Wednesday 19th Saratov to Volograd

( Historical note : Volograd was Stalingrad where Russia managed to defeat Germany).
Today we had almost all of the crew riding with the rebels. Consequently lots of slow stops. As I have said before, in Russia you pay for fuel then pour. That means someone that overpays is suddenly looking for someone with some tank capacity. So we left the city on the hillside by the Volga with its Universities and numerous and spectacular monuments, and the Volga, and headed again for the plains. Crops, cattle, and villages.
We could not be contained however and soon found a side road, mainly gravel and sand to a village by the river. Had lunch from the local store to the amusement of the village kids, but soon a huge black cloud appeared and rather than be caught on a wet clay track we bolted.
We escaped the rain but not the consequences of our faulty map reading as we soon came on a large part of the river where the road stopped. We found that we could catch a ferry in two hours so sat around watching the locals.
The ferry ride duly came and soon we were deposited on the shore about 1 km away and back on some ordinary roads and a direct run into the city of Volograd.
We had a lay day on Thursday. So I had a day off.
This is the town with the biggest, tallest, moument (in the world they say ?) of "Mother Russia".
She was certainy big.
This town is almost sacred. This is victory over Germany city and the memorials are everywhere. Otherwise a pleasant city on the river.
The language remains a barrier to communication so we are left mostly to wander about and look. There are some locals that try their "english" which makes for some interesting exchanges.
Overall a pleasant safe city, in fact there have been no scary moments as far as I am aware. Russia seems a safe and hospitable pleace.
nzl07