A DRIVE TO UKRAINE. PART 2

 7th - 9th May 2024

'Field of Mars' cemetery in Lviv.

A day (7th May) had been well planned to include several visits and events around Lviv. At 8.30am we got back into our 'trucks' and sallied forth; first to the 'Field of Mars' which is the military cemetery in the north-east of the city. I had visited this site back in August, together with the vast 'civilian' graveyard next door. Yes, it had grown a bit!

These graves (left) are meticulously maintained and I met a lady (and her daughter) visiting the grave of her husband, who was buried next to his best friend. Both 'killed in action' on the eastern front. Conversation was somewhat limited due to the language problem but she came across as very charming and resolute.

Right: A somewhat 'iconic' photo taken on leaving.

The next port of call was at a park, and I really can't remember where all the following places were as I was, as normal, too preoccupied with following one of our cars in front!

Left: We were met by two ladies dressed in national costume, together with Iryna our local 'fixer' and 'translator'. These ladies described how, for the past two years, they have been part of a local voluntary organisation which supplements the rations of soldiers at the 'front' and on their withdrawal to rest areas behind the front lines, by making and supplying more 'luxury' foodstuffs, such as home made cakes and other home cooking. It is much appreciated. Iryna kept talking about how much of these extra rations were delivered by 'drunks', which had me confused. She meant 'drones' but her accent was not perfect.

Cakes! I never got cakes when I was serving, but then I didn't have to live in a trench for months!

Right: At the end of their presentation each of us in turn (all 15) was presented with a banner, with our individual name on it, thanking us for our 'assistance'. That must have taken some extraordinary organisation and foresight!

The aforementioned 'translator' Iryna on the left.

Next on to a church. This was another elaborate pre-planned event. On the way there my 'so far' trusty steed caught fire! At least clouds of smoke erupted from under the bonnet and I had to make an 'emergency' stop. Luckily another vehicle, with Oleh on board, stopped with us. A rapid evacuation was made, but at least I had the presence of mind to take all the vehicle documents and other things of value out. Apparently the alternator had caught fire and was duly extinguished. We pushed the vehicle to the side of the road....and left it there. No doubt it will be recovered somehow. I went on as a passenger in the other SUV.

Left: Our destination, the Rizdava Presviatoyi Bohorodytsi (what a tongue twister) Parish Church. Several of our vehicles got lost getting there but we all made it eventually.

There was a very 'high church' service going on inside with much chanting, praying and a large congregation bowing and crossing themselves. We stood at the back.

I had not realised that this elaborate 'service' was being put on for our benefit by the well known (to Oleh and others at least) Chief Priest, Father Orest, and his sidekick Father Vasil. Vasil was a most amusing chap. He was 6'6" tall, had played basketball for his university and had worked on a fruit farm near Hereford (UK) in his younger days. He spoke good English and was, understandably, very religious. I am not, and we engaged in some amusing 'banter'!

Right: Our gathering outside the church. Father Vasil towers above us on the left. 'Nearer to God' by far!

This was followed by a 'blessing' of the vehicles which had been lined up (without mine of course) for the occasion. There was quite a large crowd present. I hope the video, below, works.

Then on to the Parish Church Hall where a delicious lunch had been prepared in our honour by two ladies. Some locals were present. I sat next to a charming young lady, Tanya, who was engaged to a local and spoke fluent English. She was studying to be a 'simultaneous translator'.

Right: For some unknown reason someone produced this weapon. An 84mm Carl Gustav recoilless anti-tank weapon by my reckoning. Right: Kate getting the feel for it.

Left: A young lad also posed. These, I believe, do not make an appearance very often in many UK Parish Church Halls.

Next we went to a small factory which makes soldiers' combat uniforms. This is run by a lady who is a fashion designer and this place, before the war, used to produce her 'designer' clothes. Right: Examples of some of the finished product. I can't imagine anyone flouncing onto the battlefield and 'fighting' in the 'dress' on the right, but in this day and age who knows!

Left: I think Ed was trying to chat her up....or maybe thinking of trying it on for size!

Left: One of the many seamstresses at work. The 'disruptive pattern' material is of specific Ukrainian design.

