There’s an English pub in Kaliningrad. In fact there are two, this one and the London bar. After I’d freshened up back at the hostel, Inga and her ex husband picked me up and took me for a beer. Inside was decorated in typical English style, compete with a huge TV showing the Liverpool/Villa match. Great!

So, I spent my last night in Kaliningrad in an English pub watching English football. Fish and chips plus a pint of Kilkenny, marvellous!

It wasn’t a late night as Valve was with us, but that’s a good thing! I didn’t want a heavy session, I’ve had enough of those for a while! I tried to pick up the tab, but in typical Russian style I wasn’t allowed to pay for anything. So generous, thank you!

After the match we went to the seaside. Much like the British seaside, there were people paddling, ice cream stands and posh hotels. It could have been anywhere on the coast at home.

It was quite a moment, as the last sea I saw was the sea of Japan. That’s over 6000 miles away in a straight line! It doesn’t seem like much on a day to day basis, but it finally sunk home that I’ve managed to travel across an entire continent in my bike. I almost felt proud!

Of course, I’m still a long way from home and not counting my chickens just yet! Tomorrow I plan to take the road that spans the Baltic sea from Kaliningrad to Klaipeda, Lithuania. It looks very interesting, I’ll be sure to have my camera handy!

In case (like me) you didn’t know, Immanuel Kant was an influential philosopher from the 1700s. If you Google and read his work ‘The Critique of Pure Reason’, you probably won’t understand it either.

Anyway, I bring this up because he lived and is now buried in Kaliningrad. The house where he lived was bombed during the war, but has subsequently been restored. What a fine piece of restoration work it is too.

I’ve had my picture taken a lot today, Inga is quite a camera fan. I didn’t take many pictures myself, but here’s one of Inga outside Immanuel Kant’s house and grave.

Shortly afterwards we collected her son and took him to a football match. He’s only 13 but a nice lad who’s learning English at school. Like all 13 year olds he was a but shy about taking to me in English. (Just like me learning French when I was at school). But Inga was keen for us to talk, so we did.

One thing that struck me as we wandered around was how peaceful it all was. It was a beautiful day, clear skies and no wind. Inside and out there was no noise, no traffic, just distant birdsong.

From the relics around it was obviously the scene of a long and bloody battle, resulting in many deaths on both sides. Despite this, seventy years on it had become a tranquil space and museum.

It really brings home the futility of war.

I had a great day today in Kaliningrad, thanks to Inga and the Goldwing club. In the morning Inga collected me for an excursion around Kaliningrad. First stop was the 5th fortress, a very interesting WWII fortress where the Russian forces overwhelmed the German occupants.

The fortress was interesting in its own right, with a moat and lots of tunnels. Access to the Baltic sea, specifically the only part of the Baltic sea that doesn’t freeze in winter, made Kaliningrad a strategically important port for maintaining supply chains.

In German hands the city was known as Königsberg, which some people still refer to it as today. There were a lot of German tourists around, but fortunately no queues for them to jump! Some guys dressed up as soldiers were due to do a reenactment of the battle in the next 5 minutes, bonus!

We got fed up of waiting, so we wandered off into some tunnels. As we came back out there were 5 Russian soldiers running towards us firing automatic weapons. They were madly gesticulating for us to get out of the way. It was quite bizarre, but it made the German tourists laugh.

Afterwards they let me have a crack with their weapons to make amends. Awesome!

I pulled into the Ibis hotel yesterday to call Inga. I figured it was a big enough landmark to make it easy for her to find me. I’d just killed the engine when a guy smoking outside said ‘hello, where are you from?’.

I got taking to Oli, a German guy from Hamburg. Inga was going to be an hour, so we sat in the hotel bar to wait. (coffee for me, the limit for alcohol whilst driving in Russia is 0).

Oli is working away in the tobacco industry, but will be home in 3 weeks time. My planned route takes me through Germany petty close to Hamburg.

Another guy came into the bar, also working away from home. Jan is from Denmark, also very close to my intended route and only 3 hrs drive from Oli.

Nice to meet you guys, I’ll be sure to let you know when I’m passing through!

It took a while to cross the border, so even though I only did 200 kms today I rolled into town around half 6.

Kaliningrad is a little piece of the Russian federation between Poland and Lithuania. I have a contact here Inga, who is taking me on a tour tomorrow. I met her briefly tonight and she seems a nice lady. She showed me a photo of her Goldwing and it’s bright pink!!

Inga doesn’t speak and English and I’m a little disappointed that I needed to get Dima to translate for me, maybe I have a Moscow accent?? Anyway, it’s all arranged and I’m looking forward to seeing the real Kaliningrad.

In the morning I followed Chip and Ken out of Kaunas and south towards Poland. Seeing their yellow Klim jackets again was a pleasantly familiar sight. When we got to the turn off for Kaliningrad we pulled over to say our goodbyes. As I recalled first meeting them in Seoul, I realised how far we’d travelled together.

My original plan was to give it a day or so and see how we got on. Three is a strange number and I didn’t expect we’d get all that far together. As it turned out we got on really well, making a good team by playing on each other’s strengths.

I’m sure they’ll have a ball blasting through Europe, Octoberfest, seeing Ken’s wife in Milan before shipping the bikes bike from England. I doubt I’ll be home in time to catch them again, so take care guys!

It’s been a privilege.

Getting closer to home the scenery has been gradually getting more familiar. The flora and fauna are more like what I’m used to, weeping willow trees, larches and silver birches etc., rather than the evergreens in the far East. The autumn colours are just starting to come out too.

This morning I saw a couple of conkers. I haven’t seen those for a few years and I got a real pang of nostalgia! They’re such petty things when they’re shiny and new.

The sky is looking more familiar too. The vapour trails of passenger jets have returned, they’ve been absent for a long time. I didn’t necessarily miss them, but it’s nice to have them back!