More on the start

Well Tom missed out the saga of the bike boxes, which might explain some of the subsequent forgetting. We got free boxes from bike shops, then realised that the bikes would have to be taken to pieces to get them in. We had limited time in Stockholm to reassemble and get to the boat, so decided to buy bigger ones. Bought them on line and were give the TNT delivery reference. Waiting in all day to no avail. Phoned TNT. They had no reference for  them. Phoned the company. Oh, sorry, they were out of stock. Time now very limited so had to go to another company and pay a ridiculous amount for next day (Saturday) delivery. They came but now in a hurry to get all packed. Had to hire a large minicab to get to the airport.  The boxes were now starting to fall to pieces, or had least had developed holes. Fortunately had been prepared for this and did a repair with strong tape and string at the airport. Then we had a problem to get them on the plane.  Although we had measured them and ensured they were within the correct size limits, an unhelpful check in man said they were no good. Then at the extra large luggage place, they said they wouldn't go through the X-ray machine and would have to be taken to pieces. The helpless female act won the day and they measured them and realised that they would go through and indeed they did. Relief all round.  Even more relief when they arrived safely at Stockholm. Airport carpenter and bike shop in Helsinki were amazingly helpful. Then in Vyborg, Russia, we realised that the bike oil had also been left behind. One bike shop in Vyborg and hidden in a shop that didn't look like a shop and had lots of sections all selling different things, but decoding of Cyrillic and a little persistence got us to the bike shop in the basement, with someone who had just called in there, who spoke English. We got the oil and had our photos taken. We were something of a rarity that merited recording. If you ever see adverts for foreign cyclists in Russia, it might just be us.