Voronezh to Somewhere in the countryside 82km

I hit the road again today and despite having got up early I didn’t really leave Voronezh until midmorning. You guessed it another of those tasty meals had me sticking around a little while longer than I planned. Sergey and I also got talking about equipment too and before I knew it the time was eleven and there I was still lounging on the sofa. I’ve tried to embrace this change of a more leisurely pace and believe I’m doing much better at it than when I first set out. After all, what’s the rush?

Sergey and Ira escorted me out onto the road and were kind enough to also wait with my bike as I popped into the large supermarket to pick up water and some snacks for the day. Its little things like this that really make the difference. I’ve also noted that in Russia people don’t seem to mind if you actually bring your bike into the supermarket and chain it up inside. I’m not sure that kind of thing would fly back in the UK.

Looking back to Voronezh

An example of a section of Russian roads which have these wonderful sweeping downward rides, obviously you have to go back up but their steepness means that you can almost cruise back up without peddling. It's as if you're riding on a roller coaster.

In terms of what happened out on the road today there was very little to report. I managed to cover around 80km, a short ride for me these days and in keeping with my promise to Sergey I passed up the numerous invitations of spacious tunnels and picked a spot a little off the road in a nearby field.

Weaning myself off tunnels.....my field for the night

It was another blisteringly hot day and I knocked the riding on the head early enough to try and enjoy some of the late afternoon sun. I really need to perhaps even up my tan as at the moment I have these incredibly tanned arms, legs and face but the core of my body remains milk bottle white…… and no I’m not going to post of pictures of that before you ask!

Notice the washing on the line

Short and sweet today.