2008 Tour to Russia

[tatters]

Been a while since l got back and due to lack of time and the sheer size of the tour l just have,nt got the time to do a detailed report so heres a summary and the photos.


On the 31st may 2008 l rode from London to st.petersburg via Norway/Sweden/Finland then back through Estonia/Latvia/Lithuania/Poland/Germany/Holland/Belgium/France.


The trip took 28 days in total with 3 days in st.petersburg and about 7,000 miles


The first part of the trip was a long boring ride up to newcastle to catch the 18hr ferry to stavanger Norway on the ferry l met two English bikers who were heading to Denmark and for the first two days in norway we rode and camped together (fully taking advantage of the "every mans right" camping in norway).

From Norway into Sweden l had to pick up a new rear tyre at the city of ostersund as the new one l left the uk with only lasted 1500 miles, after about 3 days of riding in Sweden l had a bit of a disaster when my headstock bearings colasped making it very hard and wobbley to steer the bike which threw me off and few times, after spending most of the morning trying to find a bike workshop l came across a yamaha dealer who said l can prop the bike up on a jerry can in his workshop were l removed (with my own tools) what was left of the lower headstock bearing, after about an hour he told me there was no way to get the right tapered bearing within a week and even if l got the spare set l had in my garage back home fedex over the workshop was shut for 4 days due to a national holiday, so l put the front of the bike back together without the lower bearing and when the owner of the workshop allowed me to leave after giving me £100 l rode 200 miles across the border to Finland.


l arrived in the city of Oulu Finland at about 2am (still daylight of course ) and as every were was shut l spent the rest of the night sleeping next to the bike in a carpark, in the morning l found a small bike workshop ran by a very cheerful helpful guy (complete opposite to the moody swedes l met the previous day) who gave me a list off all Honda bike dealers, motocross and bearing shops in the city with addresses , The Honda dealer was out of stock and nearest bearing set was in Helsinki to the south, the bearing suppliers did not have the odd 51mm od tapered bearing either but the motocross shop did for 50 euros later that day l camped at a local camp site and used a tree stump as a bike stand while l fitted the new lower bearing and outer shell which is a real bugger to do in the field without a flypress.


Now that the bike was back in 100% working order l made way through Finland exploring trails and going to winter war sites/monuments till the 13th june were l crossed over to Russia.


Russia separates the men from the boys when it comes to motorbike touring, l went there with a open mind but it turned out just as you would expect.



the border crossing took 5 hours mainly due to the language barrier and Russian bureaucracy, the worst part was handing my British passport over to Russian passport control who started repeatably scanning the Visa under a UV light and inspecting the whole book with a magnify glass for about 20 mins followed by her barking something down a phone and point for me to stand against a wall in the corner while my passport was sent off somewhere, at this point l was thinking all sorts and that l was in big trouble after 2 hours of standing like a naughty school boy against the wall a Russian officer in a big hat came up to me and asked in English if the bike was mine which l replied it was he then handed me back my passport and sent me over to customs with me with thinking what the fuck that was all about ,customs took another 2 hours while l tried my best to fill out the temp import paperwork for the bike with a customers girl who spoke no English (Russians get quite annoyed when you understand them) but through drawings and a translation book l had with me plus doing a funny impression of a bucked toothed Japanese man when trying to explain were the bike was manufactured l got through and was on my way along the M10 to st.petersburg.

The 100 miles from the border to st.petersburg were the most fearful 100 miles of riding l,ve ever done in my life, russian drivers are completely mad and the things l saw there you just would,nt believe in the western world, the M10 is a 2 lane each way 4 lane motorway on a poor condition road with many pot holes, russian drivers will often get right up close to the rear of each other and over taking is done on all sides l even saw people cutting across on the other side of the road and driving on the far left hard shoulder the whole thing is like one big game of chicken when a car driving on the wrong side of the motorway moves at the last second to avoid a car coming in the oppersite direction, head on collisions are common.


I spent 3 days in st.petersburg doing the tourist sites such was the winter palace, cruiser aurora, fortress etc and stayed at a small hotel which unfourntly meant l had to leave my bike out on the street with only a cheap disc lock (l,m amazed it did,nt get stolen). the city is quite nice and not much different from a European city (was built to be like one by peter the great), things like queuing are,nt really done in russia when l was in shops or places like the winter palace it was who ever get the till first etc along with lots of pushing shoving and fighting especially at the palace which had hundreds trying to get in. there is also a lot of militia about (Russian police) including FSB (formerly KGB) who l saw pull a guy from the street into one of there black out "oo *** plate" 4x4,s


I left Russia to Estonia after 3 days in st.petersburg on a even worst road that was so bad l was glad l was on the XR650R, at about 10km from the boarder after filling with cheap 35p liter petrol l was stopped at a militia road block and a fat russian cop inspected my documents and discovered l was missing my russian insurance paperwork (could,nt get it at the border so thought l would try my luck), l was taken so a small hut by the side of the road were the guy dealing with me produced a small translation book and point to a sentence that stated "you do not have the correct document, you must pay a fine" so l said ok how much but l have no rubbles just euros and US dollars on me which he replied "Ah dollar!!" with a grin on his face, he then wrote $50 on a scrap of paper so l had him the money which went straight in his pocket and l was on my way.


Not much really to say about about eastern europe from there it was a straight ride home to england l did stop over at the isle or bergen and had a look over what was left of the nazi holiday complex and a V2 testing site, and rode a few sand/gravel roads in Latvia/Lithuania, getting on the euro tunnel was quite funny had lots of other bikers chatting to me asking about the trip and that l was mad to of done it a offroad bike.
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Past:NRG50,AF1125(x2),NSR125RR,ZZR250,CX500,VFR400,KR1S,ZZR600(x2),CB400N,YZF1000(x2),KH125,Z200,FX400R,CBR954RR(x2)GPZ500S,GT550,VFR750F(x2),RD350N,XR650R,CBR600F,CB250,KDX250,YZF750R,CRM250,400EXC,KLR650,TTR600RE,DR350S,R100GSPD,RGV250,VMAX1200,DL650,KZ750 Present:G650XC,C12,CRF450X,1190ADV

[NinjaLee]

wow! what a trip! awesome photos too.

what was your favourite country that passed through?
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Current bike: 2006 zx636 C6F
Previous bike: 2000 zx6r J1, 1990 cbr400rr nc29
Restriction ended: 17th november 2010

[tatters]

[NinjaLee]

[Paivi]

[tatters]

[michael j]

About bloody time
If only......
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Ducati 996

[Phoenix]

Sounds interesting, would you say it was worth all the hassle with Russian officials to spend 3 days in St Petersburg?

You say you need a tank range of 250+ for Finland, was this because you were following roads out in the middle of nowhere for miles and miles rather than going from one town to the next? Just i'm quite determined to take the Blade to Norway, Sweden and Finland next year for 2 or 3 weeks, tank range is a max of 180, though obviously can extend that with a jerry can. Did you go to the Nordkapp or not that far?

[alt101uk]

Really great write up and amazing trip you had. Some fine photo's as well. Nice one

[tatters]