Goodbye Russia

Day 126 Thursday 4^th August 2011

The weather had changed and blue sky and sunshine welcomed us as we left the hotel entrance. The bikes were soon packed and we rode just a few metres up the road to take a couple of pictures of the Black Sea which, unlike its name, was actually blue. Seems strange that this time last year I was on the other side of the ocean in Turkey looking out and thinking that Russia was just across the water.

Black Sea - Taganrog

This was truly our last day in Russia – a great experience, a very humbling experience at times and we have met some wonderful people who will remain firmly in our hearts forever most notably Yuri and Svetlana in Vladivostok, Yura, Dmi, Alex, Juliana and Lilia in Chita, Volodia, Irene, Valentine and Galina in Tashent and all the other numerous people we spoke to along the route. We shall always look back in awe at just how vast the country is and how rich in kindness but now we are starting our journey into a new country, Ukraine.

The road to the border was very quiet, that is until we met the long queue of cars waiting to go through. We could see the exit from Russia and the entry to Ukraine from where we stopped so we did not queue jump to the from (an error in hindsight). The queue did not move for a half hour or so and then it inched slowly forward until we reached the front and it was our turn to be called to the gate. The officer just checked that we had a passport and then we were let into the customs zone where we had to relinquish our temporary import form given to us by Vladivostok customs and kept safe in our possession ever since (the bike cannot leave Russia without it). The relinquishing of the form was not straightforward though as we had to fill in another form which was stamped and stapled to the original and then kept. That bit had taken us a fair bit of time – mostly waiting around whilst the border control found out what to do with us.

Waiting in the Queue 

Mark - trying to keep cool in the hot sun

We were waved on to passport control and our immigration card was taken and details of the bike were looked at again – this time the V5 registration documents. We passed muster and our passports were stamped with an exit visa – we were now free to leave Russia and we joined the queue in no mans land to enter Ukraine where a border control official gave us a docket for our bikes. Ukranian customs asked me to open a pannier and upon seeing my musty boots said that everything was OK – asked Mark if his had the same inside to which he replied “yes” so he didn’t bother looking into Mark’s boxes and we were then ushered to Ukranian passport control where our bike dockets were stamped and passports checked. We then gave the docket and V5 to an official in another adjacent window where he entered our details onto a computer and that was it – free to enter Uktaine.

The raising of the border barrier was a relief as it had taken four hours at this stage. We went to a currency exchange booth and swapped our roubles for some Ukranian Grivna but we still had now to buy insurance from one of the many huts dotted along the border. We parted with 450 Ukranian Grivna (about £30) each for 2 weeks cover a bit steep but we cannot travel without it. That was it – we were off on the next part of our trip – a journey across Ukraine over the top of Moldova and then into Romania at Chernivtsi,

We made slow but steady progress along the variable road surfaces (varying from good to downright awful) keeping our speed around the maximum of 80kph (50mph) allowed for motorcycles and we eventually reached the outskirts of Dnipropetovsk around 7pm. We did not have a city map so Mark asked a couple of lads who were very helpful and gave us directions which took us to the Reikaltz Hotel where we found good service and a comfortable room in a boutique style place. Our chicken Kiev meals in the restaurant didn’t fare as well as both had not been properly cooked but it was all put right and we enjoyed our food with a couple of beers before hitting the sack.

Ukranian countryside