I didn’t know what a Kremlin was until yesterday. I knew of “the” Kremlin of course, the famous building in Moscow. However, I didn’t realise that a Kremlin is a kind of communal castle and there are in fact several. I suppose it’s a matter of English grammar and the fact the Moscow Kremlin is always referred to as “the” Kremlin, implying there is only one!

The NN Kremlin is very impressive, a high walled fortress enclosing a huge area, with walls you can walk through. We went for a very long walk through all of the walls, all of it downhill. Luckily there was a tasty ice cream stall by the river, so I could get an energy boost before the big climb back to the bikes.

It took longer than I wanted, delaying my departure, but it was well worth it.

I managed to catch Yuri and Natalia in my panorama, taken from the monument overlooking the river. It looks like they’re photo bombing, but it was intentional. It makes me laugh when I look at it!

In the morning Yuri and Natalia met me for a tour of the city, before I hit the road. I’m glad they did because it was really interesting and I’d have missed it otherwise.

First stop was a trip to the Pyotr Nesterov monument. Pyotr was a Russian pilot who was the first person to perform a loop in an aeroplane. This was done in a Neiuport IV monoplane, in case you were wondering!

He was later killed in a mid air collision during the first world war. He looks a bit like me don’t you think? (If I’d kept my legs together maybe!).

Нижний Новгород, or Nizhny Novgorod (NN) is a fascinating place. Lots of history, a Kremlin, a great biker scene and of course – Russian hospitality!

I was given a contact in NN by Misha from Novosibirsk. I was passing right through so I thought I’d give Yuri a call. He met me at the outskirts of the city and took me to a hostel. They were expecting me and it was all covered. After an hour to wind down and freshen up, he came back with a friend and out we went.

First stop was an authentic Irish pub, where the food was excellent and the Guinness too! They had a lot of English beers on tap, including Hobgoblin. It was a fair walk, but worth it – just a little strange to find here in NN.

After a good feed we went for a walk to the local biker haunt. Just a car park with a small coffee hut, but it was great! There’s a really good bike scene in NN, people turning up just to socialise. Every time a bike pulled in, the rider went around and shook everyone’s hand. Very friendly indeed.

We spent an hour or so just taking bikes and sampling English humour, before hitting the local biker night club. With pool tables to keep us busy, I managed to keep a clear head and get to bed reasonably early. (As in 3pm!).

Bikers by night!

There’s a make of tractor called четрак (chetrak). It stands for CHEboksary TRACtor. The museum was very interesting. Take a look at this cut away tractor for example. Imagine the hours of work in disassembly, cutting and then reassembly. Incredible!

After meeting Valya and Igor, I was shown around the flat. I washed my face and had some tea before we had a guided tour of the city by car. Cheboksary is an interesting place. We went to the war memorial up on a big hill to watch the sunset. I could see the city, churches, fountains and of course the mighty Volga river!

After sundown we walked up to another monument, the mother of the local region. It was all very impressive.

Back at Nikolai’s place Valya cooked up a storm and we talked the night away. In the morning they didn’t let me go without a good breakfast and a trip to the local tractor museum.

Thanks guys, it was great to meet you all. I hope I can return the favour some day.

I love the internet. I know I’m an IT engineer and (in theory) understand how it all works, but when you add the human element it becomes most powerful. For example, I met a guy at the traffic lights very briefly. Just enjoy time to say hello and toss a card through his window. It was about a week ago, near the border.

He wrote about me on livejournal. (http://moto-ru.livejournal.com/9722850.html). A few people saw that and one of them was Nikolai from Cheboksary. He looked at my live tracking and saw that I was just a day’s ride away, so he got in touch and said “come stay at my place!”.

It was another act of Russian hospitality, very generous and unexpected. I met Nikolai just outside the city in a small village and we rode in together. He turned up on a TRX 850 with no fairing and high bars. I was impressed. The TRX is super light and very narrow with plenty of power. It was supposed to be Yamaha’s answer to Ducati, a cracking bike which for some reason was never they popular. You can pick them up for a good price.

Loose the fairing and add high bars and you’ve got a hooligan tool for city riding. I wish I’d thought of that! In the right hands it would be devastating through the traffic. Nikolai has the right hands and it was a struggle to keep up! As we blasted through the traffic and down some back dirt roads, suddenly I was 19 again in commuting in Birmingham city centre. I was really enjoying the few minutes of madness!

With the bikes securely locked away, we went in to meet Igor and Valya.

I got very lost coming out if Kazan. It started off being the good kind of lost, the sun was out and I was getting a free you of the city by the hand of fate. I knew I’d eventually find the main road to Moscow, so I just watched the world go by.

I saw a sign for Nizhniy Novgorod, my intended stop in a couple of nights so I followed that. As I ran into an industrial estate with no escape, it turned into the annoying kind of lost. I came to the same estate 3 times by following the signs out of the city. I wasn’t impressed!

I’d past a guy on s BMW 650 a few times, going in various directions. I saw him again and I’d obviously been noticed as he flagged me down. He asked where I was going and after a quick chat he said follow me. Cool! I had an escort to the M7.

We went down back streets, closed roads, tram tracks and a footpath. I’d never have found it on my own. Just another example of a bike helping out another biker. We had another quick chat before I left. Thanks Kiril, good luck with your business.

Every city has a Lenin square, the one on Kazan is surrounded by great buildings. Unfortunately someone had parked a dirty motorcycle in front of the main statue.

The museum of Soviet life is conveniently located next to the…..

museum of Irish life!