![\"russia](\"http:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4099\/4857164561_a20d7f04e1_b.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nThe next day we drove to Cheboksary. I am told it\u2019s very difficult to obtain a driving license in Russia, but, as the test is mainly theory based there are two things that the applicant doesn\u2019t really need and they are the ability to drive or any road sense. It is illegal to drink-drive in Russia but the cars used by the police are so old and slow that only those who make their getaway on foot, or are too drunk or badly injured to escape, are ever caught. Back home \u2018road kill\u2019 means the occasional fox or other nocturnal creature; sadly over here it has an entirely different connotation. Many of the roads have so many memorials and bunches of flowers that it is extremely distressing. Also the people have so little money that vehicle maintenance, which isn\u2019t compulsory, just doesn\u2019t happen. Have you seen the boys\u2019 footage of the truck losing so much coolant his engine will shortly be on fire? I\u2019m very glad I\u2019m being well looked after.<\/p>\n
Next morning was an early start to get to the Mercedes garage in Kazan for more emergency work to my fuel tank. They were wonderful and soon had us on the road again. We got as far as Neberezhuye Chelny before having to stop for the night.<\/p>\n
Today the roads opened up and we all enjoyed the motoring. We are heading for Ufa and having a great time! The scenery is getting more beautiful by the mile and other vehicles are not so frequent or so terrifying, some even keeping to their own side of the road. From Ufa we headed to Chelyabinsk, driving through the foothills of the Urals. Lovely. It\u2019s hard to believe that after all these days of driving we\u2019re still in Russia. How big is this country?<\/p>\n
From Chelyabinsk we headed to the Russia\/Kazakhstan border, everyone, especially Steve, was anxious and hoping it would not be a repeat of the last border. It wasn\u2019t too bad, we got through the Russian side without an overnight stop and headed for Kazakhstan. Frankly I was so nervous that I wanted to turn round and go home – the crew had been telling me that the \u2018mankini\u2019 is the national costume. Thankfully they\u2019d only been teasing!<\/p>\n
As we drove further into Kazakhstan the scenery just got better and better and the roads started resembling real roads (at least for now). We stayed over in a small town called Komsomolets and then a short drive on to Kostanay where the boys had a bit of well deserved R&R. The following day started bright (for some of us) and early and we were really motoring and eating up the miles when Steve suddenly decided to turn off the main road. The crew weren\u2019t sure at first but what an amazing decision it turned out to be. They made friends with lots of nice people in a little village called Darobestja and we got to camp next to the most beautiful lake, which we had all to ourselves. I could get used to this camping malarkey!<\/p>\n The next day we stayed off the main road and did some cross country motoring, it brought back some good memories of the heaths back home and I really enjoyed it! Apparently we had to cross back into Russia again so we needed to find somewhere quite close to spend the night. That turned out to be in a field in Orshhamomo, the crew were worried because it was a farmer\u2019s field and they tried to hide me, unfortunately for them, no matter how hard they tried, they couldn\u2019t disguise the fact I am a big red fire engine.<\/p>\n They were dreading the border but it was even better than the last one; the Kazakhstan guards had no reason to delay us and the Russians were so impressed by all the paperwork that Steve has now collected that we were on our way to Omsk in what felt like no time.<\/p>\n Omsk is 1700 miles from Moscow, it is big, hot and very, very busy with lots of traffic. My crew are very good when the roads are straight but navigating in the cities proves more tricky, we saw several landmark buildings – several times. Can current and future crew now please do me a favour and if you are reading this, please hold your hands up in front of you with palms facing to the front, now stick out your thumbs – the hand that looks like a big capital letter L is your left hand and the other hand is your right hand. Do try to remember!<\/p>\n We left Omsk with the intention of going to Kuybyshev, on one of the straightest roads I have ever seen – the guys that built this put the Romans to shame! But the road actually goes through Barabinsk which used to be an industrial town and now it\u2019s only claim to fame is the (Trans Siberian) railway station. The boys didn\u2019t like the look of it so we kept going until we found a truckers motel which seemed a much better proposition than anything in the town.<\/p>\n Another day and another straight road eating up the miles to Novosibirsk, which I\u2019m told is Russia\u2019s third largest city, after Moscow and St Petersburg. It is, by far, the most attractive of the Russian places we have visited.<\/p>\n I\u2019m really glad that I don\u2019t know what the boys get up to at night after they have parked me up – some mornings they seem to be quite poorly and they have problems with loud noises. Which is a shame because the inside of the cab is generally fairly noisy.<\/p>\n Sometimes, when I\u2018m on my own, strangers come along and start climbing on me. It happened again here in Novabinsk; I was minding my own business when a wedding party started climbing my ladders onto my roof. Not that I mind but please, it would be polite to ask first. It was all very friendly though and when the boys arrived they let the bride sit in my cab and took a video.<\/p>\n From Novabinsk we headed south to get to Mongolia. The roads here are better than any of the other Russian roads and thankfully have a lot less of the sad roadside ”mementos”. We arrived at our destination of Barnaul in good time for the boys to find a decent hotel and somewhere nice to eat. We are now in the Altay territory so there\u2019s the promise of some open country and mountains soon. We\u2019ve hardly seen any decent scenery for days now.<\/p>\n Fortunately we were not disappointed, the road to Gorno-Altaisk was everything we were hoping for and more, featuring forests and rivers and scenery almost as good as any we\u2019ve seen and with the added bonus of a field of sunflowers which had quite an effect on the boys who couldn\u2019t resist taking another photo opportunity. Ahead we can glimpse the mountains and we\u2019re all looking forward to getting in amongst them. Again, within minutes of reaching the town, the crew managed to find a fire station and introduced me to some more Russian fire-fighters. Next to their fire appliance I felt like a midget but they made such a fuss of me you\u2019d have thought I was the best show in town.<\/p>\n Yesterday was good but not a patch on today, at every turn of the road the scenery revealed itself as being even more incredible than what we\u2019d already seen. We\u2019re now into the mountains and climbing up into the heavens. We have to stop every couple of minutes for more photos. James was driving and they practically had to wrestle the wheel out of his hand when his stint was over. We camped by the side of a river, surrounded by nothing but distant mountains. It is only now that everyone, including me, has realised just how deeply moved and even slightly depressed we were by the evidence of death and destruction that we had seen on the Russian roadsides.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n