#3: [07-Aug-21]

#2: [29-Apr-13]

10-May-2004 Using Magellan Color handheld GPS.

Today is a public holiday in Ukraine. Victory Day, commemorating the Soviet Union’s victory in the Great Patriotic War (WWII) is May 9. Since May 9 fell on a Sunday this year, today (Monday) is a day off. Figure there’ll be very little traffic.

7:37 Left home in downtown Kyiv. Before leaving home, noticed I didn't have any small bank notes, which always come in handy on road trips here.

7:48 Reach the beginning of highway E93, which is erroneously noted as E95 on the GPS.

7:55 Still in Kyiv, gas stop.

7:59 Back on road after filling up. But the best thing is, I got four 5 UAH notes in change(~$1), which come in very handy if you're stopped.

8:03 Four-lane highway, almost no traffic. Looks like a good day for a drive.

8:13 Just got stopped by police. Very polite cop – but he accused me of speeding. He asked about the GPS on the dash and the IPAQ lying on the passenger seat. I showed him how the GPS accurately pinpointed our position on the highway. He seemed to think that was pretty cool. He checks my papers. Confirms they’re all in order.

Then, he says the radar had me at 94kph in a 90kph zone.

“Do you know how our system works?” he asks, in Ukrainian.

“Sorry, do you speak Russian?” I reply.

“Of course,” and then he repeats the question so I can understand it.

“Sure, I know how the system works,” I say.

“So, what shall we do? Write this up?” he asks.

I reply, “can’t we just resolve this between us?”

He smiles, “of course we can.”

I'm back on road in under 5 minutes altogether, grateful I stopped to fill up.

8:22 Road is still good, I’ve slowed down a bit.

8:36 Road gets more flat, rolling hills behind us. 62kms from departure. Large fields, covered in green shoots of the early crop on both sides of the road. Pretty sight.

8:53 Just past Bila Tserkva, 87kms from Kyiv. Sign on road, which is four-lane highway, says: no donkey carts allowed.

9:00 96kms from Kyiv. Only two radio stations can be received anymore. On one, lots of discussion about Victory Day celebrations, interspersed with patriotic songs from the War. On the other, Tom Jones is singing “Sex Bomb”.

9:06 107km from Kyiv, 42km to Zhashkiv. Weather report on radio says high today: 18C. At the moment it’s mostly cloudy.

9:08 110km from Kyiv, see a law-breaker: some guy in a donkey cart is on the highway!

9:28 btw 139-140km from Kyiv, entering Cherkas'ka oblast.

9:37 153 km, no radio reception at all. Good road ends, goes from 4-lane down to 2-lane highway, road construction goes on for six kilometers. They’re even working today, a public holiday!

9:47 170km, at 49.02.34N/30.07.19E, turnoff to the right onto road to Meduvata and Kopiyuvata villages. Confluence should be along this road, between these two villages. If you stay on E93 and get to the river in the village of Sokolivka, you’ve gone too far.

9:59 after erroneous excursion into Sokolivka (went too far!), returned to correct road and turned off.

10:04 reach a fork in the road at 49.02.14N/30.06.57E, right turn.

10:05 reach another fork in the road at 49.02.12N/30.05.13E, turn left.

10:08 Konel’ski Khutory village. Intersection at 49.01.09N/30.05.04E. Asked some nice people standing by the road, which way to Meduvata. Stay on road going straight.

10.11 Go straight onto dirt road through the fields at 49.01.03N/30.04.35E. Careful of potholes! See photo 8.

10:20 End of dirt road at 49.00.55N/30.01.38E. Turn left and go into Meduvata village. Back on tarmac.

10:23 Leaving Meduvata. Follow road around to the left as it turns into cobblestones and heads back into fields at 49.00.41N/30.01.14E. There’s a bus shelter and monument to heroes from Meduvata village who died in the Great Patriotic War here. This is the last bit of civilization before reaching the confluence, which is in the fields. See photos 9 and 10.

10:24 Enter Monastyrysche district, leaving Konel’ski Khutory district at 49.00.21N/30.00.33E.

10:30 Reach the closest point to the confluence on the road at 49.00.06N/30.00.00E. Park the car, and start walking into the field. It’s wide open spaces. Nobody around to care. No fences. In the distance, a tractor is working the dirt.

10:35 Reach the confluence on foot!