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Woland's Advocate
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Joined: 09 Jul 2008
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 Posted: Wed Jul 09, 2008 6:20 pm Post subject: London - Moscow by car via Lithunia/Latvia |
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Ok, I need to (if at all possible) this weekend bring my car back from London to Moscow, where it is currently languishing.
Usually, I take the easy route through Scandinavia and enter Russia from Finland, but both Viking Line and Silja have zero availability. However, I only have a window of opportunity this w/end and don't want to waste it.
Sooooo....this time I'm looking at going through Europe rather than over the top. Belarus looks the most direct route but everything I've heard and read suggests that it should be avoided like the plague, not least because it offers TWO difficult border crossings and sets of paperwork, rather than merely one. Thus it seems logical to detour through Lithuania and Latvia and then take the M9 to Moscow. The routefinder suggests it's quicker and shorter than the Nordic route.
I've read this:
| DITTRICH wrote: | Having returned, I can confirm that insurance CAN be bought at the border before entering Russia (from Zilupe, Latvia). I forgot to ask their opening hours unfortunately (I arrived on a Monday). There is also a bureaux de change (parekh bank) there too which will change russian, polish and all the exotic baltic currencies. You will need to buy latvian to pay for the insurance if you don't already have it. You will need some russian money to pay for the temporary import certificate for your vehicle - RBL 100, and some more money to pay for a photocopy of the receipt. All in it was not more than RBL500.
There is fuel on the russian side and shops. I was not expecting the 40km truck line on the Latvian side waiting to cross to russia (customs!) There are loads of Latvian cop cars here so keep to the limits. Also n the Russian side, play it easy and obey the road signs for at least the first 100kms as you are likely to encounter russian cops. Some of the road near the border is being repaired and the limit is 50kph and no overtaking!
The cops don't fine you anymore - new regulations mean they confiscate your license! - I got 'let off' for overtaking a lada doing 25kph here. Be polite, smile, admit your "mistake" and be patient while they explain it all and with a bit of luck you'll be let off without paying anything legal or otherwise. This year I was stopped a total of 4 times and still got let off every time! In any case most of the cops don't understand the difference between a UK photolicense+IDP and the IDP by itself. Just show them the IDP (which you can sort of afford to lose). Alternatively, you might wish to 'lose' your national license and get a replacement and keep the old one to give to the russians.
The M9 is primarily a trucking road so don't expect lots of restaurants or petrol stations - just miles and miles of forest. The plus side is that it is much quieter and enjoyable than the moscow-st.p. route which is altogether far more hectic and dangerous (bad driving). Mostly the road is okay except for 2 - 3 bits near zapadnaya dvina where there are some large unexpected holes.
Rgds
Les |
I would be crossing on Monday or Tuesday so am not too concerned regarding the various offices not being open.
My questions are:
1) Am I right to assume Belarus should be avoided?
2) I assume, LT and LV being part of the EU, that there are no border controls to contend with until you reach the Russian border? Is this correct?
3) Are there long queues for the vremmenye voss line? Is it like the Finnish border where you get to bypass the 20km line of crawling HGVs? Roughly how long should I allow for the border crossing?
4) If I stayed in Vilnius overnight (second night), would it be pushing it to get from Vilnius to Moscow in a day (can make an early start)?
5) A logical first night's stop would be Berlin, where my sister lives, but Berlin to Vilnius looks to be a bit of hike - can anyone advise on whether it is, and if so whether there is anywhere nice to stop in western Poland?
6) I'm curious as to why the Russian compulsory TP insurance needs to be paid for in Latvian Lats rather than roubles at the Zilupe border? Can one not pay in roubles like at the Finnish border?
Many thanks in advance for any assistance! |
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DITTRICH
WayToRussified
Joined: 13 Jun 2004
Posts: 335
Location: London UK
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| Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2008 7:44 pm Post subject: |
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1 Avoid Belarus - all anecdotal tales of woe - none first hand -but why chance it?
2 From 1/1/08 I think internal border controls are NO MORE. When I did the trip there was still people looking at passports and vehicle registration documents but I seem to remember reading that's no longer the case from 1/1/08.
The date for the lifting of internal border control is 21.12.2007 for land and sea-borders and
30.3.2008 for air borders.
http://ec.europa.eu/justice_home/faq/freetravel/doc/schengen_enlargement_faq_en.pdf
3 Not when I crossed. But russian border control is a notoriously unpredictable beast and you might take 1h30m or 4h00m it's not possible to predict. The border I crossed was mainly for trucks but ignore them and go to the front of the queue. If you speak enough russian I'd say 2h00m or definitely within 3h00m.
4 Yes Vilnius - Moscow in one LONG day is possible. Start early though at 6am from Vilnius. Polish roads apart from the motorways are nightmares and I think 2 days to Vilnius from London is really pushing it. Poland alone will take ONE day if you are lucky.
5 London - Berlin is just about doable if you don't get holdups. If you don't mind paying the Hilton in Warsaw is really nice with an underground car park.
6 Insurance - you buy it on the Latvian side of the border. Their legal tender is not roubles! I forget what it is! When you buy a green card in the UK you pay in sterling not euros! I'm not sure how you managed to pay in roubles in Finland euroland! Perhaps the insurance salesman made something on the exchange rate. There's a bank at the border on the latvian side so you can change money no problem.
Best of luck with your trip.
Les |
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Woland's Advocate
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Joined: 09 Jul 2008
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| Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2008 1:12 pm Post subject: |
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Many thanks for responding!
