Altai Mountains Part 1- Russia

Our first stop in the Altai region was Gorno-Altaysk, the capital of the region and the place where we were meant to register our visa. We tried to find the travel agent for registration but weren't successful. We decided to not bother and just plead ignorance if we got checked.

We headed to find the largest lake in the area up in the mountains, ended up getting lost. We stopped at the side of the road and went for a swim in a river with some locals. We parked up in a layby and got the BBQ and goulash tripod out to cook on. There was an awesome lightening storm. At about midnight three cars pulled up next to us. After reading the Altai region has the second highest crime rate in Russia we were a little spooked. We loaded the van up and drove off. We parked up in a small village and got our heads down. Waking up in the morning was class, we had breakfast on the roof of the van, some inquisitive locals tried speaking Russian to us.  The view was awesome, propper rural village,  guy chopping wood with an axe right next to van and an old lady sat on her veranda opposite. Felt like we were properly in Russia. Photo below of village.

We went to Chemal, much deeper into the mountains, to book some tours. We asked in a local shop and 5 mins later the local tour guide was with us (big John). We agreed to meet him at 10 am the following day for a horse trek the white water rafting in the afternoon. That night we drove a few hundred metres out of town and up on a plateau next to mountains. We made some herbal tea with wild herbs and went for a climb up the mountain.

The next day we met up with big John for probably the best day of the trip so far. We were driven to the river then taken across on a small rib to the stables.  We were given a talk about how to ride a horse, unfortunately being in Russian we didn't understand a word. It was all good we jumped on and headed off. The track took us along the river then up into the mountains. The view was class of the river, mountains and valley.  All in all a great few hours.

We headed off in the afternoon for rafting, it was awesome, some big rapid sections where we were properly thrown around. We made friends with the other people on the tour and the tour guides. When we got back to the van (parked outside the rafting yard) we played volleyball with the giudes, bought some beers and had drinks with the guides. Alex, Tanya, Anya. They were mainly students working during their summer holidays. They invited us into their living area and we drank with them until late. Was a good crack. They gave us some local fish to eat, we reciprocated with beer and vodka.

The day after we woke up with sore heads to one of the guides greeting us with a can of beer. We cooked them eggy bread then played cards around their table. We learnt a Russian card game, called looser, which we will defiantly continue playing. We taught them crazy 8's. We spent hours playing. Thanks guys for being so hospitable. Spasibo!

Rob

In a bit of a rush! Moscow

We had to sort out mongolian visas in moscow. After finding the embassy the night before we set off for it in the morning. The plan was to get a 6 month visa. This seemed hard work, all the women kept saying was "NO VISA 6 MONTHS". So we settled for a 30 day visa which we could extend while there. After this, a light ride around the city was in need. We went to the red square and had a quick view of the kremlin and other sights. Big massive buildings everywhere you looked. All very nice indeed 

On the way back to the van we all got split up in the crazy traffic. Nobby was back first, followed by me   , then stew showed up a while later. (No direction at all). We set off to explore the golden circle at what we thought would be a decent time to miss the traffic. We were wrong!!! It was out of control people beeping, cutting inside you, outside you, driving down the hard shoulder no system at all. As we moved away from the city the traffic died down, so we stopped for supplies (vodka) and made are way to a lake to spend the night. We ended up being quite loose!! Big sal hit the 600000 mile mark on this journey. Go on you beauty!! 

The next morning we admired the sights around the lake and moved on. Every village
around the golden circle was littered with church's. All very grand places, something in between mosques and churches. We arrived at kostroma where we went to a banya. Basically a sauna hut. This was quality!! spend 10 minutes in the sauna and then jump in a plunge pool outside. We played heads or tails to see who put there face in front of steam. Not recommended at all!! We spent 2 hours in there, by this time refreshed and ready for a pint we moved on to the next village. A recommended bar from lonely planet was the destination "dudki bar". Nothing to special to be fair! 

After a short ride around the town the next day we made are way back to Moscow to collect our visas. Making sure not to hit the rush hours traffic again we stopped of at the same lake as before, had some grub, done some weights and set off. The skyline was unbelievable as we entered moscow. So we chilled admiring this before hitting the sack.

