again (a motorbike sure does have its advantages) we rode back to Irkutsk for a bike festival.
Mike, our friendly guide in Irkutsk, had invited us to a bike and music festival which one of the local clubs had organised. The prospect of a Russian motorbike festival was to good to ignore so after riding through 3 feet of mud we eventually got to the festival site. A stage was being erected, made completely from wood cut from the forest and there was plenty going on. There was still 2 day before the festival proper so we hung around and helped set up where we could. The generosity of the Russian people eventually got the better of us though and we both ended up with a nasty dose of food poisoning which ended up spoiling the whole thing a bit, but we still had a very good time. The music and atmosphere were great and we made some great friends. The local TV station even came and interviewed us for one of their evening magazine shows.
 The festival wrapped up after three days and we had plans to make short work of the 1100 km to Krasnoyarsk where a couple of fresh Continental tyres were waiting for us. The plans didn't quite work out though and we ended up making slow progress over 3 days through rain and axle deep mud. We saw a party of 6 German adventurers all riding very large BMW's (and struggling in the mud) and stopped for a chat. We eventually go out the other side of the mud section though and saw another German couple. Jane was very excited to see another girl riding a bike and we ended up having a long chat and also sorted out our German accomadation plans.
We finally hit Krasnoyarsk at about 5 pm. Just as we were figuring out what to do about accommodation Jane hit a very large nail, which made short work of her thinly worn back tyre and let the air out. Getting the air back in would require a bit of work, so we set about pulling the wheel out and popping the tyre off. Just as we were finishing up a couple of Paul Teutul look-alikes (in character too!) turned up on cruisers. Nikolai and Sergey. "Lets go" they said and we followed them back to Nikolai's Mercedes-Benz workshop. What absolute luck - Nikolai gave us unlimited use of his workshop for overnight bike storage, maintenance and tyre changing. Most importantly he had a large air compressor as we were really dreading pumping up four tyres with our tiny pump. One of his mates also organised for the TV media to come along and do another interview, which Jane did rather successfully, but Mark made a hash job of because he was covered in filth and grease and sweat (somethings never change) from the tyre changing job.
Nikolai then took us down to a cheap local hotel. "Impossible - non-Russians cannot stay at this hotel." After 45 minutes of negotiation in high speed Russian Nikolai checks himself in. He takes off and we take the room! What a victory over the red tape.
So with new tyres and a through maintenance job we should be ready for the next 7000 km.
Photos to follow...
Da Svidanja.
Mark and Jane
Russian Traverse 2007.
Grand Russian Traverse, newsletter 6. T + 5 Weeks. Hi Folks,
Just a quick recap: Mark and Jane decide to do an OE. Instead of flying to Europe direct they buy a couple of motorbikes and set about riding 15,000 km's across Russia and Europe.
We made it out of Birobazhan after staying near the town in a small cottage with an ex-policewoman. She even had a couple of nice doggies to watch over the bikes while we slept, and made us a delicious traditional breakfast in the morning. The bed was very small and there were plenty of springs in it, but at least we didn't have to contend with the mosquitoes that night. The cottage was a traditional Russian type, cluttered with about 70 years of memories, but was quite roomy compared to many of the others that we have seen. It was about 10 meters from the railway line, but the walls of these places are so thick that the train didn't disturb us at all.
The following morning we got up early and made some good progress. After about 100 km we struck the roadworks which were to carry on for another 2000 km. We dropped our tyre pressures by 10 psi and continued on our way. The road was corrugated and potholed but quite rideable. We were very lucky that the weather had been dry for the previous few weeks, so the mud wasn't too bad. The dust was pretty bad though and got into absolutely everything except our Ortlieb roll top panniers. We made good progress covering about 300 km before setting up camp.
We continued a pattern of riding through the dust and camping for the next 7 days as we made our way across the "Zilov Gap" to Chita. McGregor and Boorman took the train through this section but a MASSIVE roadworks project has been undertaken, which has been going on for about 7 years, to cross this 2000 km swamp. The aim is to have the road finished next year, but given the state of the road at the moment it's unlikely to be finished for another 10 years if at all. The scenery was very pretty and changed from flat grasslands to birch trees and eventually pine forests. There are yellow and purple flowers everywhere. As we approached the town of Chita (our current location) we hit more grass and farmlands and one night we camped in an underpass for the cows. We haven't seen any fences yet, so it's very easy to ride off the road and find somewhere to camp.
During one particularly confusing section of roadworks we made a wrong turn and ended up going down a narrow forest track for some 200 km. Of course it started raining heavily for the first time in this section, but it actually turned out to be one of our most enjoyable days, getting away from the dusty roadworks. The DR650s shod with the excellent Continental TKC80 tyres handled the terrain well as the road turned to a stoney river, we eventually got back to the railway with the aid of the GPS. We followed the railway service track to the next town, where we got back onto the dusty road with the aid of a traffic cop, who was driving a Jap import from Vladivostok to Novosibirsk during his holidays.
