RETURN TO RUSSIA
Moscow

Monika, with Geoff Mead, enjoying a panoramic view of Moscow

We had arrived so late because of a delay, caused by an hospitable Uzbekistan Restauranteur, who had followed us into a petrol station in a new 3-Series BMW and insisted that we visit his new restaurant. We agreed on the basis we could only stay for five minutes as we didn’t want to be late arriving at Geoff’s flat. We parked the bikes and sat down and, it has to be said, his restaurant was spectacular compared to what we had been used to during our travels in Russia. He kept saying that he was from Uzbebekistan and not Russia, and was obviously proud of his personal achievements in the developing Russia. Conscious that time was passing, and still no sign of the food until eventually two waitresses prepared the tables.  We knew instantly that this was not going to be a quick snack. He completely ignored our pleas to speed up and, instead, concentrated on showing us with with considerable pride the extent and variety of his  his gourmet restaurant cuisine. At least five courses of food were presented to us including champagne and sparkling water. It was impossible to be rude and cut short stay as his kindness and hospitality were overwhelming.  Yet again we pinched our selves and inwardly asked if this was really happening. Eventually with bloated stomachs, and nearly two hours after our initial meeting, we finally departed for the centre of Moscow to meet Geoff Mead from Sky TV.

We arrived in the centre of Moscow and came across a huge gathering of bikers at a place we now know is called “BIKERS HILL.” Over a hundred bikers were parked and chatting and it was really exciting when we pulled up to ask directions to Geoff’s flat, to be approached and greeted by almost all of them. They were obviously as excited to be meeting overlanders from England. Yet another delay, as it was impossible not to chat and make yet more friends. There was no problem getting volunteers to show us the way to Geoff’s apartment and so after 30 minutes or so we departed Bikers Hill as part of a convey of 15 bikes.

We arrived, embarrassingly, a few hours later than scheduled at just after midnight and our first observation apart from noting how late we were, was what a fantastic location Geoff’s apartment enjoyed. Situated on the banks of the Moscow river and overlooking both the Hotel Ukraine and the Government white house building where, only a few years earlier, Yeltzin had stood on a tank debating with soldiers in front of the burning building. We were excited, exhausted and filthy, and now we had to wake a Sky TV reporter from his well earned sleep. Nervously we rang the bell and waited. Nothing for five minutes so Simon texted him to say we were outside and, eventually, we saw the balcony illuminate,  the large doors swing open  and over the balcony appeared a familiar face. It was Geoff Mead.

“Come far?" he called, in a manner which instantly reminded me of Michael Palin?
"From Ireland with a wee detour", I answered.

We were both worried that he would be unhappy about our late arrival, but if he was he didn't show it and so with Monika and I in our filthy motorbike clothing and Geoff in his Silk dressing gown and slippers, together we unpacked the bikes and moved upstairs to our new plush home for the next four days.

Geoff Mead with Simon & Monika in Moscow

Geoff’s apartment has a modern interior and is very spacious, with huge, panoramic views of the western side of the city.  A number of photographs of his family decorate the walls and cabinets, including pictures of his beautiful wife and daughter. We were overwhelmed, especially when he made it all too obvious that his home was our home for as long as we wanted. It was a truly kind gesture gesture and we were both very grateful. We arranged to meet at 11am the next morning when we would commence the filming for SKY TV. It was agreed the start location would be Moscow’s Navy Museum where we would lead into our story by filming Monika and I by the conning tower of a Soviet submarine, linking my recent departure from the Royal Navy Submarine Service to our current venture. In the afternoon, after a few hours of filming, which included a few circuits of the Kremlin, we were treated to a fantastic afternoon meal in one of Moscow's leading restaurants. Geoff remarked it's OK as I am paying for this with Rupees? Rupees I asked, surely you mean Roubles? No he replied Rupees! Rupees being when the bill goes on Rupert Murdoch’s expense account. The next day it was time for our bikes to be serviced. We made a short visit to Geoff’s office to get directions and to pick up our bikes which had been left there under the careful eye of the office security. We arrived just as Geoff and the BBC correspondent were entering the building, we heard the BBC reporter ask what was the purpose of our visit to Moscow and Geoff said “TOP SECRET, SKY TV has the exclusive and the BBC reporter replied what ever SKY is paying you we will double it and to our amusement it descended into a mock fight between Geoff Mead and the BBC reporter on the steps of the Broadcast Building. After a brief tour of the studios we were presented with two SKY TV T-Shirts, which we instantly swapped with our dirty T-shirts and duly departed for the Moscow BMW dealership.