A day of sightseeing was on the agenda this morning. Waking up a bit late made us not see much apart from looking around town and seeing the red square. We heard the moscow state circus was one to see, so that night we attended. What a decision this was. Full of acrobatics, seals doing tricks, tigers, leopards and a clown that was actually quite funny. Bearing in mind we couldn't understand a word he was saying. We'll worth a visit! On the way home we stopped off at the red suare. Absoloutely unreal at night. With the circus still on our minds we tried some acrobatics ourself (see picture below) 

We took the metro back to the van. 3 different lines and 10 stops later we were back

Again trying to avoid traffic we set of for the Ural Mountains 1500km east of moscow. Before you know it stuck in traffic again. Does this place never sleep!! Our option was to drive through the night each taking a few hours kip in the back while someone else drives. This worked we'll and we are on route. Bring on the mountains 

Dunny 

Latvia (post lash) and Estonia

Once we'd got out of the city, relieved to be in the clear, we headed for national parks. Found a cracking spot at the bottom of some of the first decent hills we'd seen so far, right near some caves where people had engraved their names going back to the 1700's. A great spot for our next where's willy. 

A morning hike took us to castles, great views, streams, rivers and the least safe cable car we've ever seen! Crumbling down, literally looked derilict and was cordoned off. Nope you could bungee jump from it over the 100m+ drop! Banging! Unfortunately only open on Thursday and Saturday... Obviously.

Over the next couple of days we got out on the bikes a lot, tearing around tracks and routes that were in construction. A bit dodgey but great crack, sometimes the tracks just stopped though and there would be a drop and half a bridge, there was one sign though so they where covered/not bothered. We swam a river that flowed a lot faster on the far side, getting back was hard work! Broke into a castle by accident, climbed the back wall and got involved with all the stuff on offer: view towers over the valley, walked the parapet, got dressed in all old clothes, used swords and spears, filled up the bottles and made a swift exit out the back again. We got to ring a massive church bell, not sure if we where meant to or not, really loud by our heads. 

After the national park we headed for Tallinn. Picked up a hitchhiker and she was on her way to a concert to the east of Tallinn. We gave her a lift to her home town where we were able to print all our stuff for Russia, train in a car park, then pick her and her mate up and head to the concert. They were working there and got us in cheap. None of us has been to a concert in such a quality place! Set in the national park with the backdrop of the sea where saw seals whilst the concert was on. No idea what the music was about, Estonian country music, nice though. After the concert we headed off to Tallinn, and went straight out. Harley Davidson convention in town and loads of weirdos! Got chatting to a crazy Finnish bloke who I think loved dunny, he just kept shouting the names of English football players.

In the morning we heard scraping on the van, some little shits where trying to rob the bikes. They ran off before we could get out the van and luckily they didn't get anything. Time to increase security before Russia. We spent the next two days on the beach training, chilling, having fires and securing the van. We had one night out in Tallinn where we managed to get onto a free VIP buffet and champagne, dunno how it happened! Then a look round Tallinn, postcard town! Then we headed to another national park by the sea and from there to Russia!

Stewie

Entering Russia to St. Petersburg

We have finished the first stage of our journey through Europe. We have left the safety of the EU and are beginning the next stage through Russia. We have had an amazing time, seen and experienced some awesome things and met lots of cool people.

4000 miles done in just under two months across europe, now we have about 6000 miles to do in 30 days. Its going to be a busy month!

We prepared as much as we could for the border crossing, all documents printed and filed, van clean and we even booked a time slot at the border. Get us! We were expecting a strip search and a good rogering. The border crossing was actually pretty straightforward, no extra costs, just the usual paperwork to fill out. The guards had a bit of a look around the van, checking for stowaways and drugs. All in all the border crossing took about 1.5 hours, most of which we were sat in a que. We were in Russia! We were greeted by a nice surprise, fuel is 55p a litre!

