May 19th, 2016

Total for 70 road days: 2,492 kilometres/ about 1,550 miles. Current location: I am on M9 at the turnoff just North of Nelidovo and 321km/200 miles from Moscow.

After my rest day I was full of energy when I walked out of Velikiye Luki last Monday morning the weather was good, so I just kept walking and walking until I set a new daily record for the walk. The old mark was 51k and when I eventually camped in a forest I had broken it by another ten km. I have also given a commitment to some media to be in Moscow by the end of next week, so when I set out that morning I was still 466 km away from the Russian capital. Then on Tuesday I really enjoyed myself despite this region not being well serviced as it was seventy k since the last services. Around lunchtime I stopped at a village just off the highway. This highway bypasses most villages, some are just a couple of hundred metres off the highway, others a couple of km. I don't believe they have any shops either. At one such village I sat on a grassy patch and soon a group of farm workers who were finishing up for the day stopped to see what I was up to. I had plenty of food but just needed my thermos filled up to cook some noodles. So I asked one of the men called Max to fill it up and was a bit surprised when I was asked for money. But, to be honest, I could see it was a poor village and I was very happy to help out, so I gave the man a couple of Euro equivalent in Roubles. He was delighted and that made my day. I walked on and finished just after 11pm with 47km as my reward. Then on Wednesday I was out on the road an hour earlier than my normal time! However, the rain whittled down my advantage as I took two extended shelters. It was persistent most of the day, it was the heaviest rain I have endured since leaving Ireland. My upper torso was dry due to the excellent raincoat I got from Great Outdoors in Dublin. However, my lower extremities were soaked as I stupidly didn't put on my rain pants. Most water damage is not done from the pouring rain, it's the constant splashings from cars and trucks. Despite all this I was relatively pleased to pull 37km out of the bag for my day. I stopped in a hotel and as my room was on the second floor and with no lift it could have been a bit of a problem trying to get Karma upstairs! It's not very safe trying to push or pull her up or down stairs; especially down as her weight is difficult to control. So for that reason I pack most of my heavy equipment in a large sports bag inside her as seen I the photos. That way I can lift the bag out and Karma is easy to manage. So, with moderate effort and three trips up the stairs I got her and all my baggage up.

 
 More Photo's from today...
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