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| Ukraine Farm Cart |
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| Myrtle has her prop shaft repaired in Poland |
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| Israeli remembrance ceremony at Auschwitz-Birkenau |
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| Colditz Castle |
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| The first bar in France |
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| Place Vendome arrival (1) |
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| Place Vendome arrival (2) |
Our Map
Thursday, 7 July 2011
Photos from the final leg
Wednesday, 6 July 2011
The final leg
We left Kiev in some sunshine, but the weather soon deteriorated, and after a somewhat less than pleasant stop by a Ukrainian policeman who queried everything- and possibly wanted a bribe to let us go on but he got nothing- we ended up getting caught in a tremendous thunderstorm, and got soaked. The weather then remained cloudy, wet, cold and windy till we reached west Germany, so we made as much speed as we could and reached Paris one week after leaving Kiev.
Total mileage to date is 7196, Myrtle has drunk 870 litres of fuel and Kotka has been slightly less thirsty on 863
We have averaged overall some 37mpg which is actually very good indeed.
Average time from getting on the road in the morning to stopping at night has been 11 hours- usually 7am till 6pm
We have managed more than 300 miles in a day just six times, daily average has been nearer 200
Damage-
Kotka
Broken universal joint on prop shaft-repaired
Twice prop shaft needed other adjustment
Starter packed up- we have push started in the morning for weeks, though thereafter the crank handle works once engines warm.
Distributor needed packing as it became very loose
Possible broken rear spring leaf- needs investigation at home
Broken steering arm in Gobi desert-repaired in sandstorm
Severe engine oil leaks- we just have to put up with them! Gaskets have been replaced and bolts tightened but to no effect, and further tightening could fracture a bolt. Our supply of 30 grade oil should just about get us home.
Myrtle
Speedo broke
Starter packed up- as above
As above re distributor
Prop shaft needed adjustment
Brakes pretty well not operating at all- everything adjusted and cleaned but still not working properly
Petrol pump packed up- although a spare was carried we have not fitted this and Myrtle has run well enough on gravity feed alone
Severe engine oil leaks- as above
You can donate through our JustGiving page
Or send us a cheque payable to Smile Train
Post to Kip Waistell, c/o 1 Fairfield Green, Fownhope, Herefordshire, HR1 4NL
Anyone donating £25 or more will receive a free DVD of Smile Pinki, the 2008 Academy Award winning documentary about a little girl whose life was transformed by Smile Train surgery. read more about Smile Pinki
Total mileage to date is 7196, Myrtle has drunk 870 litres of fuel and Kotka has been slightly less thirsty on 863
We have averaged overall some 37mpg which is actually very good indeed.
Average time from getting on the road in the morning to stopping at night has been 11 hours- usually 7am till 6pm
We have managed more than 300 miles in a day just six times, daily average has been nearer 200
Damage-
Kotka
Broken universal joint on prop shaft-repaired
Twice prop shaft needed other adjustment
Starter packed up- we have push started in the morning for weeks, though thereafter the crank handle works once engines warm.
Distributor needed packing as it became very loose
Possible broken rear spring leaf- needs investigation at home
Broken steering arm in Gobi desert-repaired in sandstorm
Severe engine oil leaks- we just have to put up with them! Gaskets have been replaced and bolts tightened but to no effect, and further tightening could fracture a bolt. Our supply of 30 grade oil should just about get us home.
Myrtle
Speedo broke
Starter packed up- as above
As above re distributor
Prop shaft needed adjustment
Brakes pretty well not operating at all- everything adjusted and cleaned but still not working properly
Petrol pump packed up- although a spare was carried we have not fitted this and Myrtle has run well enough on gravity feed alone
Severe engine oil leaks- as above
We left Kiev- see above- and soon on a very goood road which meant that for the first time we could actually look at the scenery rather than scan the road ahead for holes. Very pretty- lots of horse qnd carts, cows ambling along the verges, storks feeding young in nests, lots of corn fields mixed in with woodland- but no fences or hedges so how do you know who owns what? The storks seem to nest mainly on electricity pylons by the roadside; with the wires passing thorugh the nests- so how do they avoid electrocution? The Ukrainers in this area all seemed so pleased to see us, every town we passed through people would wave, and cheer.
