To Russia with Voxy

The road follows the railway, mostly.  The only difference was that we went
Perm-Kazan, rather than through Kirov (in the NW).  Click to enlarge.

First post here.

For the past three weeks have been sailing across the steppes of Russia -- from the Vladivostok in the Russian Far East to Siberia and the Urals, and thence Moscow -- with sailing mates Gordie, Rob and Joe.  

10,221 kilometres on the trip-meter, from Vladivostok to Moscow, and we've made it in our trusty Voxy. Now just back in Hong Kong, and some random photos below.... [and for gluttons for punishment, more piccies at Picasa]

Four blokes in a Voxy: Rob, Pete, Joe, Gordie in the hiker's hut, hills of Krasnoyarsk.
We were served tea by the caretaker Viktor who was born and brought up here
and spends all his days in the mountains.  

BTW: I've been asked about "Treacling" (from my last post):  Rob tells me it's the Yorkshire habit of putting the car in neutral going downhill, to save fuel.  Yorkshire folk are renowned for being careful with money, if I can put it like that....  There's also "extreme treacling", which is, in addition to being in neutral, also turning off the engine -- which can, of course, be a bit tricky, what with steering locking up 'n all... if not outright dangerous.
We had to Treacle on the road to Chita, east of Lake Baikal, as there's a bit of road, about 400 km of it, where there's not a single gas station: and the little Voxy only has a range of 410km.  Rob was Treacling like crazy for a whole afternoon's driving...
There are more photos below the fold..

Treacling in Siberia... Sailing lads cruise Russia

Sailing lads on the road...Joe, Rob, Gordie, in Vladivostok, 8 May 2013

[Second part of this trip report is here]

We're now in Krasnoyask, which you can see on the map below, Siberia's third-largest city.

So, we're about half-way on our current drive across Russia: Vladivostok to Moscow.  10,000 km, give or take.

The idea was Rob Bottomley's, a Yorkshire-based sailing buddy of Xena crewmate Gordon  ("Gordie") Ketelbey, with whom I also did the Cape to Cairo Rally in 2011.  Rob is here with his son and fellow sailor Joe.  Yorkshire lads.

We're in a Toyota Voxy that we (Rob and Gordie, that is) bought in Vladivostok, a right-hand drive number imported from Japan, for which the aim is to sell her in Moscow.  She's no Land Cruiser, but a plucky road warrior for all that.

While the Trans-Siberian Railway has been in place for century or more the road through has only recently been completed -- the last bit, the Zilov Gap, driven by Putin in 2009, in one of his he-man stunts.  By the way, and for what it's worth, no Russian in the Far East or Siberia has had a nice thing to say about the he-man... 

Since the road has only recently(ish) been completed, there's very few who have done the trip by car.  In most of the places we've stopped we're the first tourists they've seen, and we ourselves didn't see another tourist till Ulan Ude, 3,800 km west of Vladivostok (in between Irkutsk and Chita on the map below).

And what's this "treacling" business?? Answer later (maybe; I'll see how I feel)...

As always, click on the photos to enlarge.

This map says "Early 20th Century", but nothing much has changed on the
rail since then, other than the new BAM railway north of Lake Baikal.
The Road more or less follows the train's track.
Newby writes about it amusingly in "The Big Red Train Ride" of 1978.