Helgi and I outside the Kremlin, St Basil’s in the background.

I made it to Moscow later than I wanted, due to heavy traffic of the M7. I was making good time right up to the last 150 km, then it was solid. Being a Sunday everyone was on their way back from their country Dachas. The 2 lane M7 was made into 3 or sometimes 4 lanes by impatient divers. (Just use the dirt at the side of the road!).

I filtered through the traffic for over 100 miles, which was quite tiring. The drivers were pretty good though, often moving over to let me through, and always aware of my presence.

I was given a contact Helgi in Moscow who was expecting me. He’s a great guy who put me up and took me on two guided night rides around Moscow. There is so much to see here! Moscow is a huge city, and all of it is beautiful. The Bolshoi Theatre, St. Basil’s cathedral, Spasskaya clocktower, the Kremlin, Red Square, GYM, the 7 Sister buildings, the Napoleonic war monument, Moscow city, Moscow state university. I could go on!

I’m from the city of Birmingham and riding around a city at night is a special experience. I’ve really missed it! Moscow is exceptionally good though, being on such an impressive scale. As I followed Helgi on his Goldwing it was breathtaking, my bike riding well with no luggage and an empty tank was a bonus! As we stopped at each set of lights Helgi explained where we were and the significance of the buildings we’d seen.

Many people I know would pay good money for that kind of guided tour, it struck me again how lucky I was to find such great people.

Photos will never do this kind of thing justice, you have to be there. But I have been there – and this is an experience I’ll not forget.

Thanks Yuri, Natalia and all the guys in Нижний Новгород. Next stop – Moscow!

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.