We stayed near Lviv, and intended to leave before 7am but found we were locked into our motel, and had to wait for the owner to turn up some 30 minutes later, after we had hailed some herdsmen from our window and - in sign language- explained our predicament!. We wanted to see central Lviv, a world heritage site, but cobbles and tram lines put paid to that idea, so we set out for the Poland border only to get lost and then be misdirected by a local to the wrong border crossing, necessitating a 40 mile detour back to our intended route.
We stayed near Lviv, and intended to leave before 7am but found we were locked into our motel, and had to wait for the owner to turn up some 30 minutes later, after we had hailed some herdsmen from our window and - in sign language- explained our predicament!. We wanted to see central Lviv, a world heritage site, but cobbles and tram lines put paid to that idea, so we set out for the Poland border only to get lost and then be misdirected by a local to the wrong border crossing, necessitating a 40 mile detour back to our intended route.
The road to the border was dreadful, and when we arrived at the border there was an enormous queue, but the locals beckoned us on so we bypassed everyone, only to be accosted by a unsympathetic Polish border guard who insisted on going through all our papers in minute detail.
Crossed into Poland and obviously much more prosperous...roads perfect from now on, everything tidy, and an end to lumps of concrete, bits of brick and dust. Much much less hooting from passing traffic, so nerves began to settle. Russia was actually quite expensive but Ukraine and Poland were very reasonable; with a good hotel costing about thirty pounds a night and a good meal for two about seven pounds.
Next day very wet, having to shelter under a bridge at one stage as could not see where we were going. Visited a salt mine near Cracow, then to Auschwitz/Birkenau. Very difficult to explain the feeling one got standing on a railway siding where mothers and children were separated from fathers and sent off to be gassed. How would you feel if it had been you?
Birkenau is absolutely huge, Auschwitz, a former Polish army barracks, quite small. There were few visitors, but the Israeli armed forces were having a memorial srvice at Birkenau as we arrived. Dull and wet, but we were alive, well fed, and going home.
Birkenau is absolutely huge, Auschwitz, a former Polish army barracks, quite small. There were few visitors, but the Israeli armed forces were having a memorial srvice at Birkenau as we arrived. Dull and wet, but we were alive, well fed, and going home.
Myrtle's prop shaft slopping about so we stopped at a little garage where it just happened that a Pole who worked in Northampton was having some work done on his car having retuned home to visit his family, so he could translate our problem, which was soon fixed, free.
More rain and high winds next day 1st July crossing into Germany where prices much much higher, with same sort of hotel costing twice as much and food about four times as much as Poland and Ukraine.
2 July cold and drizzly, visited Colditz Castle much of which was unfortunately shut for a festival that afternoon. Much bigger than we expected, and now heavily restored. There are windfarms everywhere, almost never out of sight of one. Clearly there are not the same planning problems here.
3 July the awful weather is getting us both down. Pass Koblenz and at last SUN. Pass by wooded "mountains", lovely valleys with vineyards, cross the Moselle at Trier then into Luxembourg. Our Tom Tom has begun to work- a good thing as the roads here are like twisted maccaroni and very very difficult to read a map.Shortly into Belgium then into France and a stop at the first bar- at Montmedy, where we stopped on our P2P of 2007. Very pretty area- Ardennes.
4 July set off for Reims, beautiful countryside, lots of woods, green valleys, pretty stone villages. A hare bounds out in front of me, rears up for a quick look at Kotka, and scurries off into a golden wheat field. Lots of traffic into Paris and two scuffs with taxi drivers who considered it their right to carve us up- they now know differently.
Champagne in Place Vendome, then to Breuillet south of Paris to stay with son Marcus for a couple of nights. Off to our house in Falaise Wednesday to see the Tour de France pass by our gate, and to celebrate in our local bar, then to Caen to catch Friday night ferry.
Champagne in Place Vendome, then to Breuillet south of Paris to stay with son Marcus for a couple of nights. Off to our house in Falaise Wednesday to see the Tour de France pass by our gate, and to celebrate in our local bar, then to Caen to catch Friday night ferry.
We are both very very tired but having seen the kids in the clinics, we know that what we have done has really achieved some good, and is going to make a real difference for perhaps around 40 children, who will now lead normal lives.
