And so begins another adventure: Moscow and Volgograd here I come!

Why is it when you really need to have a really good sleep, in order to restore mind and body before a long journey, that your mind and body won't let you? This 1st December 2015 started for me at about 02.30 when a large black labradoodle decided that he had had enough of my company and crawled off the bottom of my bed and stood panting at the bedroom door. Having released him from his prison and allowed him to wander off to who knows where in the house, I dropped off into a fitful slumber. It was very fitful and didn't last long. So from 05.00 I was awake, mind racing over what needed to be done before 14.00h and my departure for Newcastle airport. That task completed it was onto a series of mental "what ifs". Now the phrase "what if" has strangely powerful, creative and positive connotations, which has moved mankind on through its history - just think about the Honda advert - but can also be the prerogative of the procrastinator and pessimist. Such mental energy was exerted for three hours that it was in a state of cranial exhaustion that I slid over the edge of the bed and began the normal morning routine. The thought of a further two nights with little prospect of sleep would have filled any normal person with dread.

So what are you then, if you're not normal?

Ah you're back again, the anonymous commentator. Well, my younger daughter Julia thinks I'm bonkers, but I like to think of myself as an adventurer, travelling alone to distant lands, and I laugh in the face of three days of sleep deprivation, for the moment.

So where are you off to this time, pale imitation of Michael Palin without a camera crew and production team?

'Tis the truth you speak - oh that I had a camera crew, production team, scriptwriter and large commission to bring my travels to a wider audience than the nine people who normally read my blog. But I digress, and in answer to your query, I'm 'off' to Russia: to Moscow, Volgograd and then back to Moscow again.

How long will it take to get to Volgograd?

I'm glad you asked that question. It's almost as if you had been prompted to ask it in some strange split personality sort of way. It's going to take 42 hours. If I had my lapsteel with me  I would sing a song about it, this one:

It's gonna take 42 hours
'Til I get to my destination.
42 hours to reach that Volgograd station.

I got to get to Newcastle
And fly to London Heathrow
Then I got to fly on in the night, to Domodyedovo.

It's gonna take 42 hours
To get to my destination
42 hours to reach that Volgograd station

It'll be early in the morning when I land at Domodyedovo
Yes, about ten past four in the morning, then it's on to central Moscow.

It's gonna take 42 hours
To get to my destination.
42 hours to reach that Volgograd station.

At about two that afternoon I'm going to catch me a train
At the Paveletski station, for a 20 hour journey that's gonna really test my patience.

It's gonna take 42 hours
To get to my destination.
42 hours to reach that Volgograd station.

Now some people say don't you do it!
What about the dangers?
You're gonna be sleeping in an open carriage
With lots of total strangers.

It's gonna take 42 hours
To get to my destination.
42 hours to reach that Volgograd station

But I'll have a real friend with me,
All the way to the Volgograd station.
I'll make her tea at the samovar
And she'll be doing all translation.

It's gonna take 42 hours
But I've got my invitation
And when we get down there to Volgograd.
We're going to start the celebration.

I only asked.......