I decided to head into Kazan in the morning. My phone was out of credit and I needed to top up, I could do with a haircut and I’d heard Kazan is a beautiful place. My phone was sorted from England for me, which was awesome! That was a huge relief.

The haircut I didn’t get round to, but I’m glad I took the detour. Kazan was full of great architecture, statues and churches. Well worth a visit. I’d heard about the museum of soviet life, so I made a point of finding it. It’s a bizarre collection of junk from the past 60 years or so.

What I particularly like about it is the fact you can play with all the stuff. Try on the clothes, play the soviet records on the soviet gramophone etc.. It makes everything that little bit more real. If I had grown up here, it would have been a real trip down memory lane – as was evident by the reaction to the toys by the Russian visitors.

The curator spoke very good English and helped me to understand what a few of the things were. We got talking about where I was from, going to etc.. Before I left I had my picture taken with the staff and some of the visitors.

A very friendly place, well worth a visit!

I stopped not long after at a Guestinitza. I really wanted to camp as the weather was mild, but all the fields were waterlogged. I would have bust out the hammock, but getting the bike to the trees would have been a mammoth effort through the mud. The guestinitza was full, so I tried the one next door. It clearly wasn’t finished, but as I was about to turn around a guy came out.

The usual questions ensured, where are you from? Where are you going? Etc. It turns out the guy was from Armenia and very interested in my trip. I was invited in for tea and biscuits with his room mate, also from Armenia. Gor and Tigran have been working off the roads for two months, they’re lorry drivers. They made sure I had plenty of tea and biscuits!

After a while I decided to push on, but not before they introduced their friend Ulubeg, from Uzbekistan. We had a good chat about cars and roadworks before I could get away. They also gave me two huge packets of biscuits to take with me. Thanks guys!

They may not look it in the photo, but they were very friendly!

I rode quite a long way today. Nearly 600km. It was raining when I got up, so I spent an hour getting my stuff on just right. Heated vest, jacket, trousers and rainproof oversuit. It was worth it as I stayed mostly dry. The heated vest is particularly good. I didn’t really need it, but I wanted to try it out. On the lowest setting it was like sitting in a warm pub. Ace!

Somehow I managed to wander off the main E22 and onto some back roads. I probably followed a sign to Казань (Kazan) that took me onto the old highway. It’ll be interesting to see my track log when I get an internet connection next. It was an interesting diversion, taking me through some twisty roads that were a welcome break from all the long straight roads recently. Back to small villages and wooden huts for a while.

I knew it wasn’t the main route but I wasn’t worried, the signs were pointing me towards Kazan – which is where I was heading. I came across some roadside stalls selling what looked like knitted garments. I stopped for a look and it was all men doing the work, which I thought was a bit strange. I asked one of them what the scarf like items with two handles were. He took one down to show me.

They’re loofas made from recycled plastic. The men were getting strips of colourful plastic and knitting looped mits for the shower. They were really good and if I had the room I’d have bought a couple. The yalso has bunches of the dreaded oak leaves for the Banyas!

I rode and rode, despite the miserable weather. I was just in the mood to watch the world go by, and there wasn’t much to stop for. The autumn colours are just starting to come out, In a few weeks it’ll look spectacular. I found my way down to the main M7, where the 2 lane road opens up and you can get a decent cruising speed.

5 minutes later it was all stop. 2 lanes of queuing traffic. Being on a bike it was no trouble to filter down the centre to the front, where it was apparent a major accident had just taken place. Two unidentifiable vehicles had obviously collided at very high speed.

It was a carnage of wreckage, twisted metal, broken glass, oil, fuel and coolant. 4 bodies strewn in unnatural positions with clothing covering their heads. The police were on scene but no paramedics yet, they had just opened the barrier to make a contraflow so we could get moving. I’m guessing that the occupants of both vehicles were all killed.

As I got moving I pondered life for a while, how easily destroyed, how fragile we are. Within minutes the mad Russian driving brought me back to reality. Even having seen the harrowing aftermath of a crash, it seemed all people wanted to do was make up for lost time! Amazing.

I found the old monument after a bit of searching, in fact I found two! They largest was closed for renovation, repair or just because it’s falling down. There was no sign to say which. The smallest was hidden in some woods.

I wanted to find the one I’ve seen pictures of on the internet, but that may not be in Pervuralsk – the information I have is limited. I figured three monuments was enough, you get the point!

Despite riding life, limb and Anglo-Russian relations for the previous photo, I still wanted to find the original monument. It’s somewhere in a forest near Pervuralsk. So, first stop has to be the town of Pervuralsk. Time to find some locals and ask around.

The border between Europe and Asia is nominally somewhere around the Ural mountains. Officially there was a monument marking the border, with a painted line depicting the demarkation point. The original monument is in Pervouralsk, a town with a name meaning literally “first of the Urals”.

On the main M51 just outside of Yekaterinburg, there’s a new monument about 20km further east than the original. The new monument is a popular place for weddings (particularly between Asians and Europeans I expect!). It makes sense to move it I suppose, the original is notoriously difficult to find. Put the new one on the main road and everyone’s happy.

The path up to the monument is strictly no vehicles, so there was no chance of getting a picture of the bike with one wheel in Europe and one wheel in Asia. Had I even tried, I would have been chased by the angry woman who guards the path – shaking her fists.

In my experience however, my bike is marginally faster than an old woman even when fully loaded. It was like a gunfight in a spaghetti western. We both knew exactly what the other was thinking. Eyes narrowed, tension mounting, eyes wide as someone yelled ‘Draw!’. I gunned the throttle and she gave it legs after me.

I just had time to get one photo before I had to bail. I felt like such a rebel!!

My first impressions of Yekaterinburg are that it’s big, very big. This is a big city for sure, but also very modern. No soviet era tower blocks, just plenty of glass fronted new style skyscrapers. A lot of the signage is in Roman text rather than Cryllic, giving the place a very European feel. As Russia’s 4th largest city, it would be worth spending a week here.

This is a place rich with history, grand old churches and temples standing side by side with modern architecture. The “cathedral on blood ” is where the Romanov family, the last Tsars of Russia, were executed. (Not in the picture). I counted no less than 4 museums between where I parked my bike and the Traveller’s Coffee Shop, a place that appealed to me for some reason!

Unfortunately, the European feel also brought European pricing. Coffee and cake was over 300RUB (about $10).

I got a real buzz from the place and would have liked to have stayed longer. I found a very reasonably priced hostel in the university, or rather I DIDN’T find it! It looked good on Google, but I was defeated by one way roads and a lack of information. With the traffic building I’d had enough, so I skipped bail and headed for the state line. (The border actually, more on that later!).

Is there anywhere in particular that I should see in Russia? That’s a question I asked a few people prior to leaving. (Russian people obviously). They all said Yekaterinburg. OK then, next stop Yekaterinburg!

Complete with flowers and pigeons, like so many war memorials the world over. A fitting tribute to the bravery of those who fought, the sacrifice of those who died.