Day 3 - 1/7 Rostov to Uglich - Vodka Museum

Now the real riding will begin.  After a hearty breakfast of omelette, rye bread followed by 4 crepes with crème fresh maybe – we dragged our luggage down the steep steps and loaded them into the van.  Then around to the lock-up to release our steeds and head off to Uglich – to meet the Volga and to drink Vodka – at the birthplace of Mr Smirnoff, Uglich.

Let’s get the issue of the surface of the road out of the way quickly…  it was bad in many parts, but there is obviously work on some sections where it’s a new surface.  But generally it was a very broken and patched surface and I felt for poor Maggie banging away over the gutters and potholes.  Its hard to hit a bit of a downhill and have to restrain Maggie from running free.  But maybe there isn’t so much money available for fixing roads…

And now the weather!  Slightly chilly to start but after 15 mins of riding I was unzipping my jacket and thinking that I will discard that as soon as we stop – and I did!  The temperature rose generally and for me it was a wonderful warm sunny day – tho others found it a little hotter than they had wished for.  At the end of the ride at about 5pm my computer was showing 30C when I was standing in the shade.  So slightly more tanned than we started that day.

 But it was such a good day of riding.  We rode through mainly forest of pine and birch etc, with an occasional open area, but nothing I would call farming.  We saw churches from afar, their 5 gold topped onion domes sparking in the sunshine – looking so exotic!  And these were just your ordinary local churches.  After about 25km we stopped for morning tea, near yet another church, but we didn’t go into that one.  Then back onto our bikes for our lunch time break another 45km along the road.

 We had lunch by a lake – and a bit of rubbish tip with a large skip parked nearby, overflowing with rubbish.  But look past that and there is another church, with blue and silver domes topped with gold….  And if you look the other way there is a lake.  While Svetlana and Andriev were setting up the lunch of bread, cheese, fresh fruit including bananas some decided that it was a good idea for a swim.  Some had packed their bathers, so changed somewhat discreetly, others went in their undies, while Sigrid – being a scando – stripped off and plunged in.  well, the other 2 aussies were already in the pond, so I decided to take off my shoes and go in fully dressed ie knicks and tshirt.  And Gad!!!  It was Ice Cold – probably 15 they thought – numbing and I could feel my body wanting to cramp.  But it certainly was a way to cool off…  and that account does make it sound like a lot went in – but it was Dee, Sigrid, myself and Caroline and John – then the rest were the Russian mob, Dimitriov x2, Vladimir and his son Timothy.  Verrrry refreshing!

 At last I had my computer working – I realised once I got started that I had put the front wheel on backwards and the magnet was on the wrong side.  So we had ridden about 8km without it working.  At a bit of a gather up, I quickly changed the magnet but the sensor was binging on the magnet so after a couple of stops and starts I just decided that it would have to do, so I didn’t correctly record the exact distance we rode.  And my right cleat was working much better, but I couldn’t resist at a quick stop before Uglich to give it a bit of a tweek and ended up with a numb foot again!!

Nimbin fences

 After lunch we headed on down the road towards Uglich.  I know that I don’t like riding in bunches, so if  I got up too close to someone I would cheerily (hopefully) put on a bit of speed and leave them behind.  Or if they were travelling at a good speed I would just drop back a little to be on my own.  The bunch does quickly spread out and I always seem to be one of the last to leave….  So I often end up riding by myself and Yes I do like that…  then I can sing Dr Zhivago – or hum as the words don’t seem to be stored in my brain.

