Leaving Russia from Pskov via the border point at Sumilkina was like a walk in the park – go straight about 20 km, turn a bit to the left, again go straight about 20 km, turn a bit to the right and go straight for another 20 km on some relaxed hills.

Oh well it would have been a walk in the park if my left-leg pain did not strike back again around seven kilometres from home base (Pskov, see the picture above). Incidents seldom come alone and after resting my leg while announcing some key Danish words for dissatisfaction we continued. One more kilometre further down the road the police was jumping around measuring some distances between a badly damaged Russian Volga and a Renault with a big blow to its back. Luckily it did not look like any like anybody was injured.

At mark 8 km on my bicycle computer it malfunctioned and turned off. If my temper was not cooking before it was now (I bought a new battery just a few weeks before). Some readjustment of the battery seemed to solve the issue. Some guys here will probably ask why a bicycle computer reset can prove annoying, but it goes down to simple monkey business; I want to know how far I have biked and thus how cool I am:-)

The road out of Pskov was superb the asphalt was as if it was rolled on to the ground yesterday and the heavy traffic declined sharply around 10 kilometres after Pskov. This could not be said about the last 10 – 15 kilometres before the border here pot holes were the norm, however to give the authorities credit, the road was actually being upgraded with new asphalt.

At the Russian border post (see picture below) we jumped the queue or rather we did not consider joining the car queue and went directly to the border. We were waiting for ages (at least according to my dad) for her to process our passports and she even said that there was a spelling mistake in my dad’s passport, but no worries she would fix it. ”She would fix it” I thought for a moment until I came to the conclusion that my dad is pretty lucky he even entered Russia – normally such ”small” mistakes cannot just be fixed here. The Russian Embassy in Denmark had ”only” made two spelling mistakes in the transliteration from Danish.

We entered Estonia while we enjoyed the hot rays from the sun from an half overcast sky and even my left leg was not giving any problems any more. After stocking up on food in the nearby bigger town Vastseliina (or as my dad said Vaseline for simplicity) we understood that this was a very good idea as we ended up driving five kilometres on a gravel road into rural Estonia. Our destination was a nature resort called Piusa Ürgoru puhkemaja which according to their website can accommodate 77 people.

What we found was a collection of incredible nice and well maintained cottages near a small river surrounded by forest and hills (see the picture below). A great place for nature lovers and us! For ten minutes I was walking around looking into windows, knocking on doors and windows, but there was just nobody to be found. At last I found somebody in the kitchen of the dinning building. She did not really speak English but luckily she understood some Russian.

She showed us our room and the bathroom in the corridor, everything was remarkable clean and empty – thus I asked; ”are we the only ones here”. ”Yes, it is the end of the season” she said. Wow.

The only thing we are sure about tomorrow is that we will avoid gravel roads and go south.

As was expected with Chudskoe Holiday resort many things did not work as intended. We could not lock our hut from the inside, so we ended up locking it from the outside and then jumping in through the window which in fact also was falling apart. Russian customer service at its best. On the other hand the weather was perfect for our next journey. Sun and not single cloud to be seen.

After repacking our stuff we hit the road around half past ten and quickly reached cruising speed. My dad first to begin with and almost all the way:-( After around 40 kilometres my left shin bone was in pain and I had to slow my pace to around 10 km/h – something which quickly began to annoy my dad (which I can understand). To be honest I have not been doing any real bicycling before I left for this trip for around a month, due to the usual excuses as being to busy, doing other things.

Luckily this pain almost disappeared after another 15 kilometres and some leg massage so I could get back to normal ”operating” speed. Actually our average was much slower today; 18 km/h contra 22 km/h yesterday – some of this can partly be explained by headwind and a more hilly terrain towards Pskov.

After many kilometres with good pace my pain came back with some fifteen kilometres left to Pskov, so it was very nice for us both to see the domes of the Pskov monastery. In fact I think we could see the domes some 7 kilometres before we reached the city sign – a magnificent view.

It was easy to find the our Pskov hotel, Hotel Favorit, since we both were here in the early summer one year ago. A hot shower was unbelievable nice after spending the last 30 kilometres with heavy traffic consisting of old polluting trucks (an example shown below) combined with our tired bodies

We chained our bikes to the fence outside the hotel, however it did not stop the hotel receptionist from calling us and explaining that such actions were not safe in Russia and soon thereafter we were showed a place in the corridor where our bicycles would be safe – nice.

