Traditionally, I started my Golden Ring tours in the Zagorsk City (Sergiev Posad); I was riding 75-90 miles daily and spent the nights in a forest. Instead of using a tent, I made myself a temporary shelter between my bike and a tree with a piece of plastic. I always chose the coniferous forest, where it is so easy to make a campfire. Buckwheat (“kasha”) and the Indian tea were ready soon.

The old chapel on the way to Pereyaslavl City

    You get used to loneliness pretty quick. On my first routes alone I’ve started to talk with elders in the villages, I couldn’t stop myself from talking with someone. Later it was solved by itself. Now it was enough to send a telegram to my parents from a small town, going through endless fields, groves, and villages. You never get bored by such landscapes, as opposed to mountains or the southern nature.
    I got some adventures too. One time I woke up because someone was walking nearby. I looked outside and saw a cow. It was staying close to my “shelter” and trying to understand what that strange construction means. During the day there was no remedy from the horse-flies, they were just as fast as I could ride my bicycle. But everything was overcompensated by the nature of the Russian middle, by the beauty of the old Russian towns.