Onwards to a garage complex where imported/donated vehicles are renovated and repainted. Right: This young man, Flynn Watt, is English and was a university student. He gave up his studies to set up funding, and acquire vehicles of all sorts, plus other kit, to be brought out to Ukraine. He now runs this garage full time, organising vehicle imports and then licking them into shape before their onward delivery to whomever needs them. There were some odd 'imported from UK' vehicles parked outside including an old school bus and a fire engine! Interestingly, he told us that sort-after items include off-shore fishing nets. He had a pile of them. They can be strung up over defensive positions and used, quite effectively apparently, as 'anti-kamikaze drone' protection. So if you know any local trawlermen please let them know that their old nets would be most welcome in Ukraine!

Left: The spray paint shop next door. This is manned by, seemingly, ex-graffiti artists and other 'arty' types who can get out of being conscripted and sent to the front by offering to do this work. They are kept very busy.

Below: This was one of our cars driven by the two ladies, Ruth and Kate. It was originally a bright white.

Right: That evening we were given a talk by an engineer who works in the Ukraine drone industry. Ukraine now manufactures most of its own drones and they are increasingly sophisticated, with ever evolving 'counter measures' to protect their own and disable the enemy ones. They are probably now one of the world's biggest and  most technically advanced manufacturers of these things and prefer their own to taking in 'unknown' equipment from abroad. 

There are basically four types of drone; surveillance ('eye in the sky'), attack/bomb droppers, kamikaze and resupply versions. Much of the resupply to the front and across the Dnipro river, such as ammo and even rations, is delivered by drone (like Amazon I suppose). This is increasingly a 'drone war' fought by both sides. It was an interesting talk.

We were then given a talk by two lady 'psychotherapists' who described how traumatised soldiers are treated. They have 'rest and recuperation' accommodation and treatment at several quiet places in the Carpathians. They place great store in a fairly new treatment for PTSD called Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR). It had me baffled and desensitised!

Finally a most interesting description of life on the front line. This was given by an 'invalided' soldier called Ihor who had served with an armoured infantry battalion. He had been badly injured in action about a year ago and spent a long time in hospital. Now mostly recovered, he works with the drone teams. 

Left: Ihor, meeting us outside after the talk. He is a fairly 'punchy' character.

It is interesting to note that the Ukrainians we met, including Oleh (our fixer/liaison guy), seem to have a very poor opinion of Volodymyr Zelensky. He is not regarded as such a 'hero' as he seems to be by our Western leaders. I forget all the reasons!

Following another merry supper gathering that evening, later that night or early morning there were, apparently, air raid warning sirens sounded. Those in the Leopolis heard them because they were woken by loudspeakers to tell them to go down to the air raid shelter in the hotel cellars. Some did, some didn't! Apparently it was quite comfortable down there. Right: I think some of our group in the shelter

I meanwhile, in my hotel, heard absolutely nothing and slept soundly. From my experience last year and the year before, the locals pay scant heed to these alarms. They have got rather bored with them!

There had indeed been a couple of missile or bomb or drone attacks somewhere but these, I think, were on the far outskirts of the city, maybe attacking electricity generating stations, a common target. I don't think there was much damage or any loss of life. It didn't seem a big deal to the locals.

Right: This was the diagram published the next day which showed where Russian strikes had hit.

Below: Video taken by one of our group in the Leopolis Hotel.

The next day, 8th May, some of our party, Paul, Archie, Rob and Oleh together with Ihor, plus another Ukrainian took three vehicles on further east. They were to travel another 600 miles eastwards to the Dnipro river and beyond to deliver the vehicles to various military organisations near the front line. Phew, a long trip!

Right: Oleh ready to go east in a freshly sprayed vehicle. Hope his V5 registration form was in order!

The two ladies, Ruth and Kate, stayed in Lviv to do a bit of sightseeing, and it is a great place to do so. It is a really charming and pleasant place and, for obvious reasons, delightfully free of the tourist masses! I had done this in August last year as well as Kyiv the year before and have blogs to describe the sights which you might be interested to view, or re-view. I had no need to do it again.

