21-10-2006

Early in the morning Cyril comes to escort me to the city limits, but first he and his wife take me around Kyiv to see the sights. It is a grey day so the views over the city are limited, but Cyril is a great guide and manages to make it interesting nevertheless. He also takes me to the KMZ, the Dnepr motorcycle factory. Everybody I have asked tells me the factory is practically finished. They only occasionally produce anything and the quality is bad. Dneprs are not a frequent sight here. While taking pictures in front of the factory, a woman comes out of the factory and tells us that we cannot take any pictures here. Cyril is as amazed as I am and tells her to call the cops if it is really that big a problem. There is a Dnepr museum, but the unfriendly reception just now and the fact that I prefer Ural keep me from paying a visit (and probably rather high admittance fee). Once at the city limits I thank Cyril and his wife for the great tour of this huge city (about 50kms from end to end). Luck has it that my planned route to Poland is under construction and of poor quality, so I decide to follow the E40 from Kiev to Poland. From Poland the E40 runs all the way to Dresden, Germany. The E40 also runs through Belgium. It is our major highway from the capital (Brussels) to the coast. It is kind of funny to be riding on the E40 so far away from Belgium ... well, it is funny to me. The quality of this highway is actually OK, just the occasional bad spot. I was quite surprised. The weather has been great since I reached Kyiv: nice and warm. So I decide to camp again. Around dusk I get off the highway to find a nice secluded spot ... in the middle of a Ukrainian field. Soft rolling hills seclude me from view in the middle of this vast field. It is a special experience, I like it very much and watch the stars for a while.