Volgograd is a real big city. A local told me it is about 100km in length. Seems unbelievable, but it could be as we spent a long time before getting out of the city. There were a lot of traffic jams as we left Roma around 5pm in the center of the city. The ride out of city was stressful, as we had to slalom between many cars and trucks over 6 lanes. At the end I began to like it and was racing out of the city. Luckily no police 🙂

The heidenau k60 tyres which were newly fitted, felt good and gave confidence. I had the pressure set to 2.3 in the front and 2.8 in the back. Surprisingly the road had a new layer of asphalt and high speeds could be reached.

The plan for the evening was to camp at sunset in the Volga delta before Astrakhan. After about one hour we made a quick stop to buy some supplies in a small village shop. After removing our helmets, we were immediately attached by millions of midges. The people who walked out of the shop wore musquito hats. Standing still was not an option here. So we ran into the shop! The locals said that once a year for one or two weeks in June, the midges awake from the Volga delta and bug the whole area between Volgograd in Astrakhan. Unfortunately we were right in the middle of this period. It seemed like camping would not be an option for today!

We had to speed up as it was getting later. The ride to Astrakhan was about 410km. The visors of the helmets needed to be closed. As we were riding the bike got blacker and blacker by hitting all these little flies. After riding for a few hours, we had to stop because I could not see anymore through the visor. When you slow down or stop, they find you very quickly!

As the sun was setting, and darkness fell, I noticed my lights were not working. It were the flies who had covered the lights as well.

We arrived safely in Astrakhan around 10 pm. We noticed a stinking smell like fish. Larisa thought it was the fish market in Astrakhan. After walking a bit at a gas station, we noticed it was us! The flies covered also the cylinders and they were baked 🙂

In Astrakhan there were less flies. So we though about camping again, but could not find a safe spot. So we started the hunt for a gastinitsa. It was not easy to find a good one. We found one, right next to an avtomoika – this is russian for a carwash. What a luck, I would need that the next day 🙂 We spent some time to clean our gear and bike suits, helmets etc as all was really smelly! Around 4 am we could finally get to bed and slept instantly.

The Mamayev Kurgan is a hill in Volgograd on which there is a memorial complex commemorating the Battle of Stalingrad (August 1942 to February 1943). It is simply impressive but also hitting you in the face with the impact of one of the bloodiest battles in history.

Before getting to the top you must walk 200 steps. The battle of Stalingrad lasted 200 days, so there is a step to remember each day. On the top there is the Rodina Mat, as we saw in Ukraine in Kiev. On the foot of the monument there is among many the grave of Vasili Zaitsev.

On top of the hill the views over the city are great. You also note how big this city is. We spoke to a man who lives in the city and he claims it is 100km long along the river. I think this can be true as when we road out of the city later, we needed an hour to get out of it.

In the afternoon we did a little shopping and went to pick up the bike at Roma’s garage. All was done. The new rubber was installed, the TKC’s were underway to Barnaul. I have also asked to clean the wet airfilter and prefilter.

The bike is now ready for Central Asia. There is only a small ride of about 410km to do to Astrakhan. Easy right? It was already getting a bit later, but the afternoon was so hot, I decided to ride to ride in the evening.

This ride appeared to be a horror movie scenario…