To Russia and Beyond 2018

Jamie Walker and Sylvie Mabille de Poncheville
October 2018

Introduction by Barry and Margaret Williamson
   
In the Summer into Autumn of 2018 (May to October), this intrepid English/French couple made a journey in their Globecar campervan through the following countries in the sequence:

UK – France – Germany – Poland – Lithuania – Latvia – Estonia – Russia – Kazakhstan - Kyrgyzstan- Uzbekistan – Kazakhstan – Russia – Georgia – Armenia – Georgia – Turkey - and so into Greece.

They next plan to take a ferry from Turkey to Greece for a winter's sojourn on the Aegean Dodecanese Island of Rhodes.

Still in Georgia, Jamie and Sylvie have emailed the following introduction to their website:

http://www.whyarentyouturningleft.co.uk/

I don't think of ourselves as being particularly intrepid. The hardest part of the whole trip was getting our Russian visas, which we did at the height of the Salisbury incident back in March. We opted for 90-day single entry business visas. They were quite expensive but we used RealRussia Visa Agency and they were very good at supporting us through the process.  This would mean that at some point, we would either have to rely on the notoriously unreliable Caspian Sea Ferry, or obtain a Russian transit visa somewhere in Kazakhstan to get back to Europe. Neither option was 100% reliable. In the end we obtained a 9 day transit visa in Uralsk (capital of the West Kazakhstan Region), meaning we had to cover just over 1800km to reach the Georgian border.

So many people tried to discourage us from going to Russia, including the advice from the UK Foreign Office website. But the only thing we found was really lovely people (OK a few typically rude, non-smiling Russians also). We did run into problems from time to time, namely mechanical problems, but people went out of their way to help us and would never accept any money in return, including the official Fiat/Peugeot Garage in Krasnoyarsk (their furthest point east in Russia) who spent about 2 hours trying to get our central locking working again. I doubt you would find that in the West.

Once we were in Russia, it was pretty easy, even though there are no campsites east of Moscow, so you have to be very self-sufficient. We found water easily and occasionally we would stay on motel and truckstop forecourts for proper hot showers and laundry. An app called iOverlander became very useful (a bit like Park4Night but for more far-off places). So basically I am saying that I think you would love it. We met many other people travelling in expedition vehicles or Land Rovers with roof-tents, but we also met German and Dutch couples travelling in Hymers and Dethleffs. But they did say that the roads were shaking them to bits.

But with Kazakhstan we really did fall in love. What a really lovely country. It's hard to write just how welcome we were made by people we met, and how happy and honoured they were that we had made the effort to come and visit their country. It's an experience we will never forget. The only downside was the roads, but they are undergoing a huge road building project and hope to have all cities connected by western standard roads by 2020 (a process they are about half way through). Some of the roads were truly atrocious, and I will never ever complain about roadworks in the UK again. Kazakh roadworks are really really bad, they take you on diversions into forests and deserts for miles and miles. On once occasion it took us 2 days to drive 200km. 

We had sold our old Elddis and bought a newer Globecar from OakTree Motorhomes, which despite a few problems has held together really well. But I think we are going to need some new tyres: we left with new Conti Vanco but they are almost worn bare. 

At the moment we are in Armenia and again we have been really blown away by the warmth and hospitality of this relatively poor country. And as for the history, wow, this country has it in buckets. We have been to some sights that have been swamped with bus-loads of tourists and we have been to some equally if not more beautiful and stunning places that we have literally had to ourselves: no gift shops, no tour buses. Today, for instance, we drove on quite a big detour to find Aruchavank, one of the largest Armenian churches dating from 661AD. Just sitting on the edge of a dusty village at the end of a potholed road, our only company was some stray dogs.

We stayed on Armenia's only campsite for a week last week, Camping 3GS, which is one of the nicest campsites I have ever experienced, run by a Dutch couple who built it from scratch over the last 6 years. There were a few other campers, quite a few who were on their way back from Central Asia, and a German couple who were waiting for their Iranian visas, hoping to spend Christmas in Oman. It made Sylvie and I wish we could go to Iran but unfortunately Brits are having a hard time getting visas at the moment and, if they do succeed, need to travel as part of an organised group. 

Our plan is to cross back into Georgia in a few days (we will be very sad to leave Armenia) and then into Turkey and down to the coast, and then we have the offer of a free house in a beautiful small village inland in the south of Rhodes. So if the ferry is still running we hope to cross from Marmaris to Rhodes in early December and stay until the end of January.

Here is a small sample of the many excellent pictures that capture this amazing journey. The first two are among Jamie and Sylvie's favourites; the remaining pictures capture something of their journey through Krygystan. There are, of course, many more images on their website:

http://www.whyarentyouturningleft.co.uk/