Did you know that you can’t cross the Russian border on a bicycle?

Neither did I. But you can imagine how crucial this intelligence is to the Dutch. And it was indeed such a cyclist who brought this to my attention.

Amsterdam Mike at BikeRussia.com explains:

The Russian guard told me to wait. I was asked purpose of my visit to Russia. “To bicycle across Russia to Vladivostok”. After a little wait he came back and said, “you can’t cross this border on a bicycle” . . .

. . . Somewhere in this exchange the situation changed from a ‘make sure the tourist understands the rules’ to a problem solving exercise.

Not quite sure how it happened, but once they knew that I understood the rules and wasn’t challenging them….the situation changed to one where they started helping to solve things.

Fairly soon, the officer asked a minibus passing through if they might take me. (Plus bike.)

Mike shows great wisdom. It’s always best with Russian Officials to sit round a table and talk things through reasonably.