Ukraine. Stretch no.8. cont'd.

Saturday 19 September 2015. Day 1.

Passes in the Carpathian Mountains often hit 900 m.a.s.l., as here, a couple of hours south of my starting point Uzhok. Looking almost straight to the south, no traffic but millions of sharp stones nearly penetrating my soft shoes.

Sanity is usually quite satisfactory in the town and village as well as along the roads. PET bottles are collected in recycling centers, which in a village can be like this plain construction. 

In Poland - the main roads being in perfect conditions - glass and plastic bottles and containers were abundant along the B-road tossed out of the car windows. 

In Ukraine the road sides are normally in good condition: no garbage, but the roads are in a terrible state. The traffic is zigzagging to avoid all the pot holes. 

Many families had gathered for the weekend working the land or repairing their houses. At 3 p.m. temperature was down from +30°C to around a more pleasant +20°C and I began to fancy the overnight place in Zhdenijevo. In Roztoka I spotted these bee hives. 

                                     

In the most remote and modest village you will find spectacular new orthodox churches in white and blue colours with golden cupoles and decorations like here in Roztoka.

Today's surprise. - Where am I to stay overnight? I showed my www.booking.com print with the address Selo Pashkovtsy 19,Zhdenevo. to a man in the street, where this church of wood and tinplate roof stood, in the village of Pashkovtsy, whereas the center of Zhdenevo, the second part of the address, was a further five kms down the road. - You just passed it, the man said in Ukrainian.

I turned back 50-100 meters and entered this building which looked like a simple but solid place to stay overnight. Some sort of a combined youth hostel and info centre for the adjacent nature reserve, I believed. But it turned out to be only a centre for the Forest Agency. 

My encounter with a Saturday afternoon drunk unhappy family man did not change that fact. Sorry, he failed to show me the right house another 100 meters up the road. I got annoyd and walked on until I got a lift in a car to Zhdenevo. It turned out to be a rewarding mistake. Instead of a private house, here I could stay more comfortably in a hotel with restaurant. The night brought a storm with millions of lightenings and thunder.

to be cont'd