The ooh aah days of the big hills are a long way behind us now. We haven’t seen a mountain range since our first day in Uzbekistan 10 days ago and we haven’t seen a thing you could call a hill for 5 days.
Before we pulled out of Astrakhan we went to the workshop were Peters car was to get a shock absorber mount fixed to check that it was going to happen today. The workshop mechanic assured us, it would be fixed for 5 this afternoon. We received word on our arrival at the hotel in Volgograd that Peter and Sue where just getting on the road so should arrive here at about midnight.
First things to report is a bit more about Astrakhan, when we drove in yesterday afternoon it was a town with the feel and look that made us think I’d like to stay an extra day and look around. Alas we where to busy fixing to even look around in the afternoon so maybe next time if there is one.
Today we slowly climbed up hill till about hallway through the 430k journey, we got above sea level and that is where the farming started again. Prior to that it was all just grazing country and as flat as a pancake for as far as you could see.
We stoped fro morning tea at a roadside cafe and meet a nice you man and his uncle who gave us some road tips for tomorrows route. Just after that we stoped at the roadside dried fish stall for a photo and he was there and gave us a dried fish to try. Later in the day we ate some of it, not bad taste but hard work getting the flesh from the tough skin and around the bones. We probably have not been hungry enough to acquire a likening for such food.
The drive into Volgograd, the old Stalingrad is a city spread out along the Volga river for kilometres and was not one saying stay longer, maybe because we entered through a very large industrial area on the south. Sadly we only have tonight so we will never know what we may have missed.
Sorting photos for the blog is a different process these days with only 50 photos to sort instead of 3 or 400 in the mountains. I will always endeavour to find interesting photos to include.
This trip is drawing to a close quickly with day 48 completed and only 12 days till Helsinki. Then all well Penny and I will drive to the UK so I can ship her home with parts and pieces I have stored with Daniel at Ripon Yorkshire.
Julie Stephenson
Can you imagine how many flies there would be on the fish if it was hanging here in Australia honey????
Max Stephenson
The wonders of a cold dry climate. It didnt even smell!
Kirill Veprikov
Oh, actually this fish is some kind of snack for beer.