Moscow to Astrakhan

Written by Ralph.

---It all started yesterday (August-1) when we left Moscow at around 5pm (Kremlin area), with Red Suzi on our tail. They followed us for half the length of the main outer ring road (there are many many ringroads!). We took the M4, aiming for Tambov/Volgograd/Astrakhan and Red Suzi went for Nizny Novogrod. We parted our ways agreeing we would meet up again on Friday 10pm in Aralsk (Kazakhstan).

As we drove into the night we realised we had a long way to go to reach Aralsk in time. Since the roads were good (for Russian standards) it was decided we would continue till at least Volgograd. From Moscow that's a good 980km. And since we left at 5pm, we would be arriving at around 8-9am. Somewhere in the night we saw a van driving in front of us. Since it had blue plates we were afraid it was a police vehicle. as we got closer we realised it actually was a MongolRally ambulance!

Great news, we were not alone anymore. We pulled over at a cafe next to the road and had a chat with the other rally team. It was Team Rockrs; 4 guys and a girl, some Serbian, some Croatian. The blue plates on their ambulance were actually greenish Serbian plates. And they were heading for Volgograd too! A convoy was formed :) We drove in shifts of a couple of hours. One driver, one navigator and overtaking caller (right hand drive) and the third sleeping in the back. Slowly dawn was setting in and we realised the landscape changed a lot over those hundreds of kilometers. The land was reasonably flat and there were massive fields of sunflowers. At one of the petrol/leg stretch stops the ambulance told us they were going to need a "cat nap". Eventhough they have 5 people on their team, only 2 were drivers!? So we decided to part, giving them some resting time, as we headed further south. We felt good still and agreed we would steam on to Astrakhan.

Some time in the late morning we arrived in Volgograd and had a little break near a marketplace/shopping area. Finding a toilet however proved to be not as easy as it may sound. Being directed from one shop to the other, finally one was spotted inside a apteka (chemist). Unfortunately we were shouted away by a grumpy old woman. She probably didn't appreciate my mime with broken Russian to explain the desperation I found myself in. Many shops, bars and lots of humiliation later I went into a salon. With some hesitation they allowed me my much needed relief. Till this day I still wonder where the rest of Volgograd do their business..

Anyway, we continued our journey, in a blistering +35C. The area from Volgograd to Astrakhan was very unhabited, almost desert-like. To our surprise we saw a group of rally cars at a petrol station we stopped at. It was an Ambulance and a Yaris. We didn't team up as we really wanted to reach Astrakhan asap. Just before the city borders we got pulled over by a cop (the famous PDC, with their sticks). He told us we were speeding, which was clearly untrue since he didn't have anything to prove this. He was working his way to a bribe. And then all of a sudden a Rally Nissan Micra flew past us at high speed. The PDC waved their stick to have the micra pull over, but without success. The cop quickly trough the passport back in our car and ran to his vehicle to chase the micra. We wondered if this meant we were free to go... As the police car went across the horizon, we took off. Thanks Micra, for saving us the bribe :)

After a long and exhaustful drive (approx. 26 hours) we finally arrived in Astrakhan! By this time we caught up with that Micra to thank them. We teamed up and were driving through the city looking for a hotel. We saw a ParkInn, but thought it would be beyond our budget. But since we couldn't find any other hotel in this small city, we went back to the ParkInn to check their rates. On the parking lot we saw a whole group of ralliers. They were about to make a deal with the hotel to have us all staying there for half price. GREAT! We got a 2p room for only 2000rub (cheap!). Finally a good shower and some decent food... Time to catch up with sleeping!