So far we've only had one puncture, when a bit of sharp metal cut into Jane's tyre. The heat was extreme and the biting flies were pretty aggressive, but we got the puncture job done from woe to go in about an hour thanks to Glen and Loopies excellent tutorial, and we were on our way again.
At one point Jane was just about hit by a Lada. The driver appeared to be drunk and was so surprised to see a couple of bikes that he just kept staring. Of course he ended up going where he was looking, luckely there was enough width in the road for Jane to avoid him.
Never without company when camping!
We passed through a couple of small villages which generally lie 10 to 20 km off the main road. The villages don't seem to be benefiting at all from the construction of the new road and most people with any ambition have left long ago. The villages are all very poor and most of the inhabitants seem to be drunk a lot of the time. The roads in the villages are unsealed and as a consequence every thing is covered in dust, including the groceries in the small shops.
Petrol has been available everywhere though, and we've only had about three spills including one where a fountain of high-lead, low-octane fuel sprayed all over the GPS. Most of the pumps are very old and unreliable and sometimes they don't switch off.
Yesterday we spent a bit of time maintaining our motorbikes, and updating our web diaries www.russiantraverse.co.nz/diary.html so if you want to read more then follow the link.
If you've got any further comments or questions please let us know.
Thanks again for your interest in our exciting project.
Do Svidanya
Mark and Jane.
Russian Traverse 2007
www.russiantraverse.co.nz
27 June, 07
Hi everyone,
Just a quick recap: Mark and Jane decide to do an OE. Instead of flying to Europe direct they buy a couple of motorbikes and set about riding 15,000 km's across Russia and Europe.
We made a party at Grandy's house with live blues music, lots of Russian food and of course beer and Vodka. They are keen on their raw salted fish, delicious with a dash of wasabi.
Alexey took us for a ride around Vladivostok, visiting the famous sign where we took our photo. There were also about 8 brides across the road getting their photos taken, later in the day we had a bride ask for a photo with the bikes. There sure are plenty of beautiful Russian women here just waiting for a dashing motorcyclist.
We visited a beach but it turned out to be lots of old crushed bottles and ceramic plates, basically rubbish, we longed for our natural sand beaches on NZ.
We had had an offer of a boat ride on the harbour the following day, but unfortunately the skipper had too much vodka the night before so instead we took the ferry to an island for $2.50 each. We even met a couple of fellow Wellingtonians! On the island we made a fire and cooked a few pork sausages. All of the Russian meat we've had so far is delicious, but ordering is always a challenge.
On Monday we stayed at lake Hanka, only about 30 km from the Chinese border, but unfortunately we picked a camp site near the swamp. Fortunately the mosquito net we made with Jane's Nana and Aunty really did the job and gave us good protection from the hordes of mossies, some the size of birds!The heat that night was a real problem though and we struggled to get to sleep. The next morning we had a nice swim in the lake.
The next night we bumped into Martin Tate again, the honorary NZ consul for Vladivostok, and ended up camping at this farm.
Our Elacin earplugs have been more comfortable than we had imagined and make the tiring wind noise just a whisper in the back ground. A big thanks for Arno for donating a pair to us.
The following nights we camped near a river to catch up on some washing and diaries. This time instead of camping near an open fire, we cooked our tasty Russian meat on our petrol powered Coleman cooker. The cooker has been excellent and we've been impressed at the speed at which is cooks our meals.
The evening we arrived in Khabarovsk we were invited to a 30 birthday party which was a far cry from the mosquitoes and tent, It was almost like a dream. The party went late into the night and we made some lifelong friends (at least as long as the vodka was flowing anyway).
The individual houses in the villages are built out of planks of unpainted wood and seem so run down and drafty that they could belong in New Zealand. On closer inspection though they seem to build a house inside a house with double windows instead of double glazing and an asbestos roof to keep them cosy.
We are now in Birabadjhan and about to start the 2000km section of unsealed mud and gravel road. The main traffic is trucks and people buying 2nd hand Jap cars in Vladivostok and driving them west to sell.
Our next big city will be Chita and we don't expect to see Internet before then so we will sign off for a couple of weeks and we will up date you on our adventures when we reach civilization again. We apologise for the lack of photos, due to lack of Internet bandwidth we have been unable to upload them. Thanks again for your interest in our exciting project.
Feel free to reply at anytime
Do Svidanya
Please check our website www.russiantraverse.co.nz for recent diary updates.
Mark and Jane.
Russian Traverse 2007
www.russiantraverse.co.nz
T + 2 Weeks.
