Eclipski

[mylovelyhorse]

Got back from That Russia on Saturday evening. Short summary:

- speeding in Estonia is expensive (if you pay the fine)
- Russia is very big. Really big. You just won't believe how vastly hugely mindbogglingly big it is. I mean you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist, but that's just peanuts to Russia.
- sand is Not Good to ride a heavily laden R1150GS on
- a right-hand BMW System pannier can depart the bike, never to be seen again
- little kids can be mobile thieves
- 11,000 miles is A Long Way
- you don't really need 5th gear
- adventures are ace, being home is also ace
- eclipses are utterly wonderful

Cheers

 

[pablo666]

welcome back
Are we going to get a ride report cw photos? or was that it? a la ATT

 

[mylovelyhorse]

welcome back
Are we going to get a ride report cw photos? or was that it? a la ATT

I'll do some pics at some point - only just got them off my camera. And I'll write it up too, but as I'm a slow writer, this might take a while.

 

[brucewayne]

Welcome back Mike...expect you're already planning the next one!

Looking forward to the pics!

 

[mylovelyhorse]

Some pictures

Right, as I don't have the bandwidth to host this small sample of the pictures I took, I've used ImageViewer.com. I believe it's click-to-see-the-full-pic.

First batch.

Bike loaded ready to go:

Edit: WARNING - Clicking on photo links below opens the photo-hosting site used by mylovelyhorse. This website is funded by adverts which may include streamed video 'adverts' from artistic websites. NWS - GM



Jeremy and I (right) meet up at Canterbury:



On the chunnel train:



Poland, Stalag Luft III museum - model of the camp:



Jeremy makes a big to escape along 'Harry':



Lithuanian village:



Lithuanian / Polish border (completely abandoned):



Camping in the forest that night:



Lake near statue museum park, Lithuania:



Freaky:




More to follow later.

 

[brucewayne]

Great Mike

Tell me honestly...did you prefer the GS to the Capo?
Good points/bad points? with the exception of 5th gear of course!

 

[mylovelyhorse]

Second batch

Edit: WARNING - Clicking on photo links below opens the photo-hosting site used by mylovelyhorse. This website is funded by adverts which may include streamed video 'adverts' from artistic websites. NWS - GM

A complete set of bounders:



It's Morrissey!



Lithuanian lake:



Bikes parked outside museum:



Big moles round these parts:



Something very nasty lived down in this hole:



Co-er, look where we got to!



An unusual wall decoration:



Bad Lada:



Another view of St. Petersburg:

 

[mylovelyhorse]

Great Mike

Tell me honestly...did you prefer the GS to the Capo?
Good points/bad points? with the exception of 5th gear of course!

The Capo wouldn't have been able to survive the journey, simple as that.

I refer you to http://www.apriliaforum.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1894414&postcount=7

 

[mylovelyhorse]

I suppose this thread should move to 'Ride Reports'. Any Mods around?

 

[mylovelyhorse]

Third batch

Edit: WARNING - Clicking on photo links below opens the photo-hosting site used by mylovelyhorse. This website is funded by adverts which may include streamed video 'adverts' from artistic websites. NWS - GM

Mixed view in St. Petersburg:



Space museum!



Fairly standard Russian road view, taken on the M10 (not a motorway) to Moscow:



And another. Russia's main roads seem to vary between newly surfaced (the other side of this road) and rippled & patched. This one isn't too bad:



Found close it is to where we pitched up to camp one night on the Moscow outer ring road. This pinpoints where we camped & the buildings can clearly be seen to the West of there. Something very nasty indeed lived here - an SS-20 mobile launcher perhaps. Surrounding buildings clearly included things like vehicle garages and the warhead storage facility. Crikey!



Another view:



Russian main roads are utterly choked with lorries. This traffic jam was on the M7, between Moscow and Nizhniy Novgorod:



These signs are to be seen everywhere - sometimes for city boundaries, sometimes for administrative borders:



Those low hills in the background are the very earliest signs of the Urals. Up in the North they really aren't anything more than hills. Pretty, though:



A snap of a fairly average looking Russian town. Can't remember where it was

 

[mylovelyhorse]

Fourth batch

Edit: WARNING - Clicking on photo links below opens the photo-hosting site used by mylovelyhorse. This website is funded by adverts which may include streamed video 'adverts' from artistic websites. NWS - GM

Chusovoy. What a dump. A very typical Soviet city, badly built and ugly. A bit like Peckham This is very typical of the rest of the place:



PERM-36:



PERM-36:



PERM-36:



Road to and from PERM-36:



