After the epic ride to Kiev(20 hrs) we managed to find AWT BMW garage and booked the bikes in for a service with Yuri, there was a problem with getting the correct tyres but said he would try his best. Sunday morning we left the hotel (10ish) and arrived at BMW only to find out that he couldn't get the tyres!! He did though give us the phone no to the area manager who manages eastern europe and told us he would ring him to tell him that we where going to Kazakhstan and would he try to get the tyres there. So we have to ring him when we get there(more info on this when we know). After saying our good-byes to Yuri, we left Kiev later then we wanted alot later 12o'clock noon and headed east to our next destination....Krasnyy luch. As we left the city boundary the sun was shining and continued all day. The road from Kiev to Krasnyy Luch is long and undulating but the bikes have taken everything in there stride as if to say"is that all you've got". The big thumping hum of the bike pushing us foward to Krasnyy Luch trying to get to our next port of call only to get stopped time and again by the police interested in a quick buck or the bikes, either way our progress is slow and again we were just short of our destination and came to a city 60 miles away called Izyum,and stumbled across a small hotel or "guestanitsa" in Russian. It had secure parking and a lookalikee of Dolf Lungeran. Once we got the bikes sorted and had a quick shower we went down to the restaurant where we got chatting to a local who bought us vodka and caviar which was nice. He introduced his girlfriend and we were asked if we would like to see the war monument which was just across the road, we agreed and Uri (I think that was his name) took us there. The monument like all Russian war monuments was impressive, we stayed a while and then went back to the hotel said good night to Uri and went to bed. The next day we went back to the monument and took a few photo's, when riding back to the main road, Mark had a slow speed topple, I helped him pick up he's very heavy bike. A quick check of the bike reveled no damage and off we went hoping to reach the next destination, which was Volgagrad. The rain had started, slow at first but by dinner time it was at full tilt and by the time we reached the border, we both looked like drowned rats. The Ukrainian officals took pity on us and made us both a cup of nescafe. Mark took a few poloroid photo's and handed them out with much amusement, then onto the Russian officals who appeared more serious however the delay was a short 2 hours, just enough time off the bike and out of the rain. The BMW suite's have been fine although Mark did mention he thought he had a wet arse and to be honest I thought I did too. After the border the road beckoned, and off we went trying to make up time and to ride past the rain which was impossible as we kept getting stopped at police check points. As we were both soaking and tired we decided to stop riding at 7pm and found a hotel/cafe. We booked in with a young woman called Luda who spoke very little english but with the help of a small phrase book and hand gestures we managaed to get a twin room. The hotel was small but homely and most impotent clean. We got a meal and a couple of beers and headed for an early night. In the morning we set off early not even having breakfast, trying to catch up the time from the following day, hopefully to get to Astrakhan. The roads in Russia are long and straight and not always in good order but we made good progress with only a few photo stops and police (not the pop group sylvia ha ha) check points. We stopped for a cup of tea at a roadside cafe and replaced the battery in the mp3 players, at which point Mark noticed that one of my foglight brackets had snapped, but lucky for me we had the specialist equipment to repair it - one roll of black masking tape (the biker's friend) after only a couple of minutes job done and we were on our way. We arrived at Astrakhan at 8.30pm and got directions from the ' friendly' police to a very smart and exspensive hotel where we believe ' Ewan Booreman and Charlie Mc Gregor ' stayed (sorry guy's). Tomorrow we head to KAZAKHSTAN!!!