Hi Folks,
Just a quick recap: Mark and Jane decide to do an OE. Instead of flying to Europe direct they buy a couple of motorbikes and set about riding 15,000 km's across Russia and Europe.
We landed in Russia last Monday after taking the ferry from Sokcho, Korea to Zarubino Russia and things have worked out pretty well for us.
Zarubino is quite a sleepy port town and the customs guys didn't have to much on that day so we were able to clear the bikes through customs in about 3 hours, a record for anything Russian. The money changer had gone home for the day but we had a chat to a used car importer and he had a boot full of cash so was able to swap a couple of US dollars for Rubles.
We rode the 200 km or so to Vladivostok that afternoon and the road started very well. A nice smooth tarmac with some pretty good corners. We were very heavily loaded up with tyres and equipment but our Continental TKC80 tyres were well planted and the bikes were handling well. Our aluminum panniers from Ullrich and Velocity have been a great asset for transporting our gear too.
After a short distance however the road deteriorated significantly and we had to negotiate some pretty big pot holes and a lot of unfinished, and probably never to be finished, road works. We saw a guy with a broken down Ural sidecar outfit so we stopped and lent him a screwdriver to adjust his points, which saw him on his way again.
About 100 km up the road we got pulled over at a road block by a couple of machine gun toting traffic cops but we managed to get through alright after having a bit of a chat in halting Russian.
The area around Zarubino was very green and picturesque, but unfortunately the mist started to settle in as we got closer to Vladivostok and we missed out on some of the views.
We asked a local couple for directions and managed to find Hotel Vladivostok, after being pulled over again. The room itself was fine and there was a guarded parking area. We made good use of our MSR water filter and turned the town water supply into drinkable water without any problems.
The next day Jane and I had a few jobs to do including finding a cell phone and SIM card, posting our spare set of tyres ahead and making a few contacts.
We decided to send the tyres by DHL for an incredible $700, but we figured it was probably better to stump up the readies and have a reliable courier.
Finding a cell phone isn't a problem in Vladivostok but finding a charger to run off our accessory sockets proved to be a bit of a mission. Eventually we found a Nokia charger so we bought a couple of Nokia phones. I was surprised at the level of security in the mobile phone shops, with .45 handgun toting ex-secret service guys welcoming us at every turn.
Buying a SIM card proved to be more difficult than temporarily importing a couple of motorbikes, but eventually we got all the necessary paperwork in place, and were given a couple of telephone passports. If you want to send us an SMS/text message please reply and I'll send you our numbers.
Next we made contact with Alexey, the famous motorcyclist from Vladivostok, and we were kindly offered a place to stay. Alexey also hooked us up with a Russian insurance company representative who was able to offer us 4 months of insurance for about $100 each.
Soon after that we contacted some other NZers in Vladivostok and went to up to see Martin, the Honorary NZ Consul, for a beer and pizza. Alexey and his fiancee Kristi joined in and they were surprised at the relaxed nature of the consulate.
Tonight we are going to another motorcyclist friend and 'making a party'. Who knows what that will entail.
On Saturday we are going to go for a ride to check out some of the forts and Sunday Alexey's friend might take us out onto the harbour.
After that the real riding begins and we head north to Khabarovsk and Baikal.
Thanks again for your interest in our exciting project.
Feel free to reply at anytime
Do Svidanya
Please check our website www.russiantraverse.co.nz
Mark and Jane.
Russian Traverse 2007
www.russiantraverse.co.nz
T + 1 Week.
You've received this email because you've been part of this project in some way, or we think that you may be interested. If you no longer wish to receive this e-mail or you are getting a double up please let us know by return e-mail. Hi Folks,
Recap - Mark and Jane decide to do an OE with a difference: ride motorcycles from Vladivostok, in far eastern Russia, to London. Well this is it! After 9 months of intensive preparation we have finally started our journey. We flew into Incheon airport at Seoul, Korea, last Saturday and have been enjoying the sights and the heat, that Korea has to offer. Each of us have done a brief diary update of our stay in Korea, you can check out our diary pages here: http://www.russiantraverse.co.nz/diary.html
Assuming that nothing goes wrong we set sail to Vladivostok tomorrow afternoon at 3.00 pm. We haven't seen the bikes yet, but everyone in Korea seems very organised, so we'll assume that they're waiting for us at the ferry terminal tomorrow morning. We've already put many of the excellent products that we have recieved for this trip to good use, including our Camelbak hydration systems, our Lumix camera, and SealLine pouches. We're certain that the rest of our gear will perform to expectaction once we hit the road next week. Thanks again for your support.
Do Svidanya
Mark and Jane.
Russian Traverse 2007
www.russiantraverse.co.nz
T - 4 Weeks.