I'm not fixed on my stopping points - I'll see how it goes. I may leave on Sat evening so that on Sunday I already start from somewhere in France/Belgium.
I managed Moscow - Helsinki in one day in April in the Alfa in torrential rain and that's 730 miles on truly terrible roads (the surface of the M10 is so bad in places that I was reduced to walking speed to try and avoid killing the car), so I'm hoping Poland/Lithuania/Latvia at least cannot be worse!
In Finland, you do all the insurance etc at the Russian border posts after you've cleared the Finnish side - there's a kind of 1-2km no man's land between them that you drive through - imagine you've done this? |
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DITTRICH
WayToRussified
Joined: 13 Jun 2004
Posts: 335
Location: London UK
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| Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2008 6:36 pm Post subject: |
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But I bought my insurance in Finland at a shop in Nuijamaa and I paid in Euros. I never looked for insurance at the border crossing.
Most of Poland is single carriageway roads. The roads you're using are full of trucks. Add to this the Pole's suicidal overtaking tendencies and the frequency which they hit something coming the other way and you can be stuck for an hour or two for EACH accident. I was delayed by two accidents - one coming one going and they added a total of around 5 hours to my trip. overtaking is difficult and the trucks really get in the way. Allow plenty of time for Poland - I used to think I was pretty experienced but Poland a whole new ball game (apart from the motorway which is very good to UK standards).
Leave the UK in the late afternoon, take a eurpoean satnav and drive through the night - roads are empty - and progress is alot quicker. I made London to Linkoping in Sweden in 18 hours 1,200 miles including stops. The european roads were empty and even past Hamburg and Copenhagen, the traffic wasn't that bad.
Thanks for the tip about the insurance at the border crossing.
I'm not going to Moscow this year. Instead I travel to Stockholm mid August and family fly in from Moscow for 2 weeks in Sweden and Norway returning via Eurotunnel.
Be sure to post the results of your trip and new information.
Rgds
Les |
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Woland's Advocate
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| Posted: Sun Jul 13, 2008 1:15 am Post subject: |
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Thanks for the advice re Poland - useful to know. Hopefully one of the benefits of having a quick car (took the Alfa again in the end) is that overtaking takes less time and is thus safer!
Did end up leaving today so am in Antwerp currently which should put me in a good positiion to reach Poland tomorrow and reduce the amount of driving needed on Monday and Tuesday. |
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Woland's Advocate
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Joined: 09 Jul 2008
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| Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2008 10:21 am Post subject: |
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Ok - handy hint for the traveller = look REALLY carefully at Lithuanian petrol pumps. I stopped at a LUKoil service station just over the border into Lithuania and put two thirds of a tank in. Now I looked carefully at the pump because my car likes 98 octane so I always have to check for that. This however did not save me from filling the poor machine with diesel. I have no idea how this happened but it does definitely have diesel in it because it conked out 15 miles down the road near Marijampole. Thankfully, there is a friendly English-speaking official Alfa Romeo service place in Kaunas who sent a rescue truck to collect me and I am now holed up in the Best Western in Kaunas while my car has open heart surgery to remove the diesel.
For those interested, I shall probably be able to write the Lonely Planet entry for Kaunas by this evening. Hmmm which first? Medieval castle or Devil Museum (that's as in a museum about devils, not some sort of haunted cross between the Smithsonian and Christine!). |
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DITTRICH
WayToRussified
Joined: 13 Jun 2004
Posts: 335
Location: London UK
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| Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2008 6:09 pm Post subject: |
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What a rotten piece of luck. Even experienced people can make these sorts of errors. Diesel in petrol is bad news I'm afraid. Be prepared for big bills. Sorry your trip is turning out this way.
Les |
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Woland's Advocate
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| Posted: Wed Jul 16, 2008 8:44 am Post subject: |
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| Yes well I thought it would be hideously expensive as well but in a reversal of fortune it was not. The Alfa agent drained and flushed the system, and got it running fine again for an all-in cost of 800 litas (around ?200) which included the recovery charge and half a tank of super unleaded. Apparently Alfa's old V6 engine as fitted to the 156 is not one of the world's most technologically advanced (designed in the 70's I gather) and therefore less sensitive than some newer designs. Anyway I'm now having breakfast in Daugavpils in Latvia before picking up my insurance (the hotel can do it apparently) and heading towards the Russian border experience! At least it seems to be a gorgeous day. |
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DITTRICH
WayToRussified
Joined: 13 Jun 2004
Posts: 335
Location: London UK
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| Posted: Wed Jul 16, 2008 7:02 pm Post subject: |
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£200? A very lucky escape! Watch out for the holes in the road around Zapadnaya Dvina. The bad stretches are sign posted most of the time.
Les |
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Woland's Advocate
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| Posted: Wed Jul 16, 2008 11:44 pm Post subject: |
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| Well I'm back in Moscow. Thank God. The Zilupe border takes much longer than the Finnish one - I was there for 3 hours! Yes the road on both sides of the border is pretty shonky but some of the M9 is just plain nasty. I've never been so glad to see anything as I was to see the proper motorway you pick up at Volokolamsk! Proper blacktop! Duel carriageway! A central reservation! A speed limit of more than 90kph! All stuff not seen since Poland's amusingly-named "Speedway"!! |
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DITTRICH
WayToRussified
Joined: 13 Jun 2004
Posts: 335
Location: London UK
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| Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2008 12:47 am Post subject: |
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Just proves my advice was correct 
Glad you made it.
Les |
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