20 July : leg # 2 return : Astrakhan (Russia) - Grozny (Chechenia) 666km

We had a good resting time at the Azimuth hotel in Astrakhan near the Volga river, we were lucky to have a sunny day and good Russian roads to ride on and our moral was high because of it. We left Astrakhan early morning, riding through a very dry step almost desert like. Very few wild animals and even fewer villages along the road. We kept on riding straight roads to horizon to nowhere.
For the very first time we were stopped by the road police because we were a "little" over the local allowed speed limit.
We told them we were not privy of the local road rules and they got along with our explanations so much so that we got away with a small speed ticket.
We rode through Dagestan, hundreds  of km in not body land, very poor, depressed area but, thanks God for it, good road,
This is a Muslim country and that is very clear because of the number of Mosques, the way the women are dressing and the "mission impossible" to find a cold beer.
At the Chechnya border we were met by fully armed, hard looking regular soldiers, patrolling the border.
We told them we were Italians and immediately and they rested at ease asking for Italian souvenirs, we got away with it giving them few Euros coins.
As soon as we cross the boarder the landscape changed dramatically, there are more trees, more intensively  cultivated fields and generally speaking better built houses.
At last we arrived in Grozny and we were very surprized because there were no signs at all of the recent civil war, a lot of brand new buildings/sky scrapers and again big new mosques busy with people celebrating the Ramadan.
Kebab dinner but without beer unfortunately, hope it will be better tomorrow in Georgia though.
Tomorrow calls for getting to Tbilisi in Georgia riding over the Caucasus mountains over Yvari pass, the weather forecast for tomorrow is not good unfortunately.
Today we rode 666 km in 7 hours and our back sides are still coping good with it.
Lamps

Leg # 2  Return : Astrakhan( Russia) - Grozny (Chechenia)

The step near Astrakhan

Break for lunch in Dagesthan : forget about it 

Curious

Market on the road: Dagsthan : Fish from Caspian  sea

Skyscraper in Grozny 

Grozny : the Mosque

Mosque : interior

Prayer inside mosque 

Prayer outside the Mosque

The mosque by night

Grozny by night

New Grozny : the new Opera : work in progress 

The Globlus

Chechenia Flag: green, red and withe, like Italian flag

War memorial : only young people

Situation under control

19 July : leg # 1 return : Aksai (Kazakhstan)- Astrakhan (Russia) - 963km.

Sunny morning and perfect weather conditions welcome us to the beginning of our trip back home. The Bikers showed up on time at 08.00 hours to the WEOP offices in Nurdaulet building car park regardless of last night farewell WEOP party at the Dolce restaurant.
Very emotional farewell from our colleagues/friends, a lot of concerning recommendations like " be careful, have a safe trips"
You all rest reassured, we will be riding safely, our loved families are waiting for us back home.
A great surprise was waiting for us road side at our arrival in Uralsk. The Ak Baren team with Adilbek Kubenov was there to wish us a good trip home. Girls dressed in the local costumes served around finger food, horse milk (high energy drink) to cope with the long trip.
We left Uralsk riding 500 km south toward Atyrau on very good roads with no traffic. In Atyrau we had lunch a very good meat soup.
The landscape on this part of the country is rather boring the only interesting things been the variety of the wild life: wild camels, horses, cows, sheep and goats roaming free and crossing the road with not advice at all, a little risky for the bikers.
From Atyrau we move on toward Astrakhan, 300 km most of them in a very poor road conditions, a lot of pot holes made us driving slower to avoid any bike, wheels, damages.
At the Kazakhstan/Russian border thanks to friendly Kazakh and Russia officers we clear all the formalities in 30 minutes only!!??
Very good Russian roads from the border to Astrakhan and at 20.30 hours we arrived in Astrakhan crossing the Volga river on a pontoon barges bridge.
After a quick shower we had dinner on a boat on the Volga river, dinner was fresh Caspian fishes, very good.
The team did a good job, the day performance was very good regardless of the hot day and the long ride, 963 km in 12.00 hours.
Most probably this is going to be the longest leg for the trip back home.
 
Lamps

Leg # 1 return: Aksai  -Astrakhan : 963 km

A friend : Aidalbek

The Ak Baren  team

Camels in the step

Modern Camels

Market on the road

Memorials

Sun set at the Russsian border

Pontoon Bridge over the Volga River 

Tha Volga River

Astrakhan by night

Boat restaurant on the Volga River 

Night life in Astrakhan

19 July Aksai . Bye Bye

Nurdaulet Aksai 19 July 8.00 am. 

Great bye bye from WEOPS team and friend. 

Today first leg -Aksai - Astrakhan : 950 km . We will enter in Russia, hopefully without problem at the Border.