We drove the 100km to St. Petersburg, Russians second city and our first stop. We had a hostel booked right next to the river. It was ideal, parking space for the van right outside, free laundry service (we took full advantage of that) and loads of friendly people. Based on our previous lucky good timings, what was going to be in stall for us in St. Petersburg? The girl on the desk in the hostel said it was National Russia independence day. The day Russia became independent from the Soviet Union. And to celebrate there was a free music festival on the beach, obviously. We had lunch in the hostel kitchen and met Alexander. A biker from North Russia, travelling by himself and was going to the music festival. We finished lunch and headed off on a bus together. The festival was good and we watched a display of kite surfers. 

Alexander kindly gave us a tour around the city, and what a city it is! We've never seen as many grand buildings in close proximity. Some serious money has been spent in the last few hundred years, when a lot of rural Russians were struggling to feed themselves! There seemed to be a massive range of wealth which the photo below shows nicely, a Ferrari parked next to a Lada.  And that is a nice Lada, it has bumpers!

We spent the next day sightseeing, went to the Russian museum which is a massive palace full of nice art. Not my cup of tea but still good to see. We went to a church where the entire inside is mosaic art, pretty impressive. We spent the evening sitting out the front of the hostel drinking with Alexander and the hostel worker, also called Alexander. It was good fun. We were allowed to use the hostel shower, toilet and kitchen whenever we wanted even though we didn't sleep there that night. Later on a group of salsa dancers came back to the hostel and set up on the pavement, we joined in but weren't very good.
In the morning Stew went to the Hermatage museum, the must see palace and art exhibition in St. Petersburg. Stew thoroughly enjoyed it but me and Dunny had enough art the day before so decided to give it a miss.

We set off that night to Vlinky Novgorod to see a Kremlin, a massive walled town which was cool, see photo below. That afternoon we set off for Moscow. 550k down a rough motorway. Lots of traffic and potholes. Surprising considering it was linking two rich cities in a world superpower. We arrived in Moscow at 3am and parked up for the night.

Rob

Stew and Niki Tallinn and Helsinki

In the morning I woke up to the sound of the lads snoring, had a cold shower (woke me up a treat) and headed to say goodbye to Juri. He got out of his bed, washed his face and, refusing to take no for an answer, he walked me to the station. A brief train journey to town and I managed to get a 5hour bus to Tallinn. Halfway through the journey and extremely hungry (nothing to eat all day) we stopped to have a pit stop (the driver wanted a fag). As the bus started moving again I ran to the front to tell the driver that the lady sitting next to me on the bus wasn't there... He spoke almost no English 'yes, ok!' I tried again and so did some other tourists...he was having none of it and we continued.

I waited with all the brought brides for our british partners. Niki arrived and we caught the bus to Tallinn. The hotel is lush, with the luck continuing from Riga we have landed another festival!

A massive burger and live music on the square went down a treat. Tallinn is so good! The weather and the architecture explained the popularity with tourists from all over the world. Our hotel is as close to the main square in Old Town as it is possible to be. The only thing which let's Tallinn down is the amount of tourists, because of this it's the most expensive place we've been but you can't be a tourist and complain about them.

Now, to be a full on tourist! After a trip to the tourist information, we set about doing as much in Tallinn (mainly free stuff) that we could. We walked around the town and the wall, we saw 'Fat Margaret' - the town's main gunning point - and a few nice churches from the outside. After a long day we got home and I was so excited...a hot shower! I don't think I have been so happy at the prospect of 5 days of hot showers! 

As we have seen so much in Tallinn I will shorten it to the highlights...

A walk up the hill on the seaward side gives amazing views over the city. We did this more than once. We went up to the top of St Olaf's church in the wind and rain, which, aside from the amazing view of Tallinn, has a 127m spire which was used by the KGB in the 80s to transmit and receive radio and other broadcasts. The KGB hotel museum is fascinating, proper old school James Bond! They built a hotel which was the only hotel where foreigners where allowed to stay in Estonia, so the KGB could monitor everyone. In the plans for the hotel they left peep holes, spy camera holes, listening devices along with spare rooms and the whole 23rd floor to house the KGB's equipment! When asked why guests weren't allowed to the 23rd floor the KGB replied 'there is no 23rd floor'. 'But we can see it!' 'Don't ask questions!' When this finally didn't work the official line was that... 'The view from the 23rd floor is too good, it would be dangerous!' Wtf! 

