2017/09/21

Day 54: Volgograd - Camping

I upload the more photos in the morning. I decipher the breakfast menu using the Google Translate photo feature and choose the rice porridge.

It is more "western" here even if people do not speak English. But I'm still noticed and, if I stop somewhere, people start talking with me.

Leaving Volgograd I'm riding along railway tracks for some time. There seems to be a kind of railway junction here. The freight trains are enormously long. I am gradually approaching the Don, or perhaps a channel between the Don and the Volga. The Don is a fairly wide river that seems to be navigable, I cross it several times later. Again there are police checkpoints. In a small village a bit off the main road I find a small restaurant for a lunch break and I get a soup, mashed potatoes with bacon and a Russian coke for 3-4 €. Nice atmosphere in the restaurant and I also the daughters of the waitress were curiously watching me.

Further on, I deviate for a short cut from what the satnav tells me and again end up in rather sandy slopes, but I don't approach to the riverside of the Don. Funny enough, the more I hate sandy slopes the more I get them. I am very slow and careful on this ground and because it is really hot and in addition the bike heats up too, sweat squezzes out of my skin. The approximately 15 km in the sand cost me a lot of time. I'm riding in a walking pace. Finally it gets dark again when I start looking for a campground for the night. Then I notice that my headlight is no longer working and I have to ride with high beam. Therefore, I decide for a place to stay, which is a bit close to the road and not really optimal. But it will be a reasonably quiet night.

Oh, by now I'm looking forward to returning home, but it's really a great trip that I'm doing here.