I’m half way into Russia now and have been making good progress, the only thing to slow me down is the police and the most times that i have been stopped is 16 times in one day and it starts to wear you down with the same questions, they are looking for just one thing so that they can fine you for something as they are on such low wages that they need something to top it up, it is easy to take from someone that they know will be able to pay, most of the time all was in order and they would except some playing cards with London printed on them or a miniature bottle of whiskey, the worse type of Russian police to get stopped by is a drunk police man as they are more unpredictable and can shout out “gift”.

Things are starting to change and some of the younger police are not bribing people or taking bribes off truck drivers so i think in the long term we are going to see progress in Russia.

The road system in Russia is very mixed up and road surfaces can be poor, their is not really anywhere that has been too bad to drive and you can manage any where i have gone so far in a normal car although it would take some beating and you see many cars stopped on the side of the road with flat tires or broken sump pans from rocks.

Their is not really any motorways in Russia except around Moscow and St. Petersburg the rest of the country is covered by single carriage way and a hard shoulder which some Russians use to overtake cars and trucks. The road surfaces are mixed and change from average to poor asphalt then you go onto gravel or mud or dust roads depending on the whether. I will keep plodding along and see what lies ahead.