Episode 9

As we headed towards the Russian border near Salla we saw several elk, or at least we believe them to be elk, three separate lone animals and a mother and calf, if that's the right word. Lyn got some photos of them as best she could.

Finally we got to the Russian border. I created an impression with the customs people who looked in the car, they asked about me so I was introduced. Nobody seems concerned that I didn’t have a passport or visa, just as well. It probably only took about an hour or so at the border and most of that was filling in the paper work, then we were off into the wilds of Russia.

Started off on a good tarmac road but of course that couldn't last could it. Soon it was a rough, potholed gravel road and that’s where we met all the traffic going the other way. Then, blow me down, when we got back on the tarmac we shredded a tyre. Great start to the Russian leg of this trip. That changed and we head off again. Turned north towards Murmansk and the sat-nav (Gertie) decided to go on the blink, bloody hell! What next!

After a night’s rest Gertie decided to come good again. We spent the best part of a day in Murmansk. D did have high hopes of visiting the retired nuclear powered ice-breaker that is one of the attractions of this the largest city of any country within the arctic region. We did find it in the port area and of course it was closed the day we were there, but from the notice it seems that it is closed until further notice, so much for that idea.

We did go up onto the hill where there is a giant concrete soldier facing out over the port and an eternal flame. From there a great view of the city can be had even through the light drizzle that was falling and the temp had dropped to not much above freezing. The busy port below, a vital sea link for Russia as it is open through the winter months, an offshoot of the 'gulf stream’ keep it ice free. The hillsides of the city covered with mostly soviet era housing blocks that upon close inspection are all beginning to suffer from concrete cancer. The newer blocks on the outskirts have a little more style.

David also managed to get a new tyre here so now we have a spare again, always a comforting thought.

Lyn was most surprised to see cultivated pasture and stacks of silage beside the road, this is tundra country with permafrost not far below the surface, the trees don’t grow very tall and the summer is very short. We were above the 68th parallel. If you look on the map the equivalent latitude south places you somewhere on the Antarctic continent.

As we made our way back south again we passed a couple of large mines but have no idea what it is that is being mined, not coal, that’s about all L and D could work out. Called into the small town of Kem and saw a statue of Lenin in front of some building. Back in ’98 Lenin was well out of favour and my humans hadn’t seen one statue of him, this was the first of several we have seen by the time by secretary has got around to writing this. L also took some photos of those lovely wooden houses that are often lopsided and very much the worse for wear so I hope she remembers to put some of this episode for you to see.

With very much a time limit to get to Irkutsk, L decided we have to be there by Wednesday 19th June so we have ample time to get Mongolian visas, we turned east and took quite a northerly route eastward. We skirted around Vologda and passed through Totma, a pretty town with some lovely churches then on through Sharya and onto Kirov. Kirov too, is quite a pretty city.

L is going to do her best here to describe a typical Russian city of this size. To start with there seems to be nothing in the way of town planning unless it is very modern then some semblance of order may, just may, be found. Industry and residential blocks sit side by side. A typical street, may or may not have bitumen, if it does have bitumen then it may have kerbing, that kerbing can be from negligible to 60cm high. There may or may not be a footpath, most probably the street will be tree lined, so they do soften the overall effect, so too the overgrown grass that borders the road and any footpath, and around the buildings. Church domes and spires can be spotted here and there, usually the grounds around these are kept in some sort of order.

The average soviet style apartment block is around 9 stories high and similar to that one in Murmansk that L will hopefully put on this blog episode. There are often large parks equally overgrown, cutting the grass is not a priority; big shady trees do offer a respite from the hot summer sun and there are usually plenty of bench seats on which to take a break, though often these are no longer serviceable. These parks are often along the banks of rivers and where there are sandy beaches there is probably some sort of promenade where there are kiosks selling just about everything. On hot days these beaches can be crowded and many people will swim in the river, believe L, she says the water is none too warm.

The graveyards are often in amongst the trees, large trees, and a great many of them will have wreaths of artificial flowers, even very old graves. Nearly every grave seems to have a small fence around it too, and often painted in some shade of blue.

There is always plenty of parking near the grave yards, but elsewhere parking can be very haphazard. When you do park someplace it’s not unusual for someone to suddenly appear and ask for a fee. They will then make sure your vehicle is not interfered with while you go off. D says this was more common 15 years ago than it is now.

Even though we have been travelling at a fairly high latitude we have still seen vast areas of broadacre farming. Lots of oats and some wheat or barley, more of the latter two the further east we go. Plenty of empty animal barns however, the stock must be off on summer pasture well away from the road because we have seen very few herds. Judging from the amount of cleared land that is just left to grass, weeds mostly, it seems that there may still be disputes over who own what even 20+ years after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Large tracks of forest are still being cleared for timber, one can’t help but wonder how long this can go on for. Timber seems to be the base industry for nearly every little village. With such a short, but intense summer season the trees surely can’t regenerate at too great a speed. What is growing at great speed is the rubbish. Great mounds of it everywhere: For those of you who read my blog last year I’m sure it was mentioned there. We have seen people collecting rubbish from the road side but they are venturing no more than 3m from the edge, beyond that is all that has been dumped in the last 22 years at least and for probably the last 80 years. Even today, when we stopped for morning coffee beside a field of peas, don’t know what type of peas, but peas none the less, the field was littered with plastic bottles tossed there by people like us stopping for a break along the highway. I must point out that my humans leave none of their rubbish strewn about, they always keep it until they can find a rubbish bin some place.

© Lynette Regan June 13th 2013