Russia. North. Kola peninsula. 2018

[alekseyklimov]

This is a story of how I took a large and friendly team to the Rybachy Peninsula...

I was in Kola peninsula in 2009 on my Ford Ranger, then twice on #uazcargocamperedition (in the summer of 2015 and winter of 2017) and now I'm driving again, but this time in a rather unusual car - GAZ Sable 4x4 from the team “Terranavtika”. On this trip I plan to work, not rest. For me, this is the first experience of “leading" a large group of people, and although I can’t say I am worried, I do expect to get some interesting experience for myself

Unlike the main group, I get to Murmansk on my own. Firstly, there simply wasn’t enough space on the car transporter, and secondly, I drive the new car hoping that if anything decides to fall off, it won’t be during the route. In the end, I have to say that nothing serious has fallen off from it, but you should always be on guard with an untried domestic vehicle

So, let’s meet my assistant. This is an all-wheel drive GAZ Sable with a one and a half cabin. It had its onboard platform dismantled and an “expeditionary module” built instead, which combines a field kitchen, a water tank, and all the campfire, bivouac and camping equipment located here in order to comfortably organize the life of a large and friendly team

I drive on my own and spend the night near the road. Since 2015 I remember one very nice spot right next to the highway. It is very quiet and incredibly beautiful.

These landscapes remind me very much of Kolyma and I am caught in the memories that carry me back to the year 2014 when I quit my job and went on my most reckless three-month trip #longway2magadan

Low clouds, cold and heavy-looking water, small hills on the horizon

I am without my wife this time on this lake, and that makes the comparison with Kolyma even stronger. Quite an interesting trip for me unlike anything I’ve done before.

My task is to drive 2000 km in two days and I, obviously, am going to handle it. Sable did not disappoint, although during the trip it was clear that it was running in and it behaved more and more like a car. A couple of years ago, I had similar experience with UAZ, and now a repeat with GAZ.

The whole group arrived by plane and the transporter brought the campers even earlier than the appointed time. We swiftly bought food in Murmansk and moved on to the route. A week before us, there was 30 degrees heat, but now it seems even chillier than normal. The sky is grey and it rains periodically.

Last time I was in Rybachiy in June and there was snow everywhere, and the rain did not stop for a minute. It was rough, and this time I would like a little more resort-like weather

I have exactly the same picture from my last trip. Rain, greyness and stuff like that. Well, the weather here changes quickly anyway

 

[alekseyklimov]

And here’s our convoy. Unfortunately, the fifth crew had to withdraw on the last day, so I head only four campers.

Actually, such rough and severe weather suits these places. Can’t even imagine a blue sky with cute curly clouds here! So perhaps it’s even better for entourage

When travelling as a convoy there are a lot of nuances and differences from when you travel in one car. Even the place to stop for a photo shoot needs to be chosen so as to leave enough room for other cars to pass, of which, by the way, there are a lot, because August is the best time to visit these places.

Let me tell you a little more about what this car is and what it is for. The insides of its expeditionary module or canopy include:

• a huge refrigerator
• a huge freezer
• a huge World of Maverick Cosmos 600 tent
• a huge cauldron and a powerful 20 kW burner for it
• a 320-litre water tank
• a gas running installation for water heating
• integrated sink and shower
• a huge set of professional cookware
• chairs for the escort team
• food supply for the entire route
• petrol generator, extension cord and fuel reserve for it
• tools, a full set of ropes and other off-road stuff
• and a whole bunch of small things that I can’t even keep track...

And this is me in person. Just want to warn you - other people took this photo of me, this is not a selfie!

That's how we settled for the first night. Tourists live in their comfortable Terrakhods based on Fiat Fullback pickup trucks, I set up comfortably in a tent on the roof of the Sable, and the cameramen are on a folding bunk bed in the Sable's cabin. In the foreground you see the soul of the company - our super tent, which can be easily set up by two people in 3-4 minutes and then taken down just as quickly. An incredibly awesome thing with a monstrous price tag, but as they say: “worth every penny” (c)

 

[alekseyklimov]

Rybachiy still looks like Rybachiy. There is a huge amount of technical garbage left by the military, and a solid amount of garbage left by off-road tourists.

Pretty streams and waterfalls still flow here, it is still the kingdom of stones and moss.

The Sable itself is also well prepared. It has a power bumper, two Warn winches, a rear axle lock, a snorkel, a compressor and rather mean MT tyres. If you don’t mind the disgusting low gear, then the Sable drives pretty well in this configuration, although, of course, it is not even close to UAZ or even to my camper in off-road abilities. But we’re going to work on that

The Fiats are also well prepared. They have a suspension lift, bellows on the rear axle and also pretty decent tires, but AT. It is warm and comfortable inside, but I’ve talked about this in detail earlier and I see no point repeating myself.

This is the carpet you literally walk on! By the way, it’s still summer here in August and and it doesn’t even begin to smell like autumn

And this is the aforementioned moss, which is absolutely everywhere here.

And this is an echo of war, that you can’t get away from as well.

I actually understand now that we saw almost nothing here back in 2009. We fought bravely against the weather and high June water, we had off-road challenges, but we saw very little. Firstly, because there was no normal navigation, and secondly, because there was no experience. As a result, we made a rapid leap around the peninsula, checked in at the lighthouse and rushed home. There is a lot to see, but I’m not ready, unlike many, to come here every year. Perhaps in three or four years something will call to me here again, but probably not before.