A special mention to Tallinn zoo, if you get the chance go there. We weren't expecting much, but they have everything! Polar bears, crocodiles, monkeys, heard of buffalo, lions, tigers, snow leopards and the list continues! Some of the enclosures are top notch and, whilst they are trying really hard and are obviously developing and moving in the right direction, the polar bears are stuck in a communist concrete cage which looks so sad. The polar bear cub was playing in the same bit of water that looked like a sheep dip trying to get a bowling ball out for over an hour!

Now onwards to Helsinki. We booked the first crossing of the day and the last crossing back, leaving us about 12 hours to see it. After a stop at tourist information to make a plan... Everyone needs a plan! ;) we set off. The market place, Uspenski Cathedral (strange prayer going on involving lots of chanting, tried to get involved - awwwwaaaallllliiieee walllowwwaaaaliee), over the lock bridge to Helsinki Cathedral "Rocky steps" (everyone pounded the sky at the top.) Then to an art gallery. After about an hour we realised it was a gallery almost entirely devoted to the lady who drew the Moomims! Apparently she is a big deal here! When we asked the guard 'so we've seen all the rooms up there, tell me, is it all about the Moomims?' With such pride he replied 'yes!' We got our money back. It was interesting though, but not worth £10 each. Once you've seen 50 moomim paintings and sketches they loose their charm, lol. We headed from there to a graveyard which was down as a must see...it was amazing! More of a well looked after park with benches, trees, flowers, bushes and so many interesting graves (artists hill is an area where artists are buried and they all design their own stone, unfortunately no Moomims though). I said to Niki that it's weird that some people here would have been Nazis! We had a little look and saw some of the Nazi decorative crosses on graves but thought we must be making something of nothing, until we came upon a grave with a 3D picture of a soldier in full uniform, heading the stone was two swastikas! 

After the graveyard we headed to the rock church, a church built into the rock and probably one of the most relaxing buildings I have ever been into.

Back to Tallinn and a couple of nice meals, some beers, more site seeing and it was time to say goodbye. I've had a really good week in Tallinn with Niki and was sad to see her leave. But now back to Riga to meet the lads and Dewi's stag do! It's a hard life... 

Stewie

Rob and Dunny's Tour around Latvia and Riga Stag Do

Stew had left us to go and meet his girlfriend, gay. Me and Dunny had a few days to kill before meeting the Brockworth lot in Riga for Dewi's stag do. We took the recommendation from Juris and Liga and headed northwest along the coast.

We drove through the same national park we had cycled through the day before. First stop was Roja, a small town with a big fishing port. We drove to the coast and did a bit of training on the beach. We got our rod out and did some fishing in a river. We were unsuccessful, our tackle was too big, the hook was too big too.

We packed the rod up and headed North to Kolka national park. Kolka is on a headland where the Gulf of Riga meets the Baltic sea. We found a perfect parking spot, see aerial photo below. We went for a run through the forest then out onto the beach. Its an unusual situation where pine trees grow thick over the dunes. The forest stops then the beach starts. There was a tall wooden observation tower near where we parked. We sent off Dunny's actionman figure with parachute he got for his birthday.

Then we drove south towards Ventpills. The roads we straight, good surface, thick forests either side and no other cars for miles and miles. With the tunes blaring we cracked on. Ventspills was nice, there was a massive 'Baltic Coal Terminal'. We stopped for a train arriving at a level crossing and lost count of the amount of wagons, there was some serious industry around here. Dunny climbed onto one of the many cow statues around the town for a photo.  We had a nice pint in a restaurant in the basement of the castle.

We continued down the coast to find a place to park for the night. Jurkalane it was. Again a perfect spot next to a forest just off the main road. We woke up the following day and went out on the bikes through the forest. We came across some WW2 bunkers, we had a good look around them, they were linked to each other with underground tunnels. Then we found a motocross track, we had a mess about on the bikes on it.

Next stop was Liepaja. We had heard reports of a cracking beach bar so we set about trying to find it. It was good but dead, we had a pint but decided to crack on back to Jurmala. On the way back we stopped at the longest waterfall in Europe, it was really nice. We took a photo then cracked on.

