We spent a while in Astrakhan. Just after crossing the Volga we saw this attractive new building occupying a full city block and not yet complete. We didn't find out what it was, perhaps a new city hall, in front of it is a kiddies playground and across the street some more modern looking buildings that could be some sort of administrative offices but all this is only conjuncture on Lyn’s part, she hasn’t a clue really, any more than I do and I’m only a stuffed toy as I keep being reminded.

D and L went for a bit of a walk around but not for long. It was already well over 30C and I was left in the car to 'fry’ as per usual. When they got back D had decided that all he really wanted to do was find his way out of town so we headed off.

It had been decided that we should head up along the Volga on the eastern side; finding the right road created another problem in heavy city traffic. It seems that in 14 years the Russian may have built a lot of new roads , or upgraded them, many of dubious quality, however, their use of signage had not improved to any extent. It did a bit in the western part of the country but now signs are not a very common sight or so these humans of mine say. When they do spot one for a place in their direction they may never see a sign for that place again, next time it will be for another place off in a similar direction perhaps. Another thing, these signs never seem to be where you really need them such as on a roundabout or at an intersection.

Roundabouts, now there’s a thing: David, who tries to study each one before entering is somewhat confused, not a got thing in a driver perhaps but it’s the case none the less. On some the traffic on the roundabout has the right of way, while on others the traffic entering has the right of way. The Russians don’t make it simple. A last word on those said roundabouts, some are the size of a small country, you sometimes wonder if you are still on them, while others are so small the trucks have problems negotiating them.

The hot weather persisted and got hotter. We drove on northward through dry, arid country, past many small villages with no obvious income. Along the roadside we did pass several small stalls selling a variety of melons; watermelon, a bright orange melon bit like a honeydew and another one like a rockmelon with honeydew flesh. In such hot weather D and L enjoyed a nice melon from time to time, it was too hot to eat anything else except an ice-cream, and they had a few of them too. Not once was I offered any, you’d thing a stuffed toy didn’t have feelings or an appetite.

The hot weather culminated with an absolute scorcher, 40C or more for at least 9 hours of the day. It was Fred’s 94th birthday, the 17th July. We travelled through Volzski, on the east bank of the Volga opposite Volgograd. We had by this started to see some agriculture again. Mostly wheat and barley, then some maize and sunflowers as we got a bit further north. Crossed some canals too, probably used for irrigation though we didn’t see any. Along the river there is a serries of very large dams that are used for hydro power as well as for irrigation. On this day Lyn said that if she spotted any kids swimming in some water she would leap in too no matter how bad it looked, but as it turned out we never did see any. We had seen some on other days swimming where there were cows or where the water looked of very dubious quality.

That day ended with a large storm quite late, about 9pm. We were camped under some pine trees. The wind howled, the thunder banged about, there was some lightning but not a lot of rain. It did cool everything off nicely thank goodness. After that the scorching weather didn’t return.

Spent a day in Samara: It’s a very nice city also on the banks of the Volga river. L and D found a McDonalds where they used the internet for some time, I was left in the car but as it wasn’t so hot I enjoyed the break and had a snooze. They say that they have been having trouble finding the internet, seems as if Mcdonalds is the only place they can use it and that’s not very good apparently, it keeps dropping out.

We had a look at a couple of churches, we saw a Roman Catholic one, they say they can’t remember seeing one of those in Russia anywhere else. They also took me down on to the esplanade along the river front. There is a nice sandy beach and people were lying sunbaking, when the sun was out, many others were in swimming. There was a very chilly breeze so Lyn wasn’t inclined to join them. This place reminded Lyn of the beach front at Brighton with a line of large hotels facing the water.

First we headed south for days, now we are heading north for more days, can’t these two make up their minds just where they want to go: It seems that we may be heading for Perm, it was going to be Kazan but apparently we are a bit too far east to bother going there, damned if I know why, but anyway it’s now Perm we are heading for. I mean to say, I just sit here in the middle and don’t say a thing, just watch the road, the trees and the endless trucks that we encounter.

It seems these Russian have a curious way of driving; If they can’t pass you on the one side because of on coming traffic then they may pass on the other side if the verge allows. Then there are those that decide that two abreast passing a third is acceptable, to hell if there’s really enough room or a vehicle coming the other way. It’s enough to make my hair curl, if I had any that is.

Still in a very productive agricultural belt we passed through the oil refinery town of Almetevsk (Lyn may not have translated that right), she’s doing her best, but let’s face it, she’s no language expert, she does get things horribly wrong at times. In this area we saw lots of those ‘nodding donkey’’ type oil well pumps. David says they are very modern efficient looking ones, not leaking oil as the older type used to. Oil pipe lines going in all directions, not sure if the same thing can be said about them:

We continued north all the way to Perm on the edge of the Urals. The cultivation continued but not near so much of it, and mostly oats in the northern most regions. Kept seeing the odd oil pump now and again too:

It was late one Saturday afternoon when we passed through Perm. It seems a nice enough city, wide tree lined streets and bumpy rattly tram lines with the most modern trams Lyn says she has so far seen in Russia. Most Russian cities seem to have tree lined streets, in fact all a stuffed toy like me sees are trucks and trees. Most of the way the roadside is tree lined. However, the city was extremely busy with frantic, congested traffic, so we didn’t really consider stopping.

The Ural mountains; I’m not sure just how they came to be described as mountains, they are barely rolling hills, the highest point L noticed, according to our Sat-nav, was 418m, which, when converted into feet (1300ft) is not very impressive even for an Aussie stuffed toy like me, I wanted to see what a mountain looked like. We looked for a Europe/Asia marker but didn’t see one. One their last trip they had missed the one between Ufa and Chelyabinsk somehow, so thought they would be extra vigilant and watch for one on this road even asking me to watch for one, what was I supposed to do if I saw one? but if there is one none of us saw it. I’m not admitting to anything!

Yekaterinburg seems a much larger and busier city than we remembered. The car got a stone chip in our windscreen mended there and also found another of those Auchan shopping centres. This one supposedly had free internet too but although the computer said it were logged on nothing would come up so after D had spent ages trying we eventually gave up and left. D was doing a lot of muttering under is breath. Big new motorways criss cross the city and we never did find the centre, or at least nothing that D or L recognized from their last visit here. This is the place where the Tsar and his family were assassinated back in 1917. Considering that Russia is supposed to have a declining population (pity the same couldn’t be said for everywhere else) there seems to have been a massive amount of new buildings including housing.

The economy must be so much better to than back in the bad years of the late ‘90’s. the little dachas in the countryside where people used to grow their own food are now largely neglected. The little sheds on them are often nicely painted up and many are quite new, however, the gardens have not been planted and fences are falling down.

Now, I think we are heading for Omsk, but to me its still trees and trucks.

© Lynette Regan July 24th 2012