I’ve had a nice evening in Vyborg, and are prepared for a rainy day towards Sankt Petersburg. So far Russia have been kind to me. I’m looking forward to see Sankt Petersburg, since I’ve heard so much about how beautiful it is.
Prepared for a rainy day
I woke up this morning, missed the breakfast and quite unsure about how to go shopping for food in Russia. The bag is prepared, I’ve checked out and picked up my bicycle at the garage.
The rain is pouring down. I’ve dressed myself up in a rain jacket, gloves, waterproof shoe covers and my 3/4 bicycle pants, they should be warm enough.
Ever tried shopping for food in Russia?
I’m trying to look for a supermarket before I leave Vyborg. I get out of the old town and there it is. I must admit that finding water without gas was easier in Russia than Finland. I bought some bananas, bread and chocolate.
Finally I’m on the road. I’ve decided to get quite a lot of kilometers today, but not 100% sure if I’ll go all the way to St. Petersburg, which is quite far away. The weather report tells me that I will get wet, really wet today.
The roads are quite bad from time to time and the traffic is as usual in Russia. Even if you have the whole road available, they will drive 30-40cm from you.
Should I go all in for reaching St. Petersburg?
I’m getting more and more sure about going all the way today. The weather is a bit better as well and I keep a good speed. The only time I’ve been freezing today is when I stop, so it hasn’t been many breaks today.
You can see that the city is getting closer. I’m cycling along the beautiful beach and can see all the way out on the Gulf of Finland. There’s resturants, hotels, parks and churches.
The distances here is quite long. When you start cycling in the city, you can go for hours. It might be explained when you look at the population. In St Petersburg it is almost the same amount of people as in whole Norway.
At first, I’m trying to stay on the pavement, but there’s too many people, I have to say on the main road. I feel comfortable with this, but you need to stay focused, the cars are coming from everywhere.
What an amazing sight….BEAUTIFUL
Crossing one of the bridges, I’m getting close to the heart of St Petersburg. I’m trying to look for some place to stay. I’ve cycled 170Km today, but I still feel fresh.
After being refused at some hotels, I’m finally lucky enough to get accepted at a small private hotel. There is no reception, you’ll have to call from the outside and they will open the door for you. I’m allowed to take my dirty bicycle, trailer and bag with me inside.
The shower can only be described as amazing. The feeling of washing of the gravel parts from the roads, the feeling of getting clean again….If you ever experience a day like this, you will know this feeling.
St. Petersburg…You’ve convinced me, I’m coming back
I spent the evening out in St. Petersburg, watching all the amazing buildings, enjoing some food and a glass of white wine. I could spend day’s in this beautiful place…. Next time, and yes it will be a next time, but then with company.
I’m not 100% sure about my plan for tomorrow, but I have some ideas. Everything depends on my legs and energy. I feel strong and fresh, so who knows!
Just want to say thank you to all of you that is following me and that are giving me comments, I really appreciate it and it makes a rainy day worth it.
See you later!
Picture album from today:
GPS Data from today’s ride:
Norwegian
Ser fantastisk ut,der må me reise eingong 🙂
Heilt klart ein plass det er verdt å reise til! 🙂
Heise kjekt å lesa bloggen. Gler meg til referat kvar dag
Hei Angunn, så kjekt å hørra! 🙂 Håpe det står bra til heime!
how can you communicate? Do you speak russian or do they speak norwegian? english? hand and feet? Must be interesting to see words in a different, unreadable alphabet. But as long as the sea is on your right side, you can’t be wrong, can you?
Ok, I imagine the solution is technical, let me guess: GPS?
😉
By the way: I like your fotos and every evening I am curious of what you’ve written down today!
Hi Tom,
Communication is a challenge, but there’s a charm with everything right? 🙂 I don’t speak russian and they certanly do not speak norwegian, so I speak english to them and they reply in russian 😉 Hand and feet is the most international language, so I must admit that I’m using that quite a bit. The alphabet in Russia is as you say different, some places you can actually see a word when you look at it, but that’s probably since I know what it is supposed to say.
About navigating, I’m looking carefully at the map in the morning everyday. Write down some distances, names of places and roads. By using this, I will be able to find the way. I have a gps available just in case, this is mostly used to get in and out of big cities.
Thank’s, It’s not everyday that I’m able to take nice photos, but I try to take time to stop and get a nice picture. Of course on the days that the weather is bad, I must think about the camera, don’t want to break it.
About to write the blogpost for yesterday’s ride now, hope you like it. Then I will get some breakfast and prepare myself for about 100Km on the road today.
Regards,
Stian