2012 – The Last Dictator Tour (Belarus & Russia)

Our trip into the last dictatorship in Europe – Belarus and Russia.

Nyet!

Posted by on 27, Aug 2012 in 2012 - The Last Dictator Tour (Belarus & Russia), Belarus | 0 comments

Nyet!

Mir Nesvizh Complex “Nyet” was the stern answer from the manager at the Pizza restauarnt in Grodno when we asked for a table for 4. But there is a table there for 3 free there, we could bring another chair over said Mike, “1,2,3″ counted the manager pointing at the chairs and “1,2,3,4″ he counted pointing at us, “Nyet”. As the others turned around to leave what looked like the best restaurant in the town Jon threw dignity to the wind clamped his hands together in a passing resemblance of praying and said as his nose rapidly grew an inch or two “but we have come all the way from England to...

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Welcome to The Last Dictatorship in Europe, comrade – Belarus

Posted by on 11, Aug 2012 in 2012 - The Last Dictator Tour (Belarus & Russia), Belarus | 0 comments

Welcome to The Last Dictatorship in Europe, comrade – Belarus

Jon’s in Poland and Mike’s in Belarus The Border Queue, 13 hours Brest Main Street They like their war memorials There is a little known cure for the frustration caused by BT and that is to cross the Poland Belarus border. If you’re frustrated at hanging on for 40 minutes to an Indian call centre, 9 and a half hours crossing a border and it will make it feel like an instant response! The bureaucracy here is astounding and a real throw back to communist days. Guards let you inch from one queue to another in your vehicle and eventually you arrive at the Belarus customs. They need half a Dozen...

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Flash Bangs and BT

Posted by on 11, Aug 2012 in 2012 - The Last Dictator Tour (Belarus & Russia), Poland | 0 comments

Flash Bangs and BT

The rebuilt centre of Warsaw Warsaw, waiting for ‘W’ hour. I’m not the worlds biggest fan of dogs and when they bark all night long I’d happily shoot the little darlings, of course when you’re thinking this you never in a month of Sundays expect to actually be given a gun to carry out the evil deed, so I was heartily relieved that when this scenario raised its ugly canine shaped head on our first night in Poland and it was Mike who was handed a Glock 10 pistol and not me! Its the last thing you expect really, asked if we slept well by the camp site owners Mike and Ali said the dogs had been...

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Escape from Cold…itz now warm & sunny!

Posted by on 23, Jul 2012 in 2012 - The Last Dictator Tour (Belarus & Russia), Germany | 0 comments

Escape from Cold…itz now warm & sunny!

The Elbe Valley Altkötzscenbroda Altkötzscenbroda Colditz We’ve actually whizzed about since the last blog entry and are now at Radebeul, about 15km downstream of Dresden on the Elbe. We picked this stellplatz purely because it was on the river and away from the noise and hustle and bustle of Dresden – we are definitely acting like grandparents these days! To be fair that’s how we pick most places we go. Anyway, as seems to always be the case we hit the jackpot and Radebeul is a real Gem. We’re now in old East Germany and part of Radebeul – Altkötzscenbroda – was abandoned under communist...

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Fifty shades of G..rain

Posted by on 17, Jul 2012 in 2012 - The Last Dictator Tour (Belarus & Russia), Germany | 0 comments

Fifty shades of G..rain

! To say it’s been wet is like saying the North poles a bit nippy, we’ve had so much rain that, had we been in the States, we’d have seen countless Creationists building Ark’s in their back gardens! But occasionally it stops and the sun pokes its head out from behind the clouds, like a naughty toddler from behind a curtain, just to lure you into a false sense of security and make you get the bike out so that 10 minutes later it can pour down and soak you through even the toughest waterproofs. Waterproofs?! We need wet suits, not shower macks! The weather over the whole of the north of Europe...

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Last year it was strimmers, this it’s festivals!

Posted by on 10, Jul 2012 in 2012 - The Last Dictator Tour (Belarus & Russia), Benelux | 0 comments

Last year it was strimmers, this it’s festivals!

Last year we seemed to be followed around by a man with a strimmer who, at about 7am every morning would start strimming right outside the van. We’re not sure if it was the same man and we had somehow acquired the weirdest stalker of all time or we were unlucky, but this year we seem to be following the hippy trail! You may recall that we had decided to head to Gorinchem to repack and have a rest as it really is a lovely small town and the camperplaats is right on the Harbour. Well the weekend we arrived the place was full of VW camper vans – not the camperplaats but the whole town. There...

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