To Kiev

Kiev (Ukraine), 03.11.2013

The road from Moscow to Kiev, door to door, was over 900 straight km. I had to turn at only 5 points: 1 in Moscow to cross the Moskva, 1 shortly before the border with Ukraine, 1 before reaching Kiev and 2 in Kiev itself. The rest of the day (and night) I drove just straight ahead. I still couldn’t believe there are no proper highways in Russia, a rich and vast country with a lot of vehicles on its roads. I had plenty of time to convince myself there really are none.

More Moscow

Moscow (Russia), 01.11.2013

The short detour to St. Petersburg had been a spontaneous change of plans and totally worth it. Now I had to get back south quickly, to avoid more cold and rainy days. To not just drive for several consecutive days I planned to stay one more day in Moscow. In the morning I left St. Petersburg in the first sunlight, driving down Moskovsky prospekt. At Pobedy square I briefly stopped to take pictures of the monument to the defence of the city. Then came the long drive back on the same road I had taken two days ago. Weather was good and I made good progress without any discoveries or adventures. Highlights were the empty villages falling apart and the WWII monuments with their tanks, rocket launchers and cannons. Approaching Moscow traffic got pretty bad, and I spent two hours on the last 30km in dense evening traffic.

Moscow

Moscow (Russia), 28.10.2013

Leaving Volgograd on a dizzy morning, the day ahead promised many km – and delivered more then expected. There is not much to write about the day on the road. Bad weather, low visibility, OK roads, and just a lot of time driving on flat land with trees and occasional ditches or hills. The more interesting part came in the evening, approaching Moscow. The last 150km I drove in the dark, and only the last hour or so there was some kind of motorway. From a country of this size and richness I would have expected more bigger roads, especially because for once there was traffic, enough cars for bigger roads.