Russia / Ukraine

We bid farewell to Kazakhstan and head for the border! It’s a weekend and a small queue holds us up for a while but soon things get moving and we exit Kazakhstan with little trouble and enter Mother Russia. All our paper work gets checked by the border guards and we enter Russia with little hassle.

(Apart from one who never got a Russian visa!!! mention no names)

We enter the very tip of western Siberia and head for Kurgan well over 11,000 kms from our starting destination and our BMWs are going strong. The roads are fairly good and we start making progress with over a week to go before we come to the Ukraine border. We stop in Ufa where we take a fantastic ride on a river boat up the Volga River and combine this with a wonderful evening meal and magical river sunset. Riding is what we are all here for but it’s great to take in the sights and sounds of the cities we go through and one unforgettable experience is our stop in Volgograd formal Stalingrad ‘meaning city on the river’ where we are treated to a guided tour of the epic battle for the city in WW2. We visit the statue of Mother Russia and the Museum. It’s staggering to know that this city could have shifted the outcome of WW2 and to think of the many Russians who gave their lives protecting the city. In total over two million lives were lost over 201 days. A great film starring Jude Law was made based on a Russian sniper who inspired the Russian army to victory called ‘Enemy at the Gates’

We move on to Rostov our last night in Russia before we cross into Ukraine. Again we have no real dramas crossing from Russia into Ukraine and we notice a change in prosperity levels as we ride through small villages and towns. A farming community at heart we notice many sellers on the roads mainly selling produce that they grow either commercially or from home. The riding in Ukraine is stunning with rolling green hills and winding roads. Our last night takes us over the Ural mountain range and onto Uzghorod ready for our border crossing into Slovakia.