After taking some more wrong turns on the motorway out of St Petersburg I was presented with no alternative but to settle down and accept that some of these roads would be bad, very bad (10%) and good (50%). Most of the drivers learned their skills by riding the Metro in St Petesburg. If it will get to 100kph in 4 secs, that is acceptable. Apart from having to constantly watch for crevasses and holes and rough bits the trip to Vologda took 1 1/2 days with a camp on the way. Camping presents a whole new set of rules. By 7:30pm with many local bogs still covered in ice it was cold in the shade. The whole area was a complete bog and I was NOT going to be brave and try to get through. Luck eventually shone through and I found a cleared field that was negotiably dry to ride on beyond the sight of traffic that persisted most of the night.

I arrived at Vologda to be presented with dirty shabby township in the burbs. Nobody seems to care or notice the dirt and filth that surrounds them in their living areas. Old car bodies, scraps and millions of plastic drink bottle and bags. The centre of Vologda was cleaned everyday by an army of street sweepers. It was clean and pleasant and I joined the thousand other walkers at 6:30pm for an hours stroll. Locals just love their walks. And they range from 2 to 80 yrs old. Skaters, runners, and lots of pretty girls out and about. They are great conversationalists and seem to have long detailed intense chats with friends. Every seat had a person and every part of the parks are used for this event that happens every day. It a pleasant event and I think the warm sunny days probably encourages everyone out for a stroll. I noted that all the dogs came out a little later round 10pm with their owners for a quick squirt on sunset.

Tomorrow it will lots of riding and I have no idea where I will end up !!!