Peking to Paris 2007
 Day 28 Update Over the last few days I think that both Nigel and I have experienced a range of emotions (courtesy of a variety of factors) as we have travelled through four countries. Yesterday (Day 27) was our biggest set-back, due to a bit of bad luck. Today, things have got better and we are both relaxing more. Day 25 – Rest day St Petersburg The Rally hotel in St Peterburg was sited near the cruise-ship pier on a peninsular and a bit away from the centre, but was quite modern and generally considered a blessing after the treatment we received in Moscow’s Cosmos hotel. I took the opportunity to rest (well, it was called a Rest Day) in the morning, then have a long walk into the bustling Centre of the city (long because I went the wrong way when I crossed the main bridge). The city is sited on a large river, similar to the Thames in London, with many interesting and ornate bridges and river-front properties. It also has several canals that run through the main residential and retail areas, creating a nice ambiance. Whilst I wandered Nigel and a few other Rallyists took a mini tour and visited the State Hermitage Museum, on the bank of the River Neva. Day 26 St Petersburg to Tallinn Our run today is in a number of phases. A total of just under 260 miles, we have to cross the border into Estonia, then undertake some “time trials” (– special stages, off road, against the clock) and finally head into Tallinn to our hotel. My first headache begins with the news that the Organisers are issuing a heavily revised road book for the day – once again several notes are ambiguous. For the first time the Classic category cars are running ahead of the Vintageants, giving us a head start out of St Petersburg’s notorious rush hour traffic. The roads were not perfect, we were used to that; but the notable feature of the day was the actions of the Police along the route to the Border. We initially noticed several of the faster cars pulled over by the Police. Shortly after we were waved down too. Luckily our chosen strategy of simply saying “English” to everything that the Officer asked eventually persuaded him to let us go. Others suffered far worse fate – several drivers were asked for 1,000 Roubles or US$250 to “avoid prosecution”, others were given on the spot driving bans! An Aston Martin driver was initially asked for “One Million Roubles” having been pulled over for a second time in 600 yards and the Policeman remarking about "James Bond" (he is reputed to have settled for a much lower sum)! With the entire Police force seemingly on a mission to “nick” everyone for various real and trumpt-up offences, we were keen to get across the Border. As we arrived at the Border the first thing we noted was the one and a half mile long queue of lorries waiting to get out of Russia and into Estonia. We knew then that it wasn’t going to be easy. In fact it took about two hours (by contrast the Estonian authorities cleared us in within 15 minutes). It even rained to add to the occasion! But when we were finally through into Estonia, it felt like a huge weight had been lifted from my shoulders and I could begin to relax properly. Most people on the Rally that I have spoken to in the last 48 hours were really looking forward to getting out of Russia. It is amazing that the euphoria we all felt getting out of Mongolia into Siberia has been replaced by a darker view of Russia now we have been to Moscow and St Petersburg. It is also a great shame. Having finally left the Border behind us, we set off towards the first Time Trial of the day, courtesy of the Estonian Motor Club, who organised many off road excursions for us over the 24 hours we are in Estonia. These are our fist time trials since Gobi. The routes took us off Estonia’s perfect “European roads” onto gravel tracks and lanes that run through farmland and forests; great fun. Car 104 is full of dust again! We had real fun doing the Time Trials, despite the disadvantage the Land Rover has over the sportscars on fast sections. The low centre of gravity and four wheel drive often allowed us to gain ground when the surfaces was especially “loose”. Once the trials were over we began the final leg of the day – the run to Tallinn. Driving here was a delight. Tallinn is a wonderful cosmopolitan town. The centre is a medieval town built around a central stone square with many bars/restaurants. The town clearly welcomed the Rally and all the cars were allowed into centre of square for the final time check. We took opportunity to have a few beers and watching the gathered crowds before going to hotel. The clocks go back an hour again here (GMT + 3), so an added bonus. Our hotel is excellent too – friendly staff, with a true understanding of “customer service”. What more could we ask for! I have relatively few photos from Moscow and St Petersburg courtesy of a faulty camera, which finally gave up the ghost in Tallinn. It had never properly recovered from the harsh environment of Mongolia – I think it is full of sand still. So I have had to resort to buying a new camera this evening; hopefully the picture quality won’t suffer. Day 27 Tallinn to Riga Having enjoyed a evening wandering the old town centre (and ending up in a Karaoke bar with a few of the Rallyists – though none of us took to the stage), I was a bit sad to be leaving Tallinn so soon. Today we had five more time trials in Estonia on the way to the south to the border with Latvia. A 260 mile drive. The day got off to a good start – but our fun was cut short with a major piece of bad luck. The first two Time Trials of the day went well; probably a lot slower than the leading cars in our class, but respectable pace nonetheless. It was also great to see the spectators and amusing to see the huge dust plumes that followed our car and all the others (thankfully we didn’t have to follow any other car closely as it would be impossible to see). Our bad luck came in the third Time Trial. About 5 km into the Trial, on a gravel track, we were being caught up by another car - one of the contenders for the overall lead, in a Chevrolet. As it was a narrow track we slowed down and pulled over to the right side to let them through. This was the cause of our misfortune. The ground to the side of the track proved less stable than expected and car 104 found its two right hand wheels slipping down into a gully, dragging the car off the track. In what seemed like slow motion as the Chevrolet passed us we slipped off the road at an angle and came to rest with the right front wing leaning against a tree. No harm to either of us – other than our pride! The angle the car was now at, and the soft ground, dissuaded us from trying to recover the vehicle ourselves. There was a slight risk that we might accidently cause the car to topple or fall further into the gully. The safer course of action was to get another vehicle to anchor the chassis with a rope whilst Nigel gently drove the Land Rover off its resting point on the tree. The disadvantage of this was that to effect such a recover needed the course to be closed – and that wasn’t going to happen for at least 2.5 hours. Still, the risks of trying anything else were too great, so we waited near the car, trying to shelter from the dust of passing cars. I’m sure that many drivers got a little amusement from our predicament. We did eventually get some good fortunate after all – Nigel stopped a passing local driver when the road was re-opened and by a stroke of luck her husband had a Road Grader (a large specialist bulldozer used on unmade roads to level them). That machine had a powerful hydraulic grading blade that the driver used to simply drag car 104 up the bank safely. A great result; the only damage was some cosmetic “alterations” to the off-side front wing. However, inevitably the incident put a bit of a downer on our day, and we suffered significant time penalties. We decided to head to the border and straight for our hotel in Riga to check the car over properly. The drive to the border was along a coast road, with great views of the Baltic. The sun was out, making it even more pleasant. For the first time this Rally the crossing from one country to another was easy – thanks to the EU for that. Again, we are in a comfortable hotel. Riga was in middle of Mid-Summer festival. I noticed several people wearing strange headgear, a sort of “bush” made of oak leaves, though I’m not entirely sure why (apparently it is St John’s Day). Again, as with all ex-soviet cities we have seen, Riga is modernising, but it is clearly behind Tallinn in the progress and wealth stakes. Though I guess that it will probably be a match for Tallinn, in the quality of its infrastructure, within, say, the next 5 – 10 years. Tomorrow we head for Lithuania.
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Diary Photos
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