Riding down from St Petersburg to Moscow and then East has started to cause a change in the landscape.
The road from St Petersburg was treelined pretty much all the way. A variety of reds, ambers and greens as the leaves start to fall, but difficult to grasp the lie of the land from the road. Overall though it was relatively flat (apart from the road surface).
Similar situation up to Kazan (cities just sort of appear out of the woods) but thereafter there were a series of rolling hills which opened out into large fields nearer to Ufa. The landscape is flat, with large fields of wheat on either side. There are no hedgerows or boundaries to speak of, and the fields go on and on until they hit bits of forest or wood.
These fields are interspersed every now and then with oil pumps which appear in clusters. Also the characteristic onion shaped domes of the orthodox churches are now replaced with mosques. I'm not far from Kazakstan and the different ethic groups start to appear, some Russian, some more middle easterm and some Mongolian.
The distances are vast, and it can feel like I ride all day and don't go very far. Tomorrow will be a late start (as I arrange a haircut!) and then I'll head off to Chelyabinsk (only 250 miles) and a rest day.
The bike is in dire need of a clean and is completely encrusted in flies! Every time I stop wasps zoom around looking for some easy pickings. One to sort in Chelyabinsk I think.
Cheers, the weather has been great here. Have a great time on the South of France.
Hi Ed, enjoy reading about your epic journey as we lounge about on holiday in the south of France. We have had great weather apart from yesterday when we travelled to our present site in pouring rain which didn’t stop till 8.00am. Hope you factored in the haircut stops. Safe biking. Norrie & Bernice