Day 4 - last day riding in Russia

saying goodbye to our hostess and cook 

too late to do a big blog tonight!
but just briefly - had a taxi ride for 80km to the River Volkov - yep, pretty much as expected - 4 squashed into the back and one in the front, no seat belts and good and bad roads!  only one gasping moment when we just got back on our side of the road in time !!!!!

a ruined mansion - probably after the revolution

then we rode the remaining 60km alongside the River Volkov right into Novgorod, birth place of Russia - interesting tour by english speaking guide got us right up to date in a nutshell, the history of Russia - and Natasha was proud to be from Novgorod.  already it has a bit more of a European flavour but that's probably because it was heavily bombed in WWII by both Russian and Germans who fought for 2 years over this town - so hardly anything left standing, except the Kremlin walls and St Sophia's cathedral (tho it was damaged).  pop of 30,000 decimated down to 7,000 so now most people living in Novgorod are from somewhere else - and hence the new stone buildings and european flavour.

first flock of sheep all trip

anyways, i decided to ride at a much slower pace today - I felt good but I wanted to savour the last day out on the Russian roads - and it was in pretty good nick most of the way...  again thru farmlands and small villages - even saw 2 herds of milk cows and one flock of black sheep!!!  AND!!! storks at last - saw one on a nesting pole like in Estonia - saw 2 flying overhead and also saw one lifting off from a grain field!  so all's well in my bird world!!

small local church - that's more what I expected 

 the River Volkov snaked along the right and I think some of the newer houses may have been summer cottages down by the river....  there was a feeling of more wealth in this region, tho some of the small villages looked pretty small and traditional.  but not many photos as we stopped at boring bus stops generally.
so now in Novgorod, - we are staying at a rather flash hotel - but the wifi is pretty weak, there's nothing in the bar fridge, the room is hot and stuffy, but everything does work so that's a bonus.  good food too.
so after dinner with the help of our crew, Maggie was fitted into her new box, slipping in very nicely and "Scotch"  was the cry - ie where's the tape.  Andrey put a few strips over the top and then realised we would have to do a lot more on the bottom and now Maggie is waiting in her box for her next adventure in Norway!  will buy more tape in St Petersburg before I get to the airport!!!

built in 1300's, now an informative museum with English!

St Sophia's inside the Kremlin

Leaning tower of Novgorod

Kremlin wall and (now dry) moat

So tomorrow - mini-bus to St Petersburg,(200km) then following day fly out to Oslo.  so I think that my Russian adventure is almost over.   I have enjoyed almost all of it (apart from that one chunder day) and couldn't have done it without the Russian crew - biggest thanks Guys!!!!   спасибо - spasibo!!!