South wind

After a very pleasant night in our tent, we set off after a quick breakfast. We have a tailwind today. Who is supposed to believe that? A real tailwind. This time it comes from the south and drives us northwards like an inflated sail. Sometimes we speed along at up to 28 kilometers per hour. The sun dispels the morning cloud cover and blue skies dominate the day. It is cool but pleasant due to the wind. At lunchtime, we take a break in the lee of some trees and enjoy a snack. Then it goes on. Past the campsite announced yesterday. It turns out to be an asphalt surface thrown up with garbage. A rusty fence with lots of holes surrounds the miserable place. There is not a soul to be seen. Leave everything. Even the advertised restaurant is just an abandoned, half-ruined and closed wooden shed. “It looks like the Russians have a different idea of camping,” I joke. “Our wild camp was an absolute luxury,” says Tanja happily.

Without having put too much effort into the pedals, our speedometer shows 97 kilometers in the evening. We find a heated room in a very simple and, as usual, very run-down guesthouse. “Oh, it’s hot in here,” I moan and try to open the window. “Unbelievable, they just nailed it shut,” I shake my head in amazement. Unfortunately, there are no controls on the radiators, which is why we have to spend the night at a room temperature of around 28 degrees. From the middle or end of October, all restaurants, public and private buildings are heated again. Sometimes the energy comes from a district power plant and is then distributed unregulated to everything that needs to be heated. However, the precious heat often disappears in cellars and storage rooms, stairwells and other nooks and crannies that do not need to be heated. Modern energy-saving heating systems do not yet exist. There is a lack of capital for this. It’s either hot as hell or freezing cold. Nothing in between. No middle ground. A waste of energy on an indescribable scale. As long as the Russians have gigantic oil and gas reserves, they will be able to squander their resources. But here, too, resources will become scarce.

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