Day 203 - Nizhnekamsk through Ulyanovsk to
Enwahka - Sat 14th Sept
Overcast dull morning, fortunately sister comfortable overnight, ventilator removed, responding and eating - if continues to improve they'll move her to ward. Phew! On road to Kazan after setting up washing barrel to agitate whilst driving. Plenty of traffic on these major highways, someone in the future will have the benefit of overtaking lanes when the eternal roadworks are completed. Funny roadside stops with 4 high backed gaudily painted concrete chairs around a concrete table and no roof in a bare paddock! One was set back with gloomy forest overhanging (Hansel, Gretal, where are you??) Popular roadside stalls crowded with trucks 3 lanes deep blocking highway traffic! (One must have ones priorities right...) hit Tartarstan Republic, circled north of Kazan before turning west over Volga river and moving onto highway 241 towards Ulyanovsk, Lenin's birthplace. We will follow Volga through to Volgograd.
Hot lunch in roadside cafe, soup and meat pastie; tea with unasked for lemon and sugar.
Overcast dull morning, fortunately sister comfortable overnight, ventilator removed, responding and eating - if continues to improve they'll move her to ward. Phew! On road to Kazan after setting up washing barrel to agitate whilst driving. Plenty of traffic on these major highways, someone in the future will have the benefit of overtaking lanes when the eternal roadworks are completed. Funny roadside stops with 4 high backed gaudily painted concrete chairs around a concrete table and no roof in a bare paddock! One was set back with gloomy forest overhanging (Hansel, Gretal, where are you??) Popular roadside stalls crowded with trucks 3 lanes deep blocking highway traffic! (One must have ones priorities right...) hit Tartarstan Republic, circled north of Kazan before turning west over Volga river and moving onto highway 241 towards Ulyanovsk, Lenin's birthplace. We will follow Volga through to Volgograd.
Hot lunch in roadside cafe, soup and meat pastie; tea with unasked for lemon and sugar.
Quick tour of Ulyanovsk, Lenin's statue, Ozzie in front
of obelisk, workers monument and Volga River; magnificent painted church and
chapel, weddings everywhere, but stopped short of crossing Volga and back due to
extraordinary length of line-up leading to highly over-engineered bridge. We
heard Ulyanovsk is still a bastion of communist vote. Saw 8 police in operation
to subdue one person – fascinating how many passers-by were studiously not
watching. Whilst there are plenty of cars and electric trams, the apartment
blocks are poorly maintained, roads bad, wages low and conditions hard.
Met southern highway A151 south of town, but traffic crawling or at complete standstill for 45 mins on outskirts due to “Project 2014” roadworks. Looked for camp once clear of bottleneck and found non-boggy disused-looking track beside a tilled field of rich black mud. 411km today – still making good time. A car of teenagers drove into our shady thicket, but they must have been more interested in finding a secluded spot than in sharing their Saturday night revelries with us!
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