01.09.2023 2023 Архангельск Карелия Север России

"The adequate heroes will always take the bypass".

And drive along it just like us.

We are following the roundabout way to the White Sea.

This time we have decided to explore a new route to Arkhangelsk. In 2020 we didn't manage to ride by motorbikes along the Mezen river from Leshukonskoye village to Usogorsk following the ground roads washed out by rains. But now we'll try to do it by a four-wheel vehicle.

Let's see what the remote part of Russian North of the Arkhangelsk region is like. The day before yesterday we started from Podolsk by two cars and reached Veliky Ustyug two days later, having made a stop in Vologda. The roads are excellent, the weather is fine and our mood is great! :)

In the morning we left Veliky Ustyug for Kotlas. It took us only an hour and a half to reach the ferry crossing, following quite a decent paved road. (61.321602, 46.92343)

On the high opposite bank of the Vychegda river we saw a snow-white temple and huge white letters, telling us the name of the town: "SOLVYCHEGODSK".

I visited this small town with a rich 500-year historical background three years ago, when I was travelling around Russian North by motorbike.

After Solvychegodsk the asphalt road ends and a good groomed grader one begins. You can drive at a speed of 80-100 km/h, but that will make dust. Now we could rarely face the villages on our way (and a few that we saw consisted of three courtyards with time-blackened huts and dilapidated churches).

We drove another hundred kilometres, having overtaken three logging trucks and faced a couple of cars only. Wooden bridges, rivers with brown water and endless forest make up a typical northern landscape.

In a fairly large settlement called Yarensk (the district centre) we found the only place where we could have lunch. It was a grocery with a small room, two tables in it and a showcase with simple ready meals in plastic containers. The saleswoman kindly warmed up the chops with rice and fried fish with pasta in the microwave for us. I can't say that it was very tasty, but, at least, it wasn't expensive!

I realized that we had crossed the border of the Arkhangelsk region and the Komi Republic only because of the double names of rivers and some settlements (in Russian and Komi language).

We arrived in Mikun in the evening and quickly found the only one inn near the huge junction railway station, which is considered to be one of the landmarks of the town together with a black locomotive with red wheels standing next to it, the monument to Lenin, the railway museum and the correctional women's colony IK-31.

Tomorrow we are going to explore Mikun more and then continue our journey further north.

Oh, the roads, dust and fog…

We continue our journey to the north of our vast and amazing homeland (in all respects).

In the morning we left Mikuni and headed for the north, having no clear understanding of what awaits us ahead.

From Mikuni to Mezhdurechensk (which is a small village lost in the taiga) we drove along quite a decent grader road. Once upon a time, 50 years ago, this village and the forestry plant were built by the Bulgarians for logging. According to the agreement between the USSR and the PRB, millions of cubic metres of wood were sent to the fraternal socialist country after the primary processing. In return, Bulgaria gave us scarce consumer goods.

But in the late 80s the Bulgarians left the settlement and it began to decline.

Now a problem of unemployment takes place here, therefore, young people are leaving for big cities and the future of Mezhdurechensk, as well as the future of many other monotowns and settlements similar to it, still looks quite sad.

An interesting fact: a flat in the village costs from 50.000 to 150.000 roubles on average.

The road from Mezhdurechensk to Usogorsk (63.42955, 48.706196) is partly paved with asphalt, partly graded. There is quite a decent Lukoil petrol station in Usogorsk, where I recommend you filling a full tank of gasoline, since there will be no other until Leshukonsky, which is more than 300 km off-road away.

After the village named Chernutevo (63.767553, 48.632852) the road turns into deep loose sand. Just ruts and pits. And this path lasts up to the ferry crossing in the village Maloy Pyssa. It's better not to go there by light vehicle. For the whole way we faced only a couple of Lada Niva cars and one handmade ATV with huge wheels.

Then we reached Malaya Pyssa and crossed the Mezen river. (64.160111, 48.839238)

The ferry runs from 9 to 11 a.m and from 7 to 9 p.m. And it is free of charge. In Bolshaya Pyssa we stayed overnight in cars on a high bank overlooking the river. There was no link communication except for Tele2, so I bought a SIM-card at a local store. A lot of mosquitoes and small midges were flying around in the forest, therefore, we spent the night on the hill, where the wind blows away these vile creatures.

Tomorrow we are going to overcome another 300 km of the off-road taiga up to the settlement called Leshukonskoye. There we will enter the Arkhangelsk region again.

"If you fall in love with the North, you will never grow cool towards it!" (c)

This is the lyrics of a Russian song.

I have travelled around Russian North many times, winding thousands of kilometres by car, motorbike, ATV and even by snowmobile across its vast expanses. It might seem that hardly would we see something new and unusual.

But the North keeps drawing me. This severe and sparsely populated region has got some inexplicable attractive power.

And the further away from civilization I get into the endless taiga or tundra, the more impressed and delighted I am at the sights I see.

For me the North is like a thick book, a brilliant masterpiece of literature that you can reread all your life, discovering new ideas and meanings, laid down by the author, each time.

I try to capture the videos and photographs of the brightest moments as well as to keep them in my memory. Thus, watching my gallery afterwards, I will be able to mentally return there and make new plans and routes across the vast and fantastically beautiful Russian North.

Meanwhile, our journey continues!

Arkhangelsk → Severodvinsk → Onega → Kargopol.

Today is the third day we have been travelling across the Arkhangelsk region. How huge it is! Its area is larger than France or Spain, but its population density is lower than in Mongolia. We experienced thousands of kilometres of unpaved roads, which connect rare villages and towns lost in the taiga.

These villages and towns are gradually becoming extinct, unfortunately. The harsh living conditions, unemployment and a lack of modern infrastructure force the youth to leave for large cities. Here only seniors keep settled and live out their lives in the large log houses, which once were beautiful and sturdy but now are decaying and falling apart without proper care.

It would be interesting to go back to the past (like 150 years ago) and follow these roads along the Northern Dvina, Mezen and Onega rivers. That time life was in full swing in each of these villages: in all wooden churches the bells tolled, the axe sound and the saw screeching were heard from everywhere as well as the children's hubbub and laughter, the lowing of cows, the cackling of geese and the barking of dogs.

I don't know what it will take to return this all. Or maybe we don't have to do anything? Everything in this world is born, grows, ages and dies. Many people, villages, cities, states and even entire civilizations have disappeared from the face of the Earth irrevocably in order to give way to a new life…

Or just to sink into oblivion.