Bicycle, trailer, load and body must work together!
N 53°12'02.1'' E 050°06'00.8''
Day: 8-11
Sunrise:
05:21 – 05:18
Sunset:
21:52 – 21:56
Total kilometers:
6883.92 Km
Temperature – day (minimum):
13 °C
Latitude:
53°12’02.1”
Longitude:
050°06’00.8”
Because we sleep at least until 9 a.m. every day, receive many visits from Katja and Michael and have adapted to the rhythm of the monastery, we are making slower progress with our preparations than planned. Although we would like to drift along and stay here for a week longer, we are slowly running out of time. Due to the new visa regulations in Russia, we are only allowed to stay in the country for 90 days within six months. Then we have to get out for at least 90 days. That means we can’t just cross the border and then enter again. An idiosyncratic determination, but what can you do about it? The countries’ visa situations often make long-term travel difficult. We usually come up with a solution, but often we have to adapt our route accordingly. The latter applies to our stage 3. To reach Lake Baikal, or at least Eastern Siberia, we have to take our route via Kazakhstan. So now we are forced to make another detour to cross the border into Kazakhstan about 200 kilometers south of Samara. From there, the route will continue eastwards via the city of Uralsk for around 2,500 kilometers through Kazakhstan. We plan to re-enter Russia at the height of Omsk. In this way, we use three months in Kazakhstan and three months in Russia to cover the distance.
We’re actually looking forward to finally getting the cranks turning again, but it’s been raining constantly for days. It’s early June and relatively unpleasant at around 16 degrees. Katja suggested yesterday that we avoid the dangerous rush hour traffic in Samara by taking the monastery bus to the outskirts of the city. A fantastic idea. Mother Superior also agreed. This means we don’t have to struggle through the city with our heavy luggage for the first few kilometers. So tomorrow we are actually due to start. I have a queasy feeling. Of course, cycling is nothing special, but I’m still happy when the first 100 kilometers are behind us. Only then do we know whether the wheels, trailer, load and our bodies are working well together.
