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Czech Hedgehogs , the static anti-tank obstacle made of metal angle beams we see at every road junction and block post .
As we parked up to look for our hotel , the air alert howled through the deserted streets and the unsettled feelings returned .
Our accommodation was clean and comfortable , coming at a particularly fair price , and dinner was spent with a friend of Andriy ’ s from the nearby town of Yuzhniy . Yury was an enduro rider in his former life putting on a big event in Odesa . Now he prepared motorcycles , cars , and supplies for the military . He shared photographs of BMW GS1200s modified to take a side car equipped with machine guns . What was most fascinating though was the way they take a drive shaft from the rear end to drive the side car wheel . Watching videos of these incredible inventions at work , once more we marveled at the ingenuity of the Ukrainian people constantly adapting and evolving methods of taking the fight to the Russian aggressors .
The following day we left our motorcycles at the hotel and travelled in the car with Andriy . Our destination was the town of Vylkove , near the infamous Snake Island , home to some of the fiercest fighting in the early part of the war and had no way of knowing what we would find . Kiran wanted to photograph the local fishermen who normally work the surrounding waters in their small , wooden boats and felt it would be safer if we were together in the car .
As we sat off to the side of road , with Andriy back at the block post talking to the commander , Kiran and I sat motionless in the car . Staring down the barrel of an automatic rifle , with explosions on the horizon , the Ukrainian soldier had no idea of our intentions so was just keeping himself safe . It was an exceptionally long few minutes and a big relief to see Andriy heading back with our approval and on we went . Adrenaline rush over , we stopped for Kiran to photograph a combine harvester as the grain harvest is an important story , and half an hour later we were in the centre of town .
It was strangely quiet and almost devoid of human life on the streets , but we found the river , a café open and serving coffee , and were soon hitching a ride on the nearby canals in an old wooden rowboat . Our two fishermen seemed happy to have us along , although I ’ m sure it added to the workload as they rowed . We learned
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