 

As it happens, riding was very easy in the wide city streets of Moscow but we still got lost. Luckily, at the traffic lights, a biker riding a R1150GS pulled along side us. We asked him which way to the BMW centre and he kindly took us the 20 Kilometres to the BMW dealership situated on the ring road in the west of the city. We were greeted by the senior technical engineer who made us feel really welcome and, shortly afterwards, we received a phone call from Vladimir, the head of BMW Motorrad Moscow, enquiring about our well-being and reassuring us that our bikes would receive the tender loving care which by now they dearly needed. Our tyres which had been shipped from SPC London for some reason had not cleared customs and were duly returned to the UK leaving us both anxious, not to mention upset. Our current tyres were by now well worn and there was absolutely no way we could depart Moscow until we had new tyres for the hazardous ride to Kazakhstan. Our deepening depression was soon put right when we were told by the senior technician that Vladimir had authorised the dealership to give our bikes a full service and supply us with the badly needed tyres from a local supplier and that BMW Moscow would pick up the cost.

  Vladimir, head of the BMW Moscow Dealership --     seen here with Monika.

We were extremely grateful for his generosity as our expenditure by now is well over budget. We were later to find out that we were not the only recipients of Vladimir’s generosity, as only a few months earlier an Italian Rider called Marco and a further two Swiss Riders had received the same standard of service at no cost. The head technician went on to explain that they don’t do it for every passing biker, but if the trip is of a global adventure nature and they have the budget, then they will do all they can to help.

Simon in Red Square

When the bikes were ready we headed for the Kremlin to do some sight-seeing. It was 6pm and we were just in time to watch the changing of the guard at the site of the Unknown Soldier. As the soldiers concluded this well-rehearsed drill with military precision, my mind drifted to a previous conversation with Geoff, where I had asked him how he thought Moscow had opened up in recent years. He replied that there had been enormous changes and mostly for the better. He added that the the former old guard Moscow correspondents had ribbed him on how easy it was for him to do his job now that the KGB was not following his every move. As I watched the passing tourists it dawned on me just how many police were present in our vicinity. There must have been at least twenty or more to every 50 square meters and as I watched them I could see they were all continuously stopping Russians and tourists alike, checking their identities and passports. All of a sudden it didn’t seem so open to me, and naively I thought maybe Geoff had got it wrong, until Monika had a brief conversation with a nearby policeman.  He explained that security was extremely high because of the continued threat of both terrorism from the Middle East and the continued threat of bombs from the Chechnians. Suddenly, it all made sense. We made the short walk from the Unknown Soldier to the Red Square, which immediately triggered visions of Brezhnev saluting his parading war machine. Were we really here? It was amazing that our journey had brought us to this focal point of the cold war and here we now stood, in the centre of the Red Square, only 20 yards from Lenin’s tomb. We walked around the Kremlin and decided we would chance taking our bikes into Red Square for some pictures.

Monika, seated at the roadside, with the Kremlin in the far distance.

The following day, Geoff’s son arrived from London and it was agreed that we would all go out for a meal. This was to be our treat as a small way of thanking Geoff for his hospitality. Prior to our departure Vladimir called around to Geoff’s apartment to say hello and brought with him our second passports which had been sent by TRAVCOUR, our visa agent, and included the visas for Mongolia, China and America. Vladimir was extremely interested in our journey and you got the impression that he would have loved to have joined us for the next leg if not the whole trip. Excitedly he told us about the newly formed BMW CLUB of MOSCOW, and how a large party of BMW riders from ST Petersburg and Moscow would soon be departing for a tour of Mexico. We thanked him for his support and generosity and after a souvenir picture we said good bye and headed for dinner with Geoff.

This was to be our last night with Geoff.  It was upsetting to say goodbye as he had been the perfect host. We enjoyed a wonderful meal in an English Bar named the 'Black Bull' and retired early, as we had an early start to avoid the early morning rush. We arose early and Geoff helped us carry our luggage to the bikes. We took some final photographs, which included a couple of Geoff’s bicycle propped up against our heavily laden bikes. Geoff's final act, was to contribute a good luck message to our video diary.



Thank you to the folowing:


GEOFF MEAD - SKY TV
Vladimir Vidulov - BMW Russland Trading
Olga Pelz - BMW Russland Trading Moscow
Stas Dmitriev ("Bavaria-m") moscow
Alexander Bystrov ("Eurosib-Service") Saint-Petersburg
Sikorenko Alexander, Natasha ("Avtodom") Moscow
Garbuzov Igor, Gusev Georgy ("BMW") Novosibirsk
Alexandr Timofeev - BMW Kiev