Russia.

I got up pretty early and began my journey to the Russian border.

Not even twenty minutes in and I got knocked over by a car. A bus had pulled over at a bus stop so I pulled out and the bus decided to pull out too. I ended up getting sandwiches between the bus and a car. Not going to lie, I shat myself. The bike got thrown to the ground yet somehow I was able to get out of my pedals and was standing straight over the bike trying to lift it up and off the road before I got hit again. I was alright but the bike had yet another injury. A broken spoke on the front wheel. With no spares and no time to get it fixes I used my pliers to cut the flailing spoke from the wheel and carried on, avoiding buses as best as I could.

The journey to the Russian border seemed like a lifetime away, the hills and winding roads were hilly and winding. I overtook a local who had an electric assist bike, seemed like a good idea with the countryside the way it was.

I passed through a few towns and got the usual look of disbelief from the locals. As I got to the top of an extremely steep hill and was having a break I heard someone calling. I turned around to find the man with the electric bike coming up the hill. I turned out o had dropped a bottle of water along the way and he had followed me to give it back to me before cycling back the way he had just come. What a crazy, but helpful, guy!

I got to the border after a few hours and was greeted to the Ukraine guard post by a stray dog chasing me. The guard got out and went after it with a baton, chasing it off then waving me on to the next checkpoint on the Ukraine side. I had my passport stamped by a soldier and in was on my way to the Russian side of the border.

It was a very sleepy border crossing with only a few lorries waiting to pass through. I was fast tracked to the front if the queue by a laughing Russian official. In fact, all the officials at the border laughed at me, pointing out how skinny I am and how massive my bike was and how much I was carrying. I wasn't bothered about it, I am aware that I look ridiculous. In fact, being laughed through the border crossing made me forget how nervous I was before. You hear so many horror stories about border crossings, I would prefer to be laughed at than have to end up bribing people.

The road to Kursk was pretty uneventful. Just miles and miles of farmlands and small holdings.

I arrived in Kursk at dusk and checked into a rather luxurious hotel. I mean, my room even had a bath!