I saw this bus in Ekaterinburg (Sverdlovsk was its Soviet name). Actually, I saw loads of them all over the place. I don't think it would be a comfy way to travel:



We're heading for the one in the middle (Novosibirsk in our alphabet):



The only Russian Police motorcycle we saw close-up on the whole trip (and only the 2nd one we saw at all):



What a sh1tter Carried 3 Russian lads though - and they knew how to thrash it



One of the curious features of some Russian main roads. Every 5k or so, these little potential turn-offs are built. If there's a town or village nearby, these have dirt tracks leading away from them like this one (rarely are they surfaced). If there isn't, they still build the turn off but it just ends:

 

[mylovelyhorse]

Fifth batch

Edit: WARNING - Clicking on photo links below opens the photo-hosting site used by mylovelyhorse. This website is funded by adverts which may include streamed video 'adverts' from artistic websites. NWS - GM

The speed limit is 90 kph. We spent half a day at 120 kph or so trying to outrun the front of this storm. We couldn't, so we holed up in a motel near Chulym to shelter from it:



All the traffic stopped, lorries pulled into the garage if they could and even the cars were left. It would not have been possible to ride in this weather.



Have a look at this video and then this one to get an idea of the storm. Both on YouTube.

The stunning sunset, about 25 minutes after the storm had passed:



Riding towards Novosibirsk and we saw this 50 metres from the side of the road, drawing attention to a petrol station!



Another slightly gratuitous on the road photo:



By the side of Novosibirskoje Vodochranilisce on the Ob river:



Camping by the lake:



While we there there, a feckin' great big helicopter went overhead

It's really rather big (and beautiful):



Never seen anyone take their horses for a swim before:



The morning of the eclipse this chap showed up and asked if we wanted to go to a biker party that night:

 

[mylovelyhorse]

Sixth batch

Edit: WARNING - Clicking on photo links below opens the photo-hosting site used by mylovelyhorse. This website is funded by adverts which may include streamed video 'adverts' from artistic websites. NWS - GM

Him and his mate:



The reason for the whole trip:



Eclipski:



Eclipski:



Long, straight Siberian road (there was a lot like this):



Entering the Southern Urals. Looks a bit like Wales to me. One of the rare moments it wasn't raining heavily:



What on earth that is doing there, I just don't know!



We're on the Moscow (Mockba) road:



Real policing



Oh dear:

 

[mylovelyhorse]

Last batch

Edit: WARNING - Clicking on photo links below opens the photo-hosting site used by mylovelyhorse. This website is funded by adverts which may include streamed video 'adverts' from artistic websites. NWS - GM

Radar installation seen from petrol station near Samara:



Scooterist gives advice on which knackered road to take:



Russian village view:



Excellent use for a rotavator:



This picture summarises Russian villages for me - a slow and relaxed but poor way of life:



Why mess around with those fancy cones and whatnot that you get in the EU?



Not the worst condition road we encountered, but a good example of the average or the poorer roads (actually taken in the Ukraine but exactly the same as Russian roads):



More road surfaces & general views:



Round the corner the tarmac stopped and the road turned to one massive series of pot holes. Didn't take a picture of that 'cos I was concentrating too hard on staying on!



This one was in the Ukraine, but these are to be found anywhere in the former Soviet Union - and they get a lot of use too:



Right, that's the lot for this extract from my 900+ photos. Hope you enjoyed them. I'm going to do a website and properly write up and illustrate the trip when I get a chance.

 

[mylovelyhorse]

And last of all, a piece of video taken to try and show what it is like to ride on these roads.

 

[Mr K]

Most interesting.....

 

[LoneTiger]

Got back from That Russia on Saturday evening. Short summary:

- speeding in Estonia is expensive (if you pay the fine)
- Russia is very big. Really big. You just won't believe how vastly hugely mindbogglingly big it is. I mean you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist, but that's just peanuts to Russia.
- sand is Not Good to ride a heavily laden R1150GS on
- a right-hand BMW System pannier can depart the bike, never to be seen again
- little kids can be mobile thieves
- 11,000 miles is A Long Way
- you don't really need 5th gear
- adventures are ace, being home is also ace
- eclipses are utterly wonderful

Cheers

Yes Russia verry big if you take a traine from east to west its about 10-12 days

 

[mylovelyhorse]

Oh yeah, this one (taken by Jeremy) is nice - the Kawasaki rider was so in the way - I'm just nipping up the inside - on the downhill section of an Northern Italian pass

 

[Deleted account 210609001]

Nice pics.

 

[RadioActive]

A very interesting write up there. Last night a friend was showing me the pictures of his trip to the Russian/Mongolian border to see the recent ecplipse. He took the easier option of planes and a bus mind you.