18th September
We leave Russia via Kerc, the road to the border is along a narrow peninsula with a railway track along the centre, but we manage to go to the "into Russia" crossing, we should have crossed the rail tracks and ridden down the other side of the peninsula, which we do and join the queue for the ferry. Ferry tickets bought we move onto the next office for the border crossing, a Ukrainian biker helps us with the paperwork and after more queueing at different offices we board the small ferry. The bikes are not tied down and as the ferry turns sharply into the quay my bike falls onto the wall of the engine room, no damage to the bike but there is a good quantity of paint missing from the ferry!!
There are other bikers on the ferry who help us with more paper work, they quickly push to the front of the ferry and get to the Ukrainian border offices first. The officers come along the queue and collect everyone's paperwork and disappear into their offices. The other bikes are processed quickly and speed away, we take longer as our papers go onto another office, we are luckier than the cars as they are asked to open boots and doors. The officers come to us return our papers and wave us past, we are suddenly in another country.
The roads are in a similar state to Russia and we drive around our first cow which is lying in the road relaxing. One difference is the amount of stray dogs everywhere, and sadly their corpses litter the road. As we are chasing the sunshine we head down the the southern coast on the Crimean Peninsula. Neither of us have done any research into the area so the high mountains and blue sea are a nice surprise.
We ride most of the day and find a hotel in a run-down touristy town. Kebabs are the usual fare which we enjoy and return to the hotel. Next day we head towards Yalta, stopping for lunch at a roadside cafe, the Turkish lady owner speaks very good English and serves tasty soup, we stay and learn a lot about the locality before moving on and finding a good, clean campsite close to a town near Alushta.
I am in the tent when Nick calls to say there is a lion cub walking towards him, I scoff but go out to find "Holita" strolling towards the tent. The campsite owner is walking the cub through the site, we secretly wonder what the cub's future is. The campsite has outside tables and serves Shashlik kebabs, we realise after visiting the local town that we are in quite an up-market restaurant so sit back to enjoy a few days off the bikes. It rains heavily in the night and we decide to move on and find a hotel.
23rd September
Neither of us are happy to be leaving the Crimea, and the day takes a turn for the worse as my charge light comes on, luckily it is a simple broken wire which can be temporarily fixed in a lay-by. The days ride is further spoilt by a squabble, only to find out that we are both frustrated as each of us wanted to visit Sevastopol via the coast road. The lesson is to communicate better, but as neither of us want to turn back we head north.
Nick spots a mechanic fixing a small motorbike near a petrol station, we stop and the mechanic mends my bike whilst I hold the smaller bike for his friend to work on. I watch in gruesome fascination, he is struggling to put some bolts back on the bike as he has no finger ends.
It turns dark and there is no where to stay we are tired and grumpy. The only accommodation is a very expensive, awful "hotel" situated next to a lorry park and I think it may be the type of place that is rented for by the hour for the drivers to entertain some female company. Up early the next day we head for the border with Moldova, most of the time in the Ukraine we are ill at ease and miss the easy friendliness of the Russian people.
Looking back this was the worst time of the whole journey.