Page 3 of 3: magadan3

Highest point on the GMHWe once again departed Tbilisi but this time we turned north and rode the utterly spectacular Georgian Military Highway, a road of legends, a road taken by Gorky, Pushkin & Tolstoy not to mention invading Russian armies! Stunning monasteries clung to mountainsides while others occupied incredibly scenic locations. The riding was truly wonderful as we ascended through a fertile green landscape to barren rocky sheer mountains that towered all around. Hairpin after hairpin greeted us as rode onto Russia.

We reached the site of the devastating landslide that claimed 8 lives, the slide had changed the course of the river and a pile of utterly unrecognizable twisted metal that once were semi-trailers bore terrifying testament to the ferocity of the landslide, those poor truck drivers never had a chance.

We had an amazing ride through the Caucuses however our jubilant mood was soon soured but an amazing 8 hour border crossing and a miserable, but ultimately unsuccessful, scam at the Russian border where one police officer invites us to jump the lengthy que only to be busted by another officer wanting to charge us US$300 for crossing double lines while getting to the front, as instructed to do so by his counterpart!! Welcome to Russia!!

We met our “fixer” Stas on the Georgian side and after finally getting through we met Irina the president of the local Vladikavkaz Rotary club who had waited an amazing 12 hours at the border to greet us. We were escorted the 40ks to our hotel in Vladikavkaz arriving at 11.30pm tired but elated to “at last” make it to Russia. The kitchen staff had all stayed back to prepare us a midnight meal.

Support vehicle driver Justin makes repairs to Robert Echards SuzukiThe following morning we found ourselves being interviewed by the local TV station before Irina and Stas wanted to take us to Beslan; the town with a tragic history from 10 years ago when 365 people, 200 of them children, were killed by terrorists with no apparent reason as to why, to this day it remains a mystery WHY? It was a very moving experience.
The ride continued on as we rode out of the mountains and into an amazing landscape of endless Wheatfield’s and a vast distant horizon. This was an empty landscape, a huge contrast to what we have experienced thus far on this ride. We reached Elista and stayed at the only hotel in town before reaching Volgograd formerly known as Stalingrad, the renowned site of one of the bloodiest battles during WW2.

A city guide was organized and we spent a half day learning about the incredible yet bloody history of this town. The 56mt tall Mother of Russia statue and the eternal flame were particularly poignant. The changing if the guard was a bit weird but classically Russian.

It was back to the miserable hovel masquerading as a hotel, (all we could get at such short notice thanks to the landslide), for some bike servicing as it has been 9600ks since we left London a month ago.

Tomorrow we ride onto Samara, the home of the MIG jet fighter and formerly a closed city, on the banks of the mighty Volga River, at last we are back on track and have caught up on the itinerary. It has been an amazing adventure thus far and the Road of Bones Expedition is only a month in!!!

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Compass Expeditions London to Magadan – Road of Bones Webpage

The building that survived the war in Volgograd