You can donate through our JustGiving page Or send us a cheque payable to Smile Train
Post to Kip Waistell, c/o 1 Fairfield Green, Fownhope, Herefordshire, HR1 4NL
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| Free with donations of £25 + |
Thursday, 30 June 2011
Ukrainian Magazine Penoptep
Thank you to lana2112 for this link showing our old ladies featured in Ukrainian Magazine, Penoptep
http://www.reporter63.ru/110621/article/pekinsamaraparizh.html
According to Yahoo's Babel Fish the text translates as:
At the beginning of the past week on the roads of Samara were noticed two British [vintazhnykh] automobiles “Austin -7” 1930 and 1927 of release, writes Lan's [blogger] [Kurolesova].
Governed “old ladies” on “Myrtle's nickname” and “Kotka” husbands of Carmen and Keep [Veystel] from the English town Of [kherefordshir]. Englishmen went from Peking to Paris, and by their tailwind it carried into our city. Purpose of path - collection of money to the charitable purposes. By the way, in the retro- machines there are no belts of safety. But according to travellers, their Russian traffic cops do not fine.
http://www.reporter63.ru/110621/article/pekinsamaraparizh.html
According to Yahoo's Babel Fish the text translates as:
At the beginning of the past week on the roads of Samara were noticed two British [vintazhnykh] automobiles “Austin -7” 1930 and 1927 of release, writes Lan's [blogger] [Kurolesova].
Governed “old ladies” on “Myrtle's nickname” and “Kotka” husbands of Carmen and Keep [Veystel] from the English town Of [kherefordshir]. Englishmen went from Peking to Paris, and by their tailwind it carried into our city. Purpose of path - collection of money to the charitable purposes. By the way, in the retro- machines there are no belts of safety. But according to travellers, their Russian traffic cops do not fine.
Monday, 27 June 2011
Kiev, a beautiful city even in the rain
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| Kiev church |
We have been in Kiev for three days and it started raining an hour after our arrival and has not stopped since. The locals say they have not experienced this for years, which is not much consolation for us as we try to see the sights, and poor Myrtle and Kotka drown in the car park.
But it IS a beautiful city and we have visited a 50 acre monastery on the outskirts and descended 50 meters underground to see, by candlelight, 200 year old mummified monks. whose coffins the locals reverentialy kiss as they pass, the bodies being believed to possess healing powers.
Then to a service in the cathedral at the monastery, where a priest was being ordained. The beautiful deep voices , the fantastic golden robes and headpieces of the priests, the huge beards, the congregation constantly crossing themelves and bowing, made for a tremendous atmosphere.
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| Kiev military cemetery |
We plan to leave tomorrow Tuesday, in spite of the awful weather, and take it very carefully to Lviv, and just beyond that the border crossing to Poland, which we hope to reach within two days
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| Baby Yar ravine, to which the Germans marched Kiev's 34,000 strong Jewish population in 1941, and massacred them all within 48 hours |
More Smile Train Clinics
Today we visited the two childrens clinics, one dealing with just local kids, the other with kids from the whole of Ukraine. Here operations are free up to the age of eighteen, but the hospitals are underfunded, and the right equipment is scarce, so money from Smile Train helps a lot.
As with Peking,and Ulan Bataar, we were struck by the cleanliness and uncluttered appearance of the hospital, the professional appearance of the staff, the obvious organisation rather than chaos, and the relaxed and unstressed atmosphere. So how do we in Hereford, with all the cash we have, manage to have such a disorganised and sloppy hospital .
You can donate through our JustGiving page
Or send us a cheque payable to Smile Train
Post to Kip Waistell, c/o 1 Fairfield Green, Fownhope, Herefordshire, HR1 4NL
Anyone donating £25 or more will receive a free DVD of Smile Pinki, the 2008 Academy Award winning documentary about a little girl whose life was transformed by Smile Train surgery. read more about Smile Pinki
As with Peking,and Ulan Bataar, we were struck by the cleanliness and uncluttered appearance of the hospital, the professional appearance of the staff, the obvious organisation rather than chaos, and the relaxed and unstressed atmosphere. So how do we in Hereford, with all the cash we have, manage to have such a disorganised and sloppy hospital .
