The incident with the officials had made me nervous and I woke up determined to get out of Russia before nightfall. I still had a couple of days left on my visa, but my registration slip had the 14th written on it and I decided it would be better to arrive at the border on the 15th than the 16th to avoid any unwanted questions.

I followed the coast road for a while longer, then headed south on some smaller roads to try and join up with the main road heading to the Estonian border. These small roads took me through the woods (everything was woods) and there wasn't much traffic, which was great. Such small roads were a real rarity in this country. In most other countries there are lots of small roads to cycle on, but they exist originally as farm roads, and with no farms in the forest, this part of the world has little need for small roads.

The main disadvantage of being here was one of security, and when a car came past me and then pulled over and stopped at the side of the road just ahead of me, I was a little nervous. I made an attempt to memorise the licence plate as I prepared for two guys to jump out weilding baseball bats. Instead, an old couple got out weilding buckets. They were obviously going picking fruit in the woods. To my surprise they smiled at me (this is still Russia, right?) and said hello and tried to talk to me. I asked them where the stadium was. They were really a sweet old couple, very friendly and interested in me and my trip. It was a most welcome change from the apparent coldness of most of the other people I had passed on the road during my time in Russia.

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I found the main road and took it west to the border. There was a lot of traffic but a really good wide shoulder on this road. Just outside of the town on the Russian side of the border there was another checkpoint, exactly like the one from the night before. I really hoped I wasn't going to get sent back to St Petersburg again. The man checked through my documents and this time I was let through without any difficulties.

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I was not allowed to go through with the cars here and had to make my way through with the pedestrians, of which there were a surprising number. They all appeared to be Russians making a daytrip to the EU. This meant that I had to push my bike through a building which had a gate that I just about managed to squeeze my bike through. The woman on the booth looked like she wanted to kill herself. 'I've been here before' I thought to myself. She scrutinised my passport, my visa, my migration card, my registration slip. She said not a word to me. There was a long pause. And then, stamp. I was out of Russia!

Through the building and out onto a bridge across the river Narva I walked. There were really a lot of people walking across. From the bridge the twin fortresses on either side of the river rose majestically from autumnal banks and stood facing each other as they have for centuries. I was walking back to Europe. Russia had been an extraordinary experience. A tremendous place, a throroughly interesting place where everyone looks jolly fed up with life and drives like they don't care too much if they don't live much longer. But besides that there had been moments of great adventure, there had been a hostel which brought a host of interesting characters, and a city that must be one of the most beautiful in the world. Returning to the relative security of Europe, I felt like I had been holding my breath for six days, but I knew one thing for sure. I must return.

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RUSSIA SUMMARY:

Time: Six days

Distance:

Best bits: The sense of adventure, the sense of danger, the sense of staying up all night talking with beautiful women

Worst bits: The lack of sense displayed by senseless checkpoint officialdom

Top tip: Use a mirror, always assume cars have not seen you, always assume buses will overtake without warning, always be prepared to dive out of the way, and enjoy!