I was pleasantly pleased with myself – it just felt good to be rolling along the road and eventually the road improved and all was good in the world. The traffic was fairly gently most of the day, but as we approached and rode into Uglich there were a few hairy moments.  But otherwise all good.

 we headed straight to the vodka museum and for the price of $3 I was given a ticket to take photos.  Merle decided that was too much to pay!  But I had fun there, listening to Svetlana’s translation of the Russian guide speech.  It was interesting to hear about the efforts that have been employed to control the abuse of alcohol, such as having to wear a medallion weighing 7kg (or 17?)  until you sobered up – at least a week.  There has been prohibition (yes that led to home distilleries) and rationing – but nothing seems to be foolproof.  Having said that, there hasn’t been much evidence when we have been out and about during the day of drunkenness, tho one beggar (and not that many of those either) was hanging around the museum and he didn’t look so good…  but I haven't been out late at night....

we walked through a market alley way and were promised time to come back to shop, but went onto the hall – near the church maybe – to listen to a choir of 6 men sing 3 songs for us.  They were fabulous!  Pure voices and the bass!!!!!  Soooo low!  First a hymn, then another song and the Volga Boatmen – sung with such passion and strength and control…  now yep, I am not necessary known for liking choirs, but I dashed over and bought the CD set.  I must see if I can get one of the Dimitriov’s to rip it onto my mp3 player. 

the Bass!

So back to the market – I felt sure that I would find a rat for my little rat boy, but after a couple of stalls one could see that they all had the same things – babushka dolls, xmas decos, amber, malachite, scarves – all very nice and I mean that – but nothing really grabbed me.  Until I saw the cutest little girl aprons…  so one of those ended up in my bag!  Then the rest had disappeared.  John went past and said that we were to be back there in 4 mins…  fine, but when I got back to the vodka museum, there was no-one there.  Gad, did they mean back at the hall, so turn around and back we go…  and yep there they were.

It was only another 10km to our cabins, so we headed off riding alongside the Volga.  The bikeway across the bridge near the hydro-electric power station was extremely narrow and when we got over the other side, we realised we were missing 3.  Hasty phone calls solved the issue and we eventually saw them riding over the bridge.  Dimitriov had hit ‘that cave’ on the side of the track and had fallen off and bruised his knee really badly and lost skin on his elbows.  Judy and Bob had stayed with him and helped him get back on his bike, but he was definitely hurting and for a big tough guy this must have been really hard…  but cyclists don’t lay on the ground moaning, so onwards we go.

Throughout the day, I switched my Hero on and off – flattening one battery, but not filling up the memory card.  Now to see if I can easily down load them all.  That’s another story in itself!!

There were two cabins – and one had double bed accommodation with one room of twin share and the other one where the kitchen was – so we strolled down there and waited for Andriev to drive our luggage down – now this is the upside of group travel…  we eventually sorted ourselves out, Julie and I snatching the corner room with two large beds in them.  Very comfy!  There was a toilet upstairs and the shower room was downstairs and there was also a banyan which we asked to be also lit up.  At first there was talk of only one banyan being lit…  there was a washing machine and I thought it would be a good idea to get a load together and some agreed, but then there was such mutterings and fluffing around that it never happened…  probably wont see a another washing machine,  but there ya go…  group travel!

Svetlana was totes in control in the kitchen and Audrey and Vladimir were madly chopping veggies for coleslaw entrée and Gail and I were given a grater each and we turned 4 blocks of cheese into a bowl of grated cheese for the macaroni.  The men got the bbq going for the sausages to go with the macaroni and away we went.  There was also jellied chicken meat to eat, thankfully I didn’t have to try that, but they did say it was quite tasty after misgivings.  (I am realising that Dee is one for giving things a go and she turns 75 in march next year, second oldest in the group with Merle turning 75 soon.  )

After dinner we had movies – of Dimitriov’s x 2 plus Svetlana’s ride thru Norway – down along the coast and off the beaten track - extreme mountain biking!!  Was spectacular country, but different to what I will be doing!

Then we saw another movie of a Svetlana & Dimitriov as part of a competition on extreme Sport touring thru the Caucasus – and man – that was extreme – snow ice mud on non-existent trails – sharply up and as sharp down again.  It was so good to see Svetlana in this context, not just the cook and back up crew!  We all knew she was a strong woman!  And such a nice one too.

And so to bed….