So the remaining nine of us left in a minibus (efficiently organised by Anthony) on the morning of the 8th to drive back to the Polish border. Here we were expecting some hassle but we walked through without much delay. The Polish officials just X-rayed our baggage. Then a short, 10 minute, taxi ride to Przemysl (never know how to pronounce that!) and a comfortable 1st Class train ride to Krakow. We arrived in Krakow at about 2.00pm.

Right: A fond farewell from Lviv.

Some chose to stay in Krakow for a couple of days to see the sights. Again, I had done this comprehensively on a previous occasion in May 2022, and a bit more in August last year so I only stayed one night in a cheap but decent 'receptionless' hotel near the Old Town. This city, as previously, was rammed with tourists including many British. It is a 'tourist magnet'! I left for the airport the following afternoon for a departure at 6.55pm to Luton. This was planned to coincide with Nick and Martin who were on the same flight because Nick's wife was to pick them, and me, up and take all of us to his house which is close to where we started near Towcester. I was then kindly given a lift to where my car had been left, and drove home. A very interesting and enjoyable week!

I print below the report written by Rob on their journey to the east. Fascinating stuff:

After two nights in Lviv we were waved off by the rest of the team to head east and deliver three pickups and supplies to brigades based out there. The team for this leg of the trip was our leader Paul, young Archie, Oleh our fixer and Ihor the hardened warrior.

Our first day consisted of a very long drive to a city called Kropyvnytskyi. It was straight forward driving just heading east on pretty much the same road all the way. As a farmer I was fascinated by the scale of the arable fields which seemed to go on for ever and were enormous in size. The land looked to be very productive but interestingly, despite the scale of the fields, the machinery and tractors operating were small and quite outdated. It was also interesting to see the army pickup trucks (similar to those we were delivering) in the fields outside towns with large Browning machine guns mounted on the back ready to shoot down potential Russian drones.

We arrived at about 6.30 and went out for a meal. It was a good chance to talk and catch up with Ihor, a veteran soldier who has fought in the Ukrainian army since the invasion of Crimea in 2014, and more recently had been off active duties to a leg injury. Fundamentally Ihor was not optimistic about the war. He was frustrated with the segment of the population leading normal lives whilst circa 400,000 Ukrainian soldiers were both giving and risking their lives on the front line, unable to rotate enough and take leave due to the lack of other men volunteering. He had a deep disliking of President Zelensky who he felt had been elected on a promise to prevent a large-scale war with Russia and who had completely failed to be ready for what Ihor felt was the inevitable full-scale invasion in 2022, following on from the 2014 invasion of Crimea. He was also despondent about the lack of western support and the need for the west to decide whether they actually wanted Ukraine to win the war or just to give enough to prevent them from losing the war. This was a common theme and one we heard several times.

We left Kropyvnytskyi fairly early on the Thursday and headed to Zaporizhzhia a large city on the Dnipro River. We headed over the Dnipro and met with Archil and Irakli, two battle hardened Georgian soldiers, in their digs on the edge of the city. The first interesting key point was that these were Georgian soldiers fighting for Ukraine. Why were they fighting for Ukraine? Simply because the Russians invaded Georgia in 2008, (Russia still occupies 20% of Georgia - do you see a theme developing here??) and Ukrainian soldiers came and helped them, As such they felt it’s now their duty to help Ukraine.

Left: Archie, the two Georgians, Paul

The Georgians were in charge of flying drones over enemy territory to identify targets and give coordinates for the artillery to then shell the targets. Typically, the targets would be command systems, anti-aircraft systems and tanks. The drones they used were part of a sophisticated weapon system and had a 3.5m wing span, could fly up to 50km away and cost about $350k for a system which would typically include three drones. The Georgian soldiers currently didn't have a drone to send out as the last one had been shot down and they were waiting for a new one.

We had lunch with the Georgians and again it was great to hear their insight on the war. I was struck by the following:

➢ The Ukrainian army is fighting with a real mixed bag of equipment such as RPG’s from the

70’s, modern Mavic drones which anyone can buy and which are retrofitted with home-made

bombs to attack nearby enemy positions and also act as eyes in the sky. Finally, it was also interesting how circa 40% of soldiers were fighting with rifles and/or ammunition they had bought themselves.

