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/
|