Day 391km
Trip 5329km
Bike 10354km
Right, today was a good day for driving! Overcast but no rain (but it is raining now that I sit comfortably in the hotel lobby) and a perfect 25′. The first day I did not feels the sweat run down my back or my legs. Felt so much more alive, even did a bit of ‘offroad’ by traveling next to the road on the sandy part for a while 😉
We got out of Volvograd fairly easily (thats before the GPS decided to quit on me for a while- although OSM isnt all that detailed anyway) and simply followed the Volga river from then on.
The landscape was flat dotted with hills and ravines, perhaps a little greener- maybe because they did not plant wheat everywhere. We got another good dose of the sheer dimension of this country and hey, we still enjoy it. Might be different in a few thousand km from here 😉
We had some close calls too, one in form of a car suddenly turning off right in front of us and then a bit later, when a truck tire blew up just as andreas wanted to overtake it.
We got to our hotel fairly early since we got up at 7:00 today. The Wolga Hotel is or used to be an Art Deco Gem- but it has aged a little and has not received all the neccessary care and attention over the last decades. But it still has some charme.
Saratov at first glance seems to differ only little from Volvograd- not much left of the times when it used to be the capitol of the Wolga Germans, invited here to settle by Katharina I believe. Hundreds of prefab masshousing dating from the 60ies and no apparent townplanning efforts. Quite run down too. But they managed to maintain a pedestrian zone (where our hotel is located) which adds a lot of character to this part of the city. It is (thankfully) not grand, but has a nice vibe to it- especially now at night.
I met a very nice american couple from Washington DC – Jeff and Si – travelling on their GS800 all the way to india- and funds permitting, on to south america via australia.
We will stay in contact and surely meet again in Berlin or the US.
We took a nice walk to the Wolga river- it being as wide and mellow as ever time obviously irrelevant to its existance.
The river also seems the local hotspot for weddings, we came across 8 on the way down 😉
I am feeling a lot better – thank you umpalumpa and my backside is also on the way of recovery. After a nice dinner I will now retire to our balltoom size suite- and prey for no rain tomorrow.
offwe_r 