➢ The front line is actually made up of trenches which run along the majority of the eastern front. The Ukraine and Russian front line could be anywhere between 200m and 2km apart from each other. Gains are very marginal with it costing a huge loss of life. The Russians to date have some 500,000 killed, injured or missing soldiers and are incurring deaths at a rate of over 900 per day. We were told that in Russian battalions if their troops were sent forward and then turned back, then they would be shot by their own ‘blocking’ troops!! Over lunch Archil and Irakli explained what was needed for Ukraine to win the war. We were told the West needed to decide if they actually want Ukraine to win. All the West is currently doing is ensuring that Ukraine doesn’t lose. Ultimately this stance will lead to a very very long war which will cost a huge amount of money and lives. They feel that if the West fully got behind Ukraine and gave them the right tools which enabled them to gain control of the air and allowed them to launch missile attacks inside Russian territory and they had enough ammunition to push forward on the front line then they could prevail.

After lunch we headed to Dnipro a lovely city which straddles the Dnipro River. Here we delivered a further pick-up to the 43rd Artillery Brigade. Both they and Ihor then left us for the front.

Right: Ihor, Archie, ?, Paul, ?, Rob, ? in Dnipro.

Dnipro and Zaporizhzhia were busy vibrant cities where superficially life was continuing pretty much as normal if you ignored the recent missile damage near the station. We headed onto the sleeper train from Dnipro back to Lviv and enjoyed one last night in Lviv before a long final day crossing the Polish border, getting a train from Przemysl to Katowice and flying back home. Przemysl is a lovely Polish town, tidy, smart buildings and very pleasant, much like the cities in Ukraine. One of my thoughts was that I’m not sure the UK is any more developed than some of the countries we still perceive to be as more developing, rather than developed countries.

Right: Rob, the ex-big pig farmer, posing next to the River Dnipro.

All in all, the trip was a great success. Much needed pickups and supplies were successfully

delivered and although only a drop in the ocean, our Ukrainian friends were hugely appreciative and the totality of Western voluntary aid will make a difference to what I believe is a vitally significant war which must see Ukraine prevail against a hostile state which does threaten the security of Europe.

Right: I'm not sure where this was taken but is a display of donated drones, hundreds of them, in a town square. Presumably on the trip east. Not my photo!

Rob Mercer

Our next trips to Ukraine are on the 7th of September and then again in February 2025.

If you are interested in joining us on one of these do please contact me on

paul@southfieldshouse.co.uk - the Ukrainians continue to need our support.

Thank you. Paul Parsons

ukraineaidmission2024.co

A DRIVE TO UKRAINE. PART 1

 4th - 6th May 2024

The assembled team arriving in Ukraine. Lt to Rt (for future reference): Martin, Nick 1, Rob, myself, Kate, Freddie, Ruth, Anthony (assistant organiser), Paul (our leader), Archie, Ed, Nick 2, Dick, Guy

Well, this was a trip with a difference. On the 'encouragement' of a friend I volunteered to drive an ancient SUV, along with eight other similar vehicles, from a large house and farm near Towcester, Northamptonshire, to the Ukraine city of Lviv.

Most of the party met up at the Towcester location for a departure at 6.30am prompt on the morning of the 4th. Some of the others would join us, already with loaded vehicles, at the Channel Tunnel crossing at Folkestone to board 'LeShuttle' to Calais. I and four others (Freddie, Archie, Nick 1 and Dick) had been kindly and comfortably put up for the previous night, and royally entertained by the 'leader' and 'organiser' of this expedition, Paul, and his wife in their substantial mansion. 

Left: Our leader, Paul and his wife, at the start point. They are standing in front of the vehicle I would be driving; a 2007 vintage 2.5 ltr Mitsubishi L200. All these vehicles had been filled to the 'gunnels' with various 'supplies', medical and technical etc., by arrangement with contacts in Ukraine. I had been given a brief chance the previous evening to suss-out how everything worked in the vehicle, but picked up most of it en-route!