We arrived back in Jurmala and contacted Juris to see if he wanted to meet for a pint. We should of known by now, Juris never turns down the offer of a pint. We went to his favourite pub for a few. We woke up the next morning to the sound of machinery. Juris' road was being resurfaced and our van was surrounded by diggers, dumpers and workmen.

We spent the day doing boring chores. Had a wash in the river. That night we had arranged to meet Stew at the train station then go to the Red Bus for a pizza with Juris' workmates. I agree with Dunny, the hot pork pizza is probably the best pizza I have ever had. We had a few beers then went to a pub, things got a bit out of hand, we ended up singing with some Swedes, Russians and Latvians, about 30 of us in total!

All in all it was a good few days.

We woke up with sore heads. We were very grateful of Juris' mother for letting us put a couple of loads of washing on. Our clothes were pretty minging. We bought some gifts for Juris' family and said our farewells.

We headed to Riga to meet the stag do boys. Being on a budget we decided to have a few predrinks in the van. We parked about 100m from the main square in an area we thought was free parking. We headed into town to meet the boys. Stew spotted the group in an outside bar. They were all sound and said we could have drinks from the money they put behind the bar. This didn't turn out well, mixed with the predrinks we had we were well and truly drunk.

We spent the following afternoon cycling around Riga to see the sites.
Then we headed to a national park North of Riga.

Rob

Latvia- jūrmala with juris

We awoke bright and early Saturday morning to travel to Latvia. One last look at the the hill of crosses and we were off! Expecting to arrive at juris (a friend we met in Lithuania early in the week) house at midday. Little did we know there was horrific roadworks on the way, we ended arriving at about 1.30. 

We arrived into jūrmala a lovely city next to Riga. First thing was to stop of for supply's, bottle of vodka and a load of beers later we were set. Juris came and met us at the market and we followed in convoy to his house. As we approached it seemed there was a lot of wealth from the scale of houses and appartments. Juris informed us that a lot of this was rich Russians (sneaky fucking Russians). Juris showed us around, very nice house indeed. We met his sister liga and then tucked into some beer!!!

After ploughing through the BBQ, beer and juris homemade wine the beer festival was upon us. Firstly we went with liga so she could vote, then caught the train to Riga to get loose. €2 to get in, not bad at all. Great atmosphere inside live bands, loads of good beer and loads of hot chicks. Spot on!!!! All of juris friends were top people as we'll, he introduced us and we all got on! Most of the night after here was a bit of a blur. 

Stew had to go meet his girlfriend the next day so he caught the train there. Me and rob got a guided tour of jūrmala by juris. Quality tour at that. We went out on the bikes, he took us through a forest trail that ended at the river mouth. As we walked around the corner it turned out to be a nudist beach. Next stop was a park with a massive observation tower. The views were unbelievable. Juris was keen to take us for a pizza. What a great idea this was, possibly the best pizza I have ever tried. It was on a old London bus. Red bus pizza, if your ever in Latvia get yourself to this place. You won't be disappointed. We spent the rest of the day/night riding around seeing all the sights and meting a couple of his friends Daniel and Eriks. What a top day this turned out to be!!!!! 

The next day me and rob woke up and got out on the bikes again. We chated to juris about where he worked the night before and we were keen to have a look. The company was called JMP and they made children's playgrounds. We arrived there he showed us around and we met his bosses. Very tidy process going on, making top notch equipment. Pottential in business when we are back from traveling maybe. 

Me and rob set of from here for Kemeru national park. We arrived into the town, it was like a ghost town. Lots of derelict buildings and burnt down houses a bit creepy to be fair!!!! There was still some nice sights here though. A Natural sulphur spring that came out of a lizard and a old water tower which were pretty cool. We noticed a cycle track through the park so decided to investigate. What a treat it was it winded through the forest until we reached a massive series of lakes and marsh land. Here stood a bird watching tower which we went up. This was a result as we managed to see a white tailed eagle and many other rare birds. We cycled the 20+ km back to juris to crash for the night

We settled down outside juris in the van he joined us for a few beers/vodkas. He let us use his shower. Made my day, (we haven't had a warm shower in the van since day 1!!!!). By the end of the night we were both pretty pissed

I would like to thank juris for his hospitality it has been spot on.

Rave safe 

Dunny