Hi Folks,
Just a quick recap: Mark and Jane decide to do an OE. Instead of flying to Europe direct they buy a couple of motorbikes and set about riding 15,000 km's across Russia and Europe.
The bikes are now on the high seas bound for Korea, with an ETA of May 21. We will rendezvous with the bikes in Sokcho on the 4th of June and sail to Vladivostok on the 7th of June, where the real fun begins.
The last six weeks have been truly awesome. Despite many late nights and stressful days, we've made real progress, and it seems nothing can stop us now. The friendly folk at the Russian embassy we're more than happy to accommodate us, and have given us six month multi-entry visas. Our pannier racks and aluminium pannier boxes, have been completed and our spares have been coming in thick and fast.
Perhaps the most serious thing we've done since the last newsletter is handing in our resignations at work. The bosses took it pretty well though and, while they're sad to see us go, they're happy that we've decided to see a bit of the world. We've had a monster garage sale and listed our remaining possessions on the auction site Trademe to raise a few extra dollars for our medical bills.
Last month we took the bikes for a quick squirt to New Plymouth for two reasons: Janes great uncle Leo lives up there and we wanted to say 'good bye', and motorcycle wholesalers Eurobike have got a rather large warehouse up there. We were like kids in a candy store, with owner Don giving us some fantastic prices on Scottoiler chain lubricators, Stylemartin adventure boots, Motoline wet weather gear, Spidi gloves and Givi windscreens. Thanks Don!
We had quite a successful barbeque at TSS motorcycles a month or so ago and we'd like to thank the customers and staff that came and talked to us and bought our sausages. Apart from the financial benefit of fundraising it's done a lot of good for our profile.
Thanks to Continental Tyres, Darbi Accessories and TSS motorcycles, we've managed to get a great deal on some nice Continental TKC80 tyres. We loaded the bikes up to capacity, about 210 kg, and went for a test ride. The Continental tyres held their line perfectly on and off road. While 210 kg might sound heavy, we're at least 150 kg lighter than the 'Long Way Round' guys. Let hope our strict DR diet pays off!
Thanks also to Richard Thorpe at Oceanbridge Shipping for putting up with Mark's endless panic. Got something to ship? Give Richard a call.
A big thanks to Rodger at Coleman for the loan of the dual fuel cooker!
Thanks to the kind contribution from Paul and Helen Keats, we've bought a nice Garmin GPS MAP60CSx. We've downloaded some pretty decent maps and, coupled with Google Earth, and our Auto Atlas of Russia figured out our most important fuel and maintenance stops. I hope to post the database files for download on our website soon. Mark has always been a bit of a technophile, and the prospect of a GPS was just too much to bear.
If you've got any further comments or questions please let us know.
Thanks again for your interest in our exciting project.
Do Svidanya
Please check our website www.russiantraverse.co.nz
Mark and Jane.
Russian Traverse 2007
www.russiantraverse.co.nz
**
You've received this email because you've been part of this project in some way, or we think that you may be interested.
It's been a very busy time for us, but things are starting to move along very quickly now, with only 12 weeks until our departure.
Our motto throughout this project has been: "Fail to plan – plan to fail"and so far that philosophy has paid some big dividends.
First up: Our website: *www.russiantraverse.co.nz * has gone online as a first draft. We'd appreciate it if you could have a look at it and make some comments.
We've still got to finish the photos page, and add some more pictures throughout, but otherwise what you see before you will be the general format.
This week is a big one for us. On Tuesday we received our first rabies vaccines and on Thursday we started the long and difficult process of sorting out our Russian visas. It's important that we have the visas in hand before we ship the bikes, so timing is everything in this case.
The guys at Oceanbridge shipping have been working tirelessly on our project. We really appreciate the amount of work that Richard and the team has put in. If you need anything shipped anywhere, Oceanbridge are the ones to talk to.
We would also like to say a big thank you also to our sponsors and suppliers for the excellent and enthusiastic service we've received. I know it's been a few weeks since we've been in contact with some of you, but your on-going support has not been forgotten.
If you'd like us to add anything more to the website to help your business, please let us know and we'll do our best. Top quality products are going to mean the difference between success and failure on this trip, and, considering the fantastic, top brand goods we've received so far, the possibility of failure is fading fast.
At times the stress of this project, coupled with our jobs and motorcycle club duties, seem unbearable and we feel like throwing in the towel, but then one of our friends, family or sponsors come through with a pick-me-up and quickly set everything in motion again.
Chris at Kiwirider Magazine has expressed an interest in reporting on the Traverse. We'll send a draft to our sponsors before publishing anything for comments and additions. This is one of your opportunities to get something in return for helping us, so we want to do our absolute best for you.
Thanks again for your time and dedication without our supporters this trip would be impossible.
Yours in adventure,
Mark Bart Jane Keats The Grand Russian Traverse 2007
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