Right: Most of us assembling at the start. The Ukrainian Oleh on the left. Two other cars would meet us at Folkestone

The procurement, financial, logistic and administrative effort and skill which had gone into preparing for this trip was most impressive. Paul is a highly inspiring, enthusiastic and competent 'organiser' with boundless energy and good humour. Just acquiring and getting these old vehicles fully roadworthy with all the necessary and copious documentation was a feat that I found incomprehensible. He was assisted by a contact in Ukraine and a charming and efficient young Ukrainian chap (Oleh) who now lives in UK, and others who were part of our group. Navigation was aided by a string of GPS 'waypoints' given to us on our 'essential' mobile phones. I got the hang of those eventually. Oleh was a bit of a technical genius and a talented 'fixer' in all respects and, of course, he spoke Ukrainian! Paul and some of the others had done this journey at least three times before; the previous one being back in January. Some effort!

The journey down to Folkestone, in a very 'loose' convoy, took about 2.5 hours along relatively clear roads and motorways. I was not entirely sure of the route (hadn't sussed out the waypoints on the phone system at this stage) so I glued myself onto the vehicle in front and followed it relentlessly.

All nine vehicles managed to RV successfully and unscathed at the Channel tunnel terminus in good time and we even had a decent amount of time for refreshments in the cafés there; in fact our 'LeShuttle' boarding time had been delayed for over an hour. (right: boarding LeShuttle...not all our cars).

There were 15 of us altogether; some rather charming and mildly eccentric characters it must be said, in the nine vehicles. Several had done this before and were friends of Paul and had recruited their friends to join in. Some paired up of course (lucky them) but I and two others (Archie and Freddie) were solo drivers. Archie, Freddie and Ed were the comparative 'youngsters'!

We arrived at Calais at about 1.30pm and headed off north, via a refuelling stop, through France via Dunkerque and into Belgium. The route took us past Bruges, all on a good motorways. However there was a major traffic jam somewhere near Antwerp and it was raining heavily by now. It was here that I had a little mishap; a minor 'prang'. In the line of nearly static cars on the entry to a tunnel under a canal I got too close to a slow moving car in front. It stopped suddenly. I braked, but my 'tank' didn't stop in time (heavy vehicle in wet conditions, but entirely my fault). A slight bump resulted! Luckily no major damage. We managed to pull in to the side and filled in an accident form (which he had). My Belgian 'victim' was rather charming about it. His rear bumper had been slightly damaged and he probably hoped to get a new car out of it. I felt a bit embarrassed. Anyway, I had been following Freddie and Archie and they had pulled off the road on the far side of the tunnel to wait for me. Thankfully! (I had been able to phone them).They then decided to take a detour to escape the ongoing traffic jam (they were competent users of their 'Google Maps' route and I was not!). We wended our way through various towns and then across the south of the Netherlands past the border town of Venlo and into Germany. I really had no idea of where we were most of the time and merely concentrated on tagging on to Archie's car in front of me. Of course this journey was not conducive to taking photos, so most of this report will just be in writing. The weather had turned very rainy so the going was arduous with much 'spray' and poor visibility and involved several more traffic jams. It was surprising that the German motorways became so waterlogged in the rain. I felt on occasions that there was a serious danger of 'aquaplaning'. Our end stop on this leg was to be in Dortmund. F & A were due to stay at a different hotel to me so we parted company at some stage. Fortunately I had by now just about got the hang of the route 'pins' on my mobile (Google maps app). I thus found the hotel I was booked into (Moods Hotel), along with most of the others. The traffic approaching and through Dortmund had been horrendous thanks, we later found out, partly due to the Borussia Dortmund football team playing a home match that evening.  Arrival time about 7.25pm. The total distance covered today: 465 miles. Phew!

Anthony, who has been on this route on previous occasions, appeared to be the chief organiser and coordinator at these stops. He had booked us into a nearby restaurant. So, after checking-in to the hotel, we all, including those in other hotels, walked there for a very decent and convivial supper.

Left: Me and my trusty (slightly dented) steed in the car park at Dortmund.

Start time the next morning was at a relatively civilised time of 8.30am. The hotel had been a rather basic one with few facilities and crowded by a large party of Germans (football supporters?) to the extent that it was impossible even to get near the coffee machine at breakfast. I had the redoubtable Oleh in the car with me today. They probably, and sensibly, thought I needed a competent assistant, and we shared the driving. He kept a close eye on me!

