After a hard day’s driving, a sauna is the ideal place to relax and take away the strain on the muscles – which is why one Russian decided to create a rolling hot box he can take with him wherever he goes.
Embedded in Russian tradition, saunas sit alongside vodka as the staple means of keeping warm in the sub-zero winters most typically experienced by the inhabitants of this giant nation.
The majority are permanent structures with giant fires feeding individual wooden cabins, but on a snowy lay-by next to the main road into Moscow we came across a rather more mobile one, built neatly into the back of a 1976 Zil army truck.
This is a very different type of truck stop.
Parked in a forested outcrop, the solid green metal machine sat atop the snow on large tundra tires, hiding its dark military history under a fresh new look with a giant side sticker depicting the wooden slats of a traditional sauna and a telltale rough steel opening that emitted a flickering glow.
Since the truck chugged its way out of Moscow, this onboard fire has been slowly building up the heat inside, puffing smoke from the twee little chimney in its roof.
Beckoned over by a man wearing a heavyweight winter jacket topped with a bizarre beige Tyrolean-style hat, we were ushered to a door where another gentleman with significantly fewer clothes and an altogether steamier look welcomed us in.
But while it may have seemed like we were in a bizarre slapstick comedy sketch, this was a very serious piece of physical conditioning, Russian style.
Inside, there was very strict protocol. First came the initial sweating to get the body acclimatized to the heat. Once boiled to within an inch of our lives, we then cooled down in the sauna-truck’s ‘chill out room’ before braving the heat once more.
Then came the oak branches. Bunched and brandished by Nikolai, the sauna’s owner, creator and operator, we were beaten with these to boost circulation. With the sauna’s coals repeatedly watered and bunched leaves wafting the fast-soaring heat through the tiny space by the fire, we were soon cooked to perfection.
We thought we were done, but Nikolai had other plans. With a yell of “Russia extreme!” he urged us to the sauna door and out into the frozen snow beyond, where he proceeded to cover us in snow.
And as we finally slipped back into our vehicles’ soft leather seats to continue our journey, the whip-lashed sores began to soften. They don’t do things by halves, these Russians.
Jeremy was travelling on Land Rover’s Journey of Discovery.
