We were given an escort out of Ivanavo this morning by Ksysha’s parents. They were very kind and took us many km outside the city to the next town so that we did not get lost. Thank you! We look forward to your visit to England one day so that we can repay the favour.
We continued driving towards Nizhny Novgorod and made a quick coffee stop in the middle of a small village. There was a ruined church which must have been beautiful when in good repair. We have seen hundreds like this outside the bigger cities.
After getting stuck in traffic on the M7 for an hour, travelling only 5km it was a great relief to get off the road and look for a nice village to park in overnight. Again we struck lucky and found Chechenino, a lovely little village right on the Volga. A young teacher called Michael was working by his car, and when I asked if we could park and sleep there (in mime!) he answered a simple ‘yes OK’! It was a great spot.
Five minutes later he reappeared having picked a big plate of tomatoes and cucumbers!
His grandmother also came to visit. She is really lovely, and even brought a handful of chocolates to Marjool!
Her grandsons then invited us to visit the garden, which must have been over 100m long and full vegetables, soft fruit, underground vegetable storage for winter and a banya. The underground store was used in the old days as a deep freeze for the summer by cutting ice from the lake in blocks and fitting around the walls of the store. It was used for meat and fish.
They also showed me where to top up with water.
Finally we went down through the woods to the Volga with the boys. They were really keen to show us their village. Russian people are very kind and generous. We don’t think that we have met kinder people anywhere!
It was a great end to a day that we expected to be nothing but a long drive. How wrong can you be!
troopytracks 