Lamps

Is time to go

It has been a month since we arrived in Aksai and it went very fast. We were the matter of interest of so many of our colleagues, friends and local press during our staying.

The donations are still coming in we are now very close to USD 50,000
Once again many thanks to all who have so generously contributed to the charity collection.
The KCWC (Karachaganak Children welfare Committee) has been busy identifying the projects the money will support and they are quite a few important ones.
We will leave tomorrow 19th July at 08.00 am  after having said good by to our friends in the office parking lot. The bikes are in good shape, ready and can not wait to go, the same is for the bikers ready to go and hopefully in the same good shape.
The home trip will follow a different route and we expected it to be more interesting. We will ride south and after leaving Kazakhstan we will go through Russia, Chechenia, Georgia, Turkey, Greece, Macedonia, Kossovo, Montenegro, Bosnia, Croatia and finally Italy where we are due to arrive the 30th of the month.
The total trip is 6050 km in 11 days averaging 550 km a day.
The challenging bit will be going through Chechenia and Georgia where we have to go over the Caucasus mountains riding on the Georgia Military highway through the Jvari pass at 2,400 mt.
Despide the name the road conditions are challenging, with white top road sections, it will be a good test for our bikes.
We are taking our time riding back home, we will rest one day each visiting Istanbul  and the Svaneti region in Georgia considered to be of interest.
The below is the return trip map, we will attempt to up date the blog on a daily basis. 

10 July 2014: Visit to Burlin Boarding School

Today we rode our bikes to the Burlin village Boarding School, one of our charity beneficiary needing new, improved facilities.
Damiano Ratti KPO GD, Chris Circuit KPO GS Director together with other KPO colleagues joined the bikers visiting the school.
The Karachaganak Children Welfare Committee (KCWC) lead by Andrew Melville was at the school waiting for our arrival.
We received a warm a very touching welcome from the children that could not wait to "jump" on the bikes and try on our helmets, they smiling faces were the culmination of our "Ride for a smile" adventure.
The school director showed us the classrooms, canteen, kitchen and what it is immediately required to keep the facility going.
A very emotional moment was when we were introduced to four second world war veterans all living in the village, their names are: Victor Lantsev, Mikhail Shepel, Ivan Rublevski and Pavel Belyi

More of their lives stories you can find below on the a special dedicated post

Burlin Boarding School : Welcome

The veterans

Giacomo, can we ride with you back to Italy?

Giovanni, let me try your BMW, please!

Luca : my new Yamaha can carry all of you

More grandchildren for Deduska Lorenzo

Chris:  a KPO veteran

Damiano : happy to be here 

Thanks

4 eyes smiling together 

Is the right size ?



Not enough Bikes for all



The Veterans : an amazing living history

On the 10th of July during th visit to the Boarding school of Burlin, we had the pleasure  to meet also 4 veterans of the  2nd world war, all more  than 90 years old. They all from Burlin and got called up at age 17.



The Veterans :  Victor Lantsev,  Mikhail Shepel, Ivan Rublevsky and Pavel Belyi.


Below some details of their life :



Ivan Rublevski

·          He was in the same Artillery unit as Mikhail Shepel.

·          Stayed on in Berlin after the war for 11 years as part of the Soviet occupation forces

·          This was the guy that burned the deutche marks to stay warm and then was paid in them having burnt a fortune !

·          Is adamant that the war was only won because of Stalin and his main general Zhukov.

Pavel Belyi

·          Was in the Infantry as a machine gunner.

·          Ended the war in Berlin.

·          Fought at Stalingrad and swam the river Don when retreating to Stalingrad.



Victor Lantsev

·          Was an Engineer and specialised in mine clearance – he said you only ever made one mistake doing this !

·          When he was called up, the 100 men he was with were issued with just 3 rifles and a few bullets per man.

·          Started his war in July 43 at Prokhorovka in the battle of Kursk which saw the largest class of tanks in the whole war. (After this battle Hitler went on the defensive.  Stalingrad meant Hitler was not going to win the war, Kursk meant he was definitely going to lose it).

·          Got dumped in the water crossing a river under fire and lost his rifle – his officer made him go back in the river and retrieve it.

·          He ended the war in Vienna.

Mikhail Shepel

·          Was in the Artillery.

·          Ended the war in Berlin.

·          Said that if you got wounded you would not receive Soviet medical help unless you arrived at the hospital with a rifle.

·          He lost 2 brothers in war and his Mother wrote to him to beg him to come back alive.

·          Said that if the Germans had not so badly treated the people in the Soviet territories they invaded e.g. Ukraine, then they would not have had so much trouble from the partisans.