Russia 2006

[Astbury]

So 2 years in the Sahara (holidays not length of time) were planning a trip to Russia 1 month so far 3 Landy's with 3 friends (others welcome)
A country I know little about but have read a lot about. if anyone can give any "first hand" advice were all ears! were not interested in what people have told you but more about what you know from being in Russia yourself!

If you want to come along on the trip it would all be at cost no fees and you get your own visa's

The idea is to travel up through Finland as far North as possible then reach the Northern Russian coast before returning south all the way from north Russia to the South then the quickest way back to where ever everyone comes from. A more information will be posed on www.ihana.com in the months to come.

C

[Astbury]

End of May - June 4 weeks in Russia...

Drive up through Sweden then over into Russia and over to Murmansk. spend some time driving around the Kola Peninsula then head south towards St Petersburg. Down though Estonnia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland.

Will have Russian, Polish, English speaker with us.

If anyone is interested in coming with us and driving above the Arctic Circle experancing 24 hr day light then just ask for more details. No fees, no costs other than fuel and the odd hotel and whatever the police will try to get out of us.

C

[Astbury]

We are also thinking of doing this trip in reverse order starting in Poland driving North through Russia and then over through Finland.

Whatever suits anyone that wants to tag along we can do

C

[whitewolf]

Good luck with your trip..just watch your driving ( speed etc ) and dont fly camp in Lithuania/latvia..they'll nail you!!!:D

[Astbury]

Good luck with your trip..just watch your driving ( speed etc ) and dont fly camp in Lithuania/latvia..they'll nail you!!!:D

Were not going to Russia, we changed our minds and are now looking into putting the Landy into a container, shipping to Hong Kong driving through China, Tibet inner Mongolia then shipping out of Beijing. starting off some time in mid May.

Anyone want to come`?

[Astbury]

All looking good for the China trip.

got the shipping and guide sorted, just waiting for info on the Chinese licence and number plates.

C

[Dimka]

Hi guys
Pity U changed Your mind about the Russia trip. We yave quite a community of LR lovers here in Moscow & St.Petersburg. Haths around Karelia, Kola peninsula are well known and traveled by our friends.
So if You happen to plan visiting our country in the future pls keep in mind that Russian hospitality is not a fiction.
And we have a member who has already been thru Tibet, Inner Mongolia & China. Regards

[Astbury]

Hi guys
Pity U changed Your mind about the Russia trip. We yave quite a community of LR lovers here in Moscow & St.Petersburg. Haths around Karelia, Kola peninsula are well known and traveled by our friends.
So if You happen to plan visiting our country in the future pls keep in mind that Russian hospitality is not a fiction.
And we have a member who has already been thru Tibet, Inner Mongolia & China. Regards

Dimka,

We changed the trip from Russia to China for a few reasons (none of them against Russia) but we do plan on making the Russia trip though it looks like it will not be until 2007 now as if the China trip goes well we will be returning to Chinaa 2nd time to see more later next year.

To be honest I was a little down when the team decided on China, I had done a lot of work planning the route through Russia and was greatly looking forward to a good few shots of vodka with some locals.

Please PM me your mail address so we can stay in touch and I can gather information from you and your friends for when we do come.

Best regards

C

[Dimka]

Can't seem to figure out how to PM, so for starters U can use
gaijin "bark :)" hotbox.ru It gathers a lot of spam anyway.
then I'll reply with my frequently used email

[Dimka]

And by the way here is a link for U:
http://wwwboards.auto.ru/land-rover/

I'm Dimka262 there, lot's of English speakers. U R welcome to post. May be some problem with registration because of language - write to me & we'll figure smth out

[Astbury]

And by the way here is a link for U:
http://wwwboards.auto.ru/land-rover/

I'm Dimka262 there, lot's of English speakers. U R welcome to post. May be some problem with registration because of language - write to me & we'll figure smth out

Your right! I would need my wife to translate all of that.

To send a PM just click on my name on the left of this post. you should see a menu and one of the selections should be Send PM or something like that.

Regards

C

[Newsreader]

Dimka,

You haven't made enough posts yet to have access to the PM system ... you should be able to send an email to Astbury though - as he explained, click on his name on the left then click on the link 'send email to Astbury'

HTH :)

[Astbury]

Zinjakin,

Again many thanks for the contact details, I didn’t get chance to get to my mail last night and have family arriving from the UK this afternoon.

Basically my Russia trip was planned to start from Switzerland, Germany, Poland then up though the Baltic states and into Russia, driving directly north to Murmansk around some of the Kola Peninsula then West through Norway then down though the Fjords and back to Switzerland. The idea was also while in Russia on the drive north was to attempt to make as much of the journey as possible either off road or at least on small tracks.

I found a very helpful map set on CD called (in Russian) Bce Kaptbl PoccNN 2005 that has a lot of terrain information including river crossings. Im not sure how reliable it is and the trip was going to be its test.

The idea of travelling this way around was that if the going was slow through Russia we would then be able to drive fast through Norway back to home here in CH.

But!

A business partner of mine came up with the idea of China and as next year is the only time we would be able to make the trip we decided to do this one first. We are shipping the Land Rovers (both 110's) from Europe to Hong Kong, driving up through Tibet then North West through inner Mongolia and through some of the Gobi desert and onward East to Beijing where the Vehicles will both be loaded into a 40ft container and shipped back to Europe taking 25 days each way.

Were very much looking forward to this one as it will have just about every sort of terrain imaginable as we traverse this immense country. In Tibet we will be driving through mountain passes at over 17,000ft and if we are lucky we will arrive on one of the (average)80 days a year that Mt Everest is cloud free.

The paperwork has been a horrendous but fascinating night mare and the costs are not exactly pocket money but once were in the country the costs are very low. We also have to accomodate a guide who will travel with us for the duration of the trip.

By the way as we have most of the work done concerning permissions and paperwork if anyone would like to come along we can arrange the shipping ect. Mid May to Mid June 26 days driving with around 4 rest days through some of the most fabulous intriguing and spiritual landscape we will probably ever see.

C

[LR3]

And by the way here is a link for U:
http://wwwboards.auto.ru/land-rover/

I'm Dimka262 there, lot's of English speakers. U R welcome to post. May be some problem with registration because of language - write to me & we'll figure smth out

Привет Dimka, я работаю в России много. Я остаюсь около части Города Сада Москвы. Имейте Вас к безумной области около международного Аэропорта, где парни участвуют в гонках от дороги.

(Translation -Hi Dimka, I work in Russia a lot. I stay near the Garden City part of Moscow. Have you been to the mad area near the International Airport where the guys race off road.)

[Hubber]

Привет Dimka, я работаю в России много. Я остаюсь около части Города Сада Москвы. Имейте Вас к безумной области около международного Аэропорта, где парни участвуют в гонках от дороги.

(Translation -Hi Dimka, I work in Russia a lot. I stay near the Garden City part of Moscow. Have you been to the mad area near the International Airport where the guys race off road.)

Hey i understood all that:) does that mean i understand Russian:)