After an initial refuelling stop it was onwards on motorways (sorry autobahns), past Paderborn and Dresden into Poland. I can't even remember if there was a checkpoint into Poland or where we refuelled, but there were the occasional serious roadworks and resulting traffic jams again. There was no 'convoy' involved in this leg. It seemed as if every car just made its own way at its own speed (very fast sometimes, 140 km/hr, on the clear motorways with lots of overtaking of lorries). What I do remember is the vast amount of 'wind turbines' (wind farms) which cover (blight) so much of the German countryside. At least the countryside became more hilly, forested and interesting (in south-east Germany) after the flat landscape of yesterday. One fuel stop just off the motorway in Poland somehow involved a 9km route to get back onto it! Fortunately Oleh was a most competent navigator and I think would have got lost without him. We arrived at our next night stop in the town of Gliwice (west of Krakow) at 7.15pm. Distance covered today: 603 miles.

Our hotel here, the Gliwiçe Plaza Diamante, was excellent and cheap at the price. Again, Anthony had arranged a communal supper for us at a charming restaurant (right) in the picturesque central square. He paid all the bills, but suspect he will divvy it up amongst us at some stage. After this meal I went back to the hotel. I believe that the 'younger' drivers went on a bit of a 'vodka' tasting expedition until rather late. 

Left: We were served by a delightful young waitress called Annie. A lot of wine was drunk.

The next morning (6th May), another 8.30am start, we set off initially via some very confusing 'slip roads' to get onto the motorway bypassing Krakow. Despite the route 'set' on mobiles, I believe one or two of the cars took the wrong turning. More fast motorway driving, albeit with a couple of traffic jams to contend with. There had been a major pile up on the opposing lanes travelling west which involved several fire engines, ambulances and police cars. The queue of traffic behind that 'incident' was over 10 miles long! One hoped the unsuspecting vehicles joining the end of that queue had tents, sleeping bags and rations with them.  We all met up at a filling station about 50 miles from the Ukraine border. From then on we maintained a close convoy as it had been decided that we would take the 'scenic' route for the final 30 miles or so to the border. My vehicle was the last in the convoy.

Right: Somewhere on the motorway before branching off. The sign reads Lviv 177 km.

After leaving the motorway we drove through several small towns and into the forested countryside. The roads got narrower and narrower. We passed through some delightful and pretty villages where, noticeably, in most there was a beautifully tended cemetery or church graveyard with immaculately decorated graves. They take their 'resting places' very seriously. I think it was a quote by Robert Louis Stevenson which said something along the lines of "the state of a local graveyard reflects the state of the local population".

The roads through the forest became single track in some parts with, fortunately, very little traffic on them.....oncoming vehicles towards our convoy were few and involved much shuffling into lay-byes. Left: At some point near the border we were stopped and approached by a couple of 'informally' dressed but armed (with pistols) border 'guards'. I really don't know what their purpose was, but they checked our passports and waved us on. 

We stopped in the village of Lukawiec, about 25 miles from the border. Another immaculate little place which has three notable churches. Right: The first we visited was a wooden one, originally built in 1754-1756 and renovated several times since. Expect they worry about woodworm and fire? I can't remember what any of these are called.

Left: ...and another gathering for a group photo at the church gate. The main door was locked.

Right: The church bells. There were ropes to ring them hanging down and it was tempting to pull them, but I resisted.

Left: Just down the road was another wooden church. If these were in UK they would have all been burnt down by now!

You could go inside this one. Empty, and not even any pews etc. I'm told this is normal in 'Orthodox' churches.

A little further into the village, there is another 'interesting' looking church. I'm no expert on churches and sorry to bore you with all these 'churchy' photos, but as I took them I might as well show them! Churches (and graveyards) obviously play a very important part of life/death in Poland, as they do in Ukraine.

We were getting close to the border and then Freddie's car broke down (right). It was some engine problem and unable to be fixed despite Oleh's expert attention. So it was towed into the nearest village and dumped outside the church. The 'cargo' was redistributed amongst the other vehicles. A local living opposite was informed and I haven't a clue what arrangements were, or have been, made to recover it. Nobody seemed in the slightest perturbed. So that left us with eight vehicles.

