We’ve just arrived in Volgograd after taking a little detour south to have a break from driving and spend a day relaxing on a beach by the Black Sea.  We had a glorious stretch of long white sand completely to ourselves (apart from seagulls, and mosquitos which came in swarms as big as any of us had ever seen!).  Completely to ourselves that is until mid-afternoon, when a couple of Russians drove the full length of the deserted spit of sand and parked up within 5 metres of us.  They stripped down to their underwear, drank beer and had a couple of swims, then an hour or two later came over to talk to us.  The conversation was hardly flowing when another two men made the mile-long drive down the beach and parked up just as close before hopping in the water to fish.  Clearly the lure of the crazy foreigners was just too strong!

It was a beautiful spot though, with spectacular sunsets, clear night sky, and it was lovely to have a swim.  We found an equally nice place to camp last night before making the last hop into the city, which has also made a very good first impression on us.  We didn’t even get stopped by the police this morning, Russia seems pretty good right now!

David