"Perhaps it was the regional TV and the local newspapers who
attended our press-conference who were responsible for this, but today has been
all about driving down remote country roads through tiny villages where in
every bus-shelter and doorways to village shops, groups of local residents were
meeting up to cheer us on our way.
It started late morning and was going on all afternoon,
small groups, mostly children, shop-keepers, young mothers and farm workers,
standing by the roadside, taking photos as the rally passed through their
community, waving at every rallycar passing by. One young lady came out of her
house and excitedly ran down the garden path still dressed in her nightdress.
It was if everyone felt a strong desire to connect with the Peking to Paris, even
if it was only to wave us goodbye.
This has been our last full day of driving through Russian
countryside, tomorrow we head for the frontier and cross into Ukraine, heading
for our overnight stop at Kiev.
Today's Time Trial was on a firm dirt surface running
through the long meadow-grassland of an enormous field – the term field fails
to describe it properly as it is several miles in any direction. The
camera-teams were there early, and sat amongst the grass, counting the orchids
and the mixture of different flowers and various grasses, with just the sound
of skylarks, linnets and willow-warblers as company.
A total of 55 cars tackled the Time Trial today – the others
kept to the tarmac and skipped the run across the farm, keener on car
preservation..
And so we say goodbye to Russia tomorrow – one thing we are
all agreed upon, the help and encouragement of the local residents as we
crossed Russia has been truly fantastic. Keith Ashworth needed a windscreen for
his Mercedes, mentioned it to someone, he doesn’t know who, and while he was
having dinner, an hour later, got a message that a windscreen was lying in
front of his car out in the car park. Nobody asked for any payment, and there
was no note, so, Keith doesn’t know who to thank. Well, if you are reading this
who you delivered the windscreen for an old Mercedes… a big thank you from all
of us, it goes down as just one example of the remarkable and friendly help we
have all received as we have crossed this vast country. Without such help like
this many a car would not now be ready to set out for the frontier tomorrow. It
is examples like this that make this event so unique… and so memorable."
Peking to Paris Rally Report
Building Roads the Russian Way ..
Russian Border Inspection
Passage Controls are very busy
No comments:
Post a Comment