May 23rd, 2016

Am getting closer to Moscow now. I will be there on Wednesday as there are about 100 kilometres left. These last few days I have been making a big push for the capital. Yesterday 47km and the day before 50, whatever day that was, for I have trouble keeping track of the days.
This morning I had an early start; at 8am I was packed and walking. I had made it to a truck stop with a motel attached. However, at 50 euro a night I passed on it. Instead I had a steak dinner with a bowl of delicious chilli soup. I could have a week of dinners like this for the cost of one night there. I asked if I could pitch my tent at the back of the truck stop and the nice security guard gave me floor space in a workshop. After placing my sleeping bag on some cardboard I slept well, despite pounding rain on the tin roof. It was torrential all night long. Thankfully the security guard got me going early, what a difference that makes to a long day on the road. After nine kilometres Matthias, the Swiss cyclist I met a couple of days ago came up from behind and tapped me on the shoulder. He was just in time for looming in the distance was a petrol station where we breakfasted. A little further on in some small nondescript town a man who looked like he was from India cornered me, no I haven't forgotten that darn place :(
Thankfully he was from Bangladesh, I wondered what he was doing there, if he was an asylum seeker; in Russia. Surely not, as in a recent poll only 11% of Russians approve of immigration or asylum, amongst the lowest approval rate in the world.
These last few day have been hectic on the highway as I approached Moscow, so it was a great relief to leave it and take the old secondary road. What a change from enduring so many dangerous drivers, to now stopping at a railroad crossing on this nice road which has so little traffic.
I stopped for a coffee after twenty km and ended up making an office for an hour under that bus shelter for an hour as I took a call from the BBC in London to make arrangements for my pending interview in their Moscow studio. Also some logistical emails, including to the Irish embassy in Moscow who along with the Irish department of foreign affairs in Dublin have been so helpful, thanks. Not forgetting my sister Ann Salmon for special help.
On I walked and after I had registered 30 km I stopped at a small shop in Nokpobckoe for a soft drink. As I typed this the nice man poured me a coffee! What Joy! Time to walk on :)

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