Such things should be rewarded and we went to the restaurant Dvor Podznoeva which I have been dreaming about trying out since we discovered it although without dining there last year. The expectations were outlived; the food and service there was high-level at reasonable prices.

Tomorrow we will face around 80 kilometres from Pskov through the border into Estonia where we (hopefully) will find an in-nature holiday resort to stay for the night. Honestly speaking a this particular moment it seems an impossible long way which all our current short comings.

Listen to today’s status just after arrival to Pskov (in Danish only).

Day one is always special and this Monday equally as much. I woke remarkable early at eight in the morning and we immediately began preparing for todays trip from Slantsy to the holiday resort Chudskoe Podvore in Spitsino some 70 km to the south of Slantsy.

After driving my car to site and taking care of some few final issues at work I got back a bit late to the hotel. My dad was already relaxing in the sun – the weather looked to be fantastic, no rain and almost no clouds to see anyware and a bit chilly but on the other hand not cold.

I spent a bit more than 22 months at Hotel Kirovskaya so I kindly asked the receptionist and all the cleaning ladies for a group photo both inside and outside the hotel. The nice receptionist also kindly asked me to write in their guestbook which in fact is not a guestbook but a book which every hotel and store should have by law; for complaints and suggestions, however I could and would only write nice things.

A final photo (see above) and we hit the road towards the new cement plant only seven kilometers from the hotel. This was actually the first timed I was trying out the two new side bags and handle bar bag for my bicycle. The good news was that all my stuff could fit and the handle bar bag did not make problems controlling the bike.

At site we gathered the colleagues which at that time was in the office for a group photo outside on the parking lot. I wished my colleagues good luck with the plant and they with our trip – my guess is that we both need the luck. We drove off to an anstonished grin on the face of the security guard controlling the check-point – two cyclists with a lot of bagage is not the standard around here.

After some steady pace and examples of Russia’s worst roads we finally reached Gdov some twenty kilometers before of final destination. Here we stopped by a grocery store to stock up on water and food (the restaurant at the holiday resort sucks big time). In front of the store a lady geting ready to bike away on her foldable bike asked from where we came and to where we are heading. Slantsy – Esbjerg (in Denmark) I said. I do not think she understood or heard the Denmark thing, since she continued asking whether I was local, which I guess is a appreciation of my good Russian?!? In the end I underlined that we were going to Denmark, and she wished us a good trip in astonishment and drove off. We shortly did the same.

The next twenty kilometers were a bit hard. I had some light pain in my knee shell on my right leg and my dad was complaining about a painful ass.

We reached Spittseno and immediately bought ourselves to cold cans of beer to celebrate. The first kilometers where driven without any problems or disasters. The holiday resort turned out to have kept the poor level of service of last year. In the showers the cold water was fluctuating so severely that often no cold water was present. And could we lock the door to the hut, no of course not, the lock was fucked up.

Russian service when it is normal unfortunately.

Take care og see you on the road.

Dear everybody,

Welcome to my blog which is here to tell you and everybody about my bicycle trip from Slantsy in Russia to Esbjerg in Denmark. Slantsy where i have been working for the last two years and Esbjerg where I have been born and lived the first … I guess 21 years.

As many will already know I am not doing the trip alone, since my dad has joined in which I am really happy for. We expect to be on the road for around 5 weeks and some 2.500 km through the Baltics, Kaliningrad, Poland, Germany and the west part of Denmark. The planned route can be found on Google Maps.

My dad and I arrived to Slantsy today around seven o’clock in the evening after a trouble free crossing at the Narva-Ivangorod border. It was probably the fastest ever crossing I have made from Estonia into Russia by car – only 1 hour and 15 minutes – almost a pleasure. The weather was magnificant and we got a nice picture of us in front of the castle on the Russian side. I will try to remember to post the picture here, however below you can find me and my dad in front of the (huge soviet) city sign in Slantsy:

Tomorrow we will begin our bike trip from my work place where I have been working the last 22 months. We expect this to happen just after 13.00 hours local time.

Before that can happen and we can I unfortunately have a tight schedule of packing and other smaller things to do, however if everything goes well we should be having a nice view of the Chudskoe lake some 70 km to the south from Slantsy in Spitseno.

Oh… one last comment, some of you are probably thinking why am I not writing this in Danish. Ask my Russians and foreign friends:-)

Take care…

Anders