Our hotel in Barnual was certainly a grand affair and we are reluctant to leave. But after breakfast leave we must. An easy day of about 250 miles on good roads heading south towards Mongolia. The scenery starts to get more hilly and the river and associated lakes running beside the road are extremely busy with day trippers. It's like a day out to the seaside, I guess. We end up at a place called Shebalino and a hotel Elena for the evening. Steve Garry, Nick an...

My god we have the best breakfast ever. Everything from Bucks Fizz to hot chicken. Nick and Garry miss breakfast however as they over sleep. We have a scheduled start to leave the hotel should have been 8am but turned out to be nearer to 845 due to Nick oversleeping! Our 350 miles today was mostly on back roads through rural Russia. Lot of farming in giant fields growing everything from cereals to potatoes. Lots of big machinery to do this but we occasionally ca...

Into Moscow early morning for breakfast followed by a photo shoot with the bikes at Red Square. (Until the police asked us to leave). Motorway initially then we turn off on the more minor roads to complete our journey to Lipestk. What a contrast to Moscow, we travel through rural arable farm land which reminded me of the Fens back home. Great roads but occasionally interupted by large potholes. The hotel Mercury in Lipestk was our base for the night. Modern an...

A day off from riding for sightseeing in Moscow. We get taxis down to the shopping mall for breakfast but this turned out to be a non starter as it was stone cold when we got it, so refused to pay and walked out. Taxi then to red square in Moscow but Steve Rob and I got dropped off in the wrong place and we never did find the rest of our party. Steve and I also then lost Rob. There were lots of world cup fans about sightseeing around the Kremlin area. A fantas...

We leave St Petersburg in bright sunshine, although it is pretty cool. Doing battle with the moring rush hour traffic is a challenge but soon we are on the M10 heading towards Moscow. This not a motorway but mainly a three lane highway with passing places. The road is stuffed with lorries and we make good progress on our 550 mile journey to Moscow. The landscape is pretty flat and we encounter many villages and towns on the way. We call in at a lovely transport...