Took a bike trip to Braslav, positive experience. The swamps are terrifyingly gnarly, the nettles are over our heads, and instead of forest roads there are bumps and knee-deep mud puddles. Horseflies and red flies bite even through repellent. Everything we love about MTB. Crossed the border easily, almost with no line; all you need is insurance, a cheap Balta or Ergo.
Stayed overnight with relatives, so I can't help you there. When we were heading back, they didn't inspect our stuff. The gravel roads are often terrible, torn up due to the abundance of cars and agricultural trucks. Whenever possible, we turned off onto a meadow or into a swamp. As I've said more than once, a washboard-style dirt road is my least favorite thing.
Not only did we get sunburnt and nettle-stung, but we also walked 1.5 km across a field, scratching our legs on chicory. Then on our way we met a guy who was followed by a goose, like a little dog. The guy warned us that there was a fence ahead. However, our motto is — trust but verify. By the way, I asked about the goose. The man answered in Belarusian that the goose follows him everywhere and talks constantly.
The fence turned out to be quite substantial, about 2.5 meters high, made of mesh.
We had to climb over it, into a safari park where you can look at wild animals. We didn't know what it was and thought we were going to get shot. Luckily, the park is just for admiring.
This was probably the hardest trip this season, not counting the mountain raid in Italy. Especially considering that I've been riding for the third day in a row, and over 70 km every day.