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| Operated on last week |
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| to be operated on this week |
You can donate through our JustGiving page Or send us a cheque payable to Smile Train
Post to Kip Waistell, c/o 1 Fairfield Green, Fownhope, Herefordshire, HR1 4NL
|
| Free with donations of £25 + |
Please help us spread the word by passing our details onto everyone you know! Help us make a real difference in the lives of children.
Saturday, 25 June 2011
West from Chelyabinsk into Ukraine - Photos
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| coming up for a Siberian soaking |
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| garage "facilities" |
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| Carmen gets arrested for speeding |
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| Bike shop in the Urals |
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| Ural butterfly |
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| accident traffic jam (body in road) |
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| Ural honey seller |
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| Ural farmer |
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| Ukraine cop takes Myrtle for a spin |
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| anyone for a stag night |
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| Kotka goes to hospital again near Kiev |
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| Myrtle gets religion |
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| "who's an old bore then?" |
The 5,000 mile barrier and the beautiful city of Kiev Ukraine
We have broken through the 5,000 mile barrier and are now in the beautiful city of Kiev Ukraine.
The journey from Novosibirsk has been hell. Kotka has suffered badly, her prop shaft coming loose, and also her starter has now broken so both cars have to be push started each morning- we means giving consideration to how we park them at night, so as to make pushing easier. Russian roads are truly terrible- and very dangerous. Obstacles everywhere, and whilst potholes are pretty obvious, there are hidden dips and bumps which you cannot see at all, which throw you about. In fact Kotka probably has a broken spring, but the springs are strongly taped up so leaving well alone, and I am just putting up with having a car on "the tilt". It is very very tiring constantly being on the look out, and looking at nothing but the next 20 yards of "tarmac".
We crossed the Urals some days ago- in 2007, crossing higher up at Perm, these seemed no problem at all and hardly noticeable, but this time we had a 100 miles or so of pretty severe climbing, bad weather and the usual humps and bumps.
We decided to give the Crimea a miss as Kotka has been suffering too much and it was not worth the risk of what we had heard were bad roads in that area, so from Chelyabinsk we headed more or less dead west, and crossed into Ukraine on 23 June, arriving in Kiev early on the 25th
The long straight roads- hardly a corner to be seen, have meant that petrol consumption has gone up to about 35 mpg on both cars, and they are running neck and neck on actual litres consumed, Kotka being just 5 litres behind Myrtle. Both starters packed up, both cars were leaking a lot of oil till I spent a morning taking bits off, tightening nuts and bolts, renewing some gaskets, and now we can stop at a hotel without leaving an oil well on the forecourt when we leave. Kotka's windscreen has cracked.
We will stay in KIew three days then head for Cracow/Dresden
Only 40 pounds or so from our target!
The journey from Novosibirsk has been hell. Kotka has suffered badly, her prop shaft coming loose, and also her starter has now broken so both cars have to be push started each morning- we means giving consideration to how we park them at night, so as to make pushing easier. Russian roads are truly terrible- and very dangerous. Obstacles everywhere, and whilst potholes are pretty obvious, there are hidden dips and bumps which you cannot see at all, which throw you about. In fact Kotka probably has a broken spring, but the springs are strongly taped up so leaving well alone, and I am just putting up with having a car on "the tilt". It is very very tiring constantly being on the look out, and looking at nothing but the next 20 yards of "tarmac".
We crossed the Urals some days ago- in 2007, crossing higher up at Perm, these seemed no problem at all and hardly noticeable, but this time we had a 100 miles or so of pretty severe climbing, bad weather and the usual humps and bumps.
We decided to give the Crimea a miss as Kotka has been suffering too much and it was not worth the risk of what we had heard were bad roads in that area, so from Chelyabinsk we headed more or less dead west, and crossed into Ukraine on 23 June, arriving in Kiev early on the 25th
The long straight roads- hardly a corner to be seen, have meant that petrol consumption has gone up to about 35 mpg on both cars, and they are running neck and neck on actual litres consumed, Kotka being just 5 litres behind Myrtle. Both starters packed up, both cars were leaking a lot of oil till I spent a morning taking bits off, tightening nuts and bolts, renewing some gaskets, and now we can stop at a hotel without leaving an oil well on the forecourt when we leave. Kotka's windscreen has cracked.
We will stay in KIew three days then head for Cracow/Dresden
Only 40 pounds or so from our target!
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