Left: Arriving at the border crossing at Budomierz-Hruszow (seemingly in the middle of nowhere). Despite little traffic we had been warned that these crossings can take several hours due to the 'Soviet style' and very bureaucratic and pedantic Polish procedures. They like to make work for themselves (they've got nothing else to do!) by checking all the documents with a fine tooth-combe and there is no love lost between the Polish and Ukrainian immigration services. The 'officials' are very dour and bolshy and we were warned not to be anything other than grovellingly polite and do exactly what we were told. Archie was particularly worried as he had had to forge (with great skill) a vehicle V5 registration document for his machine as he had repainted it from the original 'registered' colour (we were regaled with a long story 😖 about how he managed this with the help of a local in Gliwice). Anyway, despite much checking of documents by sullen officials, it only took about an hour to get through. Archie, indeed all of us, were much relieved. His forgery had passed muster!

Right: Another pic of us all on the Ukraine side of the border. Oleh in the foreground.

So onwards to Lviv, about another 60 miles to go.

 

We had only gone a few hundred yards when we were stopped by some police vehicles and pulled into a lay-by. It transpired that a lady had asked them to stop us so she could present us with Ukrainian Easter cake and sausages! She was very emotional about this and was thanking us tearfully and profusely! Left: Accepting a 'slab' of Easter cake. The Ukrainians celebrated Easter on Sunday 5th May as the 'Orthodox' church uses the 'Julian' calendar as opposed to us who use the more recent 'Gregorian' one. It was a very kind and unexpected gesture!

The large slab of cake was too much for me. I hope the charming and generous lady did not notice me tip half of it into a rubbish bin near my vehicle. 

Onwards to the outskirts of Lviv where, not having a clue where I was, I again latched onto one of our vehicles in front. We ended up at the 4* Leopolis Hotel in the city centre and parked the eight cars in an adjacent compound (right) at about 5.30pm. All except me were staying here. It is a very luxurious hotel with a price to match. I had chosen to stay in the lovely little (and much cheaper) place I used when here last August; the Ferenc Hotel, not far away.

Distances covered over the past 3 days (on my mileometer anyway): Towcester to Dortmund 465m, Dortmund to Gliwice 603m, Gliwice to Lviv 310m. Total: 1378 miles.

Before leaving the hotel we were introduced to an eye surgeon (left) who had been kept very busy patching up wounded soldiers from the front line. He gave us a talk about his experiences and  took us on a short visit to his surgery where we presented him with a rather expensive bit of ophthalmological equipment which had been requested in advance. Haven't a clue what it was.

Anthony had organised a supper in a 'restaurant' on the edge of the main Rynok Square (he had obviously been there before). I, being separate, was given instructions on how to get there with a 'password' to get in. I found the place which had a semi-hidden and locked door with a knocker and small closed flap in the door. I knocked, the flap opened and a wizened little face (his not mine!) peered through. I had forgotten the 'password' and just said I was looking for a group of English people. Thankfully he let me in and I descended into a series of cellars, a real maze, with people eating and drinking at various tables in half hidden corners. It was a weird underground 'restaurant'. I eventually, with the help of a waitress, found our group already well settled in at a long table.

They had been joined by a very jovial Ukrainian (the guy centre in photo) who insisted on buying us copious supplies of different flavoured vodkas. He provided an endless supply of bottles and glasses of the stuff. Incredibly generous! Some of it even tasted rather nice, and the food was also decent.

Left: We had a very jovial evening. I still hadn't paid for any of these meals! I think I drank far too much but, presumably, found my way back to my hotel...as I woke up there the next morning!

Right: Rob, one of our gang, wearing some headgear supplied by....the Ukrainian?

Rob was a big pig (can't speak for the size of the pigs) farmer. He once owned 12,000 of them. That's a lot of bacon! I believe he got rid of them and now does a bit of farming and living off the proceeds no doubt. Oink oink!

That was the journey to Lviv. The next day various visits and other 'events' had been organised. Stand-by for a report in the next edition!