Eastward Bound

We set off from Krakow and after an overnight stop in Tarnow we made it to the Ukrainian border - our first proper border after many barely-existant E.U. ones. After filling in many forms and an interview where we didn't really understand each other we managed to get through in less than an hour. Our Land Rover attracted a lot of attention from the border guards and definitely eased our progress.

We had a stop-over in the beautiful city of L'vov. In the Jewish section of the city's vast cemmetry I managed to track down the grave of my close friend's great grandfather, who died here over half a century ago. New flowers on the grave we set off towards Kiev.

We got stopped by the police for speeding after not being aware of the change in speed limit. After some careful 'negotiation' and a lot of "I don't understand", the police officer got bored and decided to let me go without a fine or a bribe!

That night was our first night wild camping and we found a great spot in a vast forest off the main road. The Land Rover got stuck into its first real off-roading and we set up camp and cooked dinner. As we were heading to bed we got approached by well armed anti-poaching guards. They thought that we were slightly crazy and told us that we couldn't camp there as it was a government reserve. However we persuaded them to let us stay until first light when we pressed on to Kiev. We all slept slightly nervously in the hammocks that night!

We've enjoyed a couple of days in Kiev but the city is very expensive and people seem less friendly. The attitude to everything in the former-Soviet block will take some getting used to. From here we head north to Chernobyl before heading on to Russia and potentially our most difficult border crossing. Wish us luck!