Wednesday 3rd June 2009
Cycling through Russia by Greg Yeoman
Greg Yeoman (shown left) was the speaker today and he has used words as follows on his web site which seem appropriate for this report:-
"Settle down with romantic ideas of travel and exploration running though your mind and let your imagination take you on a journey unhindered by visa restrictions, closed borders, nasty officials or civil unrest. For many people, armchair travel such as this is satisfying enough. The reality of uncomfortable situations in far-flung destinations cannot overcome the security of staying at home and just watching reports on TV or reading the accounts of those who do venture out." or in our case of being at a Probus presentation and enjoying a superb and breathtaking presentation after a delightful meal!.
"Others, though, cannot resist finding out what lies over the horizon, and they don't have to have an unhealthy desire to seek out dangerous places. Curiosity to see how our fellow beings live their lives in other parts of the world, a wish to experience situations that wouldn't occur at home, a feeling that it is worth meeting people from other places with another outlook on life, or a desire to see nature at first hand in all its beautiful forms - all these and many other motivations drive people to travel.
We set off from St Petersburg (shown left) in Spring, when there were no leaves on the trees, and we arrived in Vladivostok towards the end of the Siberian Autumn as the countryside was splashed with beautiful golds, russets and yellows."
A very long distance on the map below, of 8,304 miles, completed in 153 days from May 1st 1993 to September 30th 1993. The expedition was organised by Greg and Kate Leeming (Kate is also the first woman in history to cycle the breadth of the ‘New Russia’) to satisfy our curiosity about life behind the recently collapsed Iron Curtain and also to raise money for Children's Aid International and the Children of Chernobyl project."
If you wish to see the route marked in red with extra circular "700 miles expeditions" then look at Greg's website which is http://www.red-line.moonfruit.com/#/russia-1993/4511714099
Greg’s talk was well supported by a computer generated screen image with some high quality graphics and indeed a video of some of the highlights of their tour. From the multitude of details often put over in a humorous almost throw away style; three fundamental strands seem to follow the five month journey as almost common even though the ethnic cultures which changed from European dominance into Asiatic feature.
The first seemed to be the outstanding hospitality extended to foreigners, who for most part were their first sight in real flesh of English and Australians. Apart from one occasion the invitation was to join us for a meal and use our humble dwelling (picture on left is a rather better dwelling than we found!) as your rest place and the washing facilities are for your use, although in most cases very basic, after a draining bike ride more than welcome!
The second seemed to be from Greg’s perception that food was very limited in variety and appeared to be like over-cooked pasta rather than the luxuries touted in tourist literature of caviar and superb fish seemed non existent, over the complete coverage of thousand of miles and different terrains the food, was very bland, not enjoyable but just providing enough calories for the ride, the tourist board of Russia would not be enhanced by Greg’s delightful adjectives of the gastronomic delights of their country!
Another common feature were the trillions of mosquitoes that made Scotland appear to be a paradise, we were enthralled with the details of how to complete personal hygiene without being eaten alive and even more enthralled with other bodily functions of how to go without getting those bites on private parts! At some stage high speed cycling was necessary to outrun the equally hungry wild creatures.
We have all heard about the Trans Siberian Railway, well we were shown slides of the Trans Siberian Roadway, or as Greg said this is the M1 motorway, we saw reasonable tarmac roads, like a B class UK road then in the dry the mud road with dust and pebbles later the same track as a washed out mud road passable perhaps by off the road 4x4’s, certainly not suitable for bikes, even the rugged mountain bikes used for the journey, down to the same motorway but reduce to a four feet river, with bikes being carried, then sharing the same bit of Russia with very Trans Siberian Railway (below) long trains, a bit nervy but always in the company of the mosquitoes!
Much of the time was spent camping, where there are no fences and very few restriction, but in large industrial towns it was necessary to stay in “hotel” but these seemed of a very basic nature and Greg alluded as similar to camping but between four walls.
Greg continued to give us many details of this epic journey with Kate and gave us his impressions of how it was in Russia shortly after the end of Communism. He told us that they were supported by some Russians cyclists who joined by arrangement at various stages normally in pairs and helped them in terms of language and currency transfer and local situations, plus a support company who provided logistics for food and equipment in roughly two week stages. In the time span of a Probus lecture many details were expounded in a most interesting fashion and this report cannot do real justice so take time to browse the site above for more information and pictures.
Whilst Greg spoke about this early Russian tour it is obvious his cycling experiences has covered many continents including the polar regions!
This as indicated above was a packed and very interesting presentation and Doug Clarke, who has been to Vladivostok but not a bike gave a vote of thanks after question time and the fellowship showed their appreciation in our normal manner.
Vladivostok Harbour
A great show and thanks Greg.
