OverlandSphere
Overland Travel, Expedition & Adventure Information for 4x4, motorcycle and truck overlanders
The Russia border crossing was my first with one of my 8 visas arranged before departure. I was up early for breakfast and to check my paperwork so I could make the border by 10am. Immediately I was advised not to film or take pictures by the locals. 30 minutes later I was through the border thinking that was easy.…
Καλησπερίζω την 2τροχη παρέα! Ανοίγω αυτό το θέμα μετά από την πρόσκληση που δέχτηκα από κατοίκους της Μεγάλης Παναγίας Χαλκιδικής, να επισκεφτώ και να γνωρίσω καλύτερα το πολυσυζητημένο τους τελευταίους μήνες δάσος των Σκουριών στο όρος Κάκαβος. Όπως όλοι θα καταλάβατε πρόκειται για το δάσος στο οποίο ήρθε να “επενδύσει” η Eldorado Gold μέσω της εξόρυξης χρυσού και άλλων μεταλλευμάτων.…
It was the first time I had ever planned a route taking into account the curvature of the earth; an epic drive home as directly and quickly as possible to reunite with family. Fortunately our Russian visas allowed us a window of 21 days in which to back-track across this colossal country. It had taken us 43 days to cross…
This blog is a bit boring and technical, but we found it difficult to find up to date information on the internet about this route, as it goes via the relatively new border crossing between Russia and Georgia at Verkhniy Lars / Kazbegi. We stayed in Krasnodar at the Forum Hotel (see bookings.com) and in Nal’chik at the Korona Hotel…
Location: 49° 48′ 09″N 73° 05’23″E (Central Kazakhstan) Distance from Sydney: 12,129km Firstly, an apology. It has been quite some time since the last update. I did write a big fat juicy update almost a week ago, but shortly after completing it, the laptop died, never to be recovered. The good news is that due to Andres’ good organisation, we…
Hoi allemaal! Inmiddels zitten we in Estland, op een eiland voor de kust: Hiiumaa. Nadat we uit St. Petersburg zijn vertrokken en naar Petershof zijn geweest, zijn we doorgereden naar de grens, om Europa weer in te rijden. Eindelijk dachten we een keertje een leuk voordeel van ons paspoort te hebben: we dachten dat ze wel een EU rij zouden…
It’s hard to tell if Russia has benefitted from the fall of communism in anyway, as outsiders we have no benchmark to compare it to. Our first impressions were of a country that was slowly falling apart; the roads are appalling, buildings are subsiding and according to Time magazine, Russia is ranked fairly high in the world’s most corrupt economically…
Our first glimpse of the world’s oldest and deepest lake came after we had left the city of Irkutsk 70km behind us; bumping over the brow of a hill this ‘Pearl of Siberia’ twinkled in the valley below stretching endlessly towards the horizon. If you look at a world map and trail your eyes East across Russia, the scale of…
Pete here: It’s been weeks now since we finished the BAM, but despite being so adamant upon completion of that monster of an off-road route that I would never ride it again, sitting here now with an ice-cold beer, it’s proving impossible to feel those same emotions again. I already want to be back there and the more I flick…
Hours of journeying on fast, busy, noisy motorways, slowing down only temporarily to circumnavigate the choked outskirts of sprawling cities, had started to take it’s toll on us and we yearned again for a quieter journey and to experience rural areas away from the clamour and chaos of the highway. We decided to take a detour that would allow us…
Our quest to sample the local food of Russia continued in Perm, a city in the North of the Ural Mountains. We heard that a regional speciality came in the form of small, tortellini-like stuffed dumplings. Due to our tight budget (and inability to understand or order from a menu!) we opted for one (randomly selected) of the many frozen…
Visiting a town or city in Russia on a Saturday, particularly in July, we are guaranteed to witness several wedding parties. Following the marriage service, it is customary for the entire wedding party to drive around the city in convoy visiting local beauty spots and landmarks. The bride and groom look extremely young; they arrive in the first of a…
Embarrassingly, us Brits too often rely on others knowledge of our mother tongue when travelling. With every good intention to communicate with the natives, we armed ourselves with phrase books and even spent the last few weeks prior to our departure driving to work listening to a ‘Леарн Руссиан’ CD in favour of the breakfast show. Russian is the largest…
Driving allows us to get a real feel for a country, especially in a land as vast as Russia. In 10 days we have probably seen more of the country than most of its inhabitants will in a lifetime.On our trip it has become apparent that each country has a style of driving that is representative of that countries people.…
A Russian summertime brings with it glorious hot, sunny days, ‘white nights’ of almost no darkness, swimming in rivers and al fresco drinking and dining in cities. Unfortunately for wild campers it brings something else; a deluge of winged camp invaders in a variety of invertebrate forms. Pulling up to what from the inside of the car looks like an…
Jon here: Anatoly is an ex Russian speedway champion living in Novosibirsk, Western Siberia. At the age of 20 he had a severe accident and broke his back, leaving him in a coma for over 6 months. Whilst in hospital his friends gave him some radio equipment to follow the teams progress. During this time he developed a love for…
Pete’s Pearls of Wisdom Russia: – The Russians claim that vodka produced in the mountainous region of Altai, Siberia is so pure that it will never give you a hangover. It’s had me in bed for two days at a time crying for my mother on multiple occasions. – The cleanest your three t-shirts will ever look on a round…
“…travellers should be aware of Western Tuva’s fearsome reputation for wild lawlessness and unprovoked knife attacks.” Lonely Planet “It’s like the Wild West; we came across stories of locals attacking visitors, throwing stones on their vehicles… you should not go there” English traveler “In Tuva there is a serious problem of alcohol and violence. I never dare going there” Russian…
28 hours: total time of loading the vehicle on an old soviet style boat, crossing the Black sea from Turkey to Russia and clearing the most apathetic & inefficient border control in the Northern hemisphere. …but we also met Jake, a New Yorker biker, who provided the best company in the most difficult part of our journey so far. Thanks…