 

[kpredator]

Thanks for sharing!!!

 

[alekseyklimov]

We visited Rybachiy’s Defense Museum, but the founder was absent. His assistant tried to tell us everything, but they say that the founder does it much better. Don’t know. We went up on foot to look at the line of the confrontation between us and the Germans.

It’s a strange feeling when you imagine what was happening here in those years. If I were a fascist, I would only attack warm and cosy places. I don’t understand how one can fight a war here in such conditions for several years...

This place offers a great view of Kutovaya Bay. Down there is a large military unit and they have exercises here. All five days of our trip, we will see military equipment and hear the sound of artillery. I guess it is also good, as it adds to the overall impression.

We don’t have much time - just five days, so considering our leisurely rhythm, we go the usual route around the Sredny and Rybachy peninsulas clockwise and plan to finish at the lighthouse.

 

[Ace Brown]

Very interesting report. The history of the war here just adds to the intrigue.


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[topofpalomar]

Very interesting report. The history of the war here just adds the the intrigue.


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Boy that's for sure. And great photography, too!

 

[mep1811]

Great report. beautiful scenery .

 

[fudutova]

so many cool places in Russia but no infrastructure to get there

 

[alekseyklimov]

so many cool places in Russia but no infrastructure to get there

The main charm of Russia in the complete absence of infrastructure

 

[alekseyklimov]

This is not an echo of war, it is the remains of recent military exercises.

The road goes along the coast, and I can’t help myself and take a picture in the “road going into the distance” style. You put such pictures on your desktop, so that later in the winter you can feel sad at the office about your past vacation

By the way, this garbage bag turned out to be totally awesome. The only downside is that it is too small for us, since 18 people really need a lot of garbage bags. So we’ll add a couple more to the Sable

In August, there is no particularly extreme off-road on this route, so no one got stuck and the whole "extreme" was manageable. Although that’s not quite true - on the last day we did get a little stuck and even winched one of the Fiats! But the Sable drove everywhere quite easily.

The battery. In addition to the guns themselves, you can stroll through rather extensive engineering structures underground that go along with every such installation.

To my great surprise, there was nobody by the Brothers. I expected at least the Sochi beach crowds here, but we were alone except a tent of a lone cyclist

I did not see them nine years ago. We missed a turn in the fog and did not understand that we had gone the wrong way until we reached Ozerko. We had no navigator back then, had to use the printouts of the General Staff

I did not swim in the Barents Sea last time as well . It was very stormy, raining/snowing and the temperature was around zero, so my wife and father easily and quickly dissuaded me. This time there was nobody to dissuade, and my collection of seas has grown quite sizeable, so I was determined to add Barents to the existing White, Japanese and Okhotsk seas in my swimming portfolio.

 

[OverlandZJ]

Beautiful landscape... thanks for sharing. Great pictures!

 

[alekseyklimov]

And this is what my workplace looks like After stopping, the tent is immediately set up, and after that the cooking process is started by means of a cauldron and a pull-out cooker. Of course, all this is accompanied by mess, which then of course is neatly gathered and cleaned.

There is another location behind the Brothers - the shore of red stones.

They say that you need to pass the Brothers in some particular direction, but I was unprepared and did not know the legend. So we just passed them

Some joked that our column lacked flags, but since almost all the other convoys we met were with flags, the joke stopped being funny

On this trip, we had a professional team of photo and video cameramen, so a little closer to the end of this story I hope to add some edited video. In fact, we did a very good job on the camera and there was a lot of material shot and a lot was pretty beautiful, so I'm really looking forward to this film.

Red stones are truly unusual. So they are definitely worth a visit.

Plenty of garbage here as well. Of course, the sea throws out most of it, but the sea got it from somewhere in the first place...

Today we plan to stay the night at the base in Ozerko. We were promised delicacies there, and anyway everyone wants to sweat out in the bathhouse.

While we were swimming and taking pictures, the next jeepers drove up to the Brothers. I'm not kidding when I say that there are A LOT of people here in August.

The sea is a little stormy, but they promise good weather for tomorrow. The signal on the peninsulas is good, by the way. Where there is one Megafon had a stable 3G, but you need to be careful with roaming - Norway is really close

With this photo I will probably close the topic of red stones. I actually didn’t bring a lot of photos from this trip. Firstly, I was really busy with work, and secondly, my own photo suitcase was buried in the back seat under a bunch of photo and video equipment and it was really bothersome to get the camera out every time.

Low tide is beautiful here. The ocky shores and stone beaches are exposed. It smells strongly of iodine and some other seaweed.

It’s actually great here. Harsh but beautiful. So, if anyone hasn’t been, I recommend it. If you take a very simple road, then in August you can get to the lighthouse even in a city car

Haven’t seen any mushrooms - not gonna lie, but there are a lot of different berries. Almost all of them are edible, but some can give you the **********. So, better be careful

And I shall finish this part with a pretty sunset strip from Ozerko Bay. For tomorrow we were promised hot, almost Sochi-like weather and it was great

 

[Tucsontom]

Great photos of a place unknown to most all of us. Thanks for sharing! Well done on all levels!

 

[Arjan]

Thanks - very, very nice.

Brings back some good memories.

Interesting truck you have - looks much like the Iveco.

Can we please see some more of it ?

Thanks