The decision to go to Teriberka came about by chance. We have long wanted to see the northern lights and initially planned to go to Lapland. But something went wrong, and spending 100 thousand on Finland at that moment was beyond our means. It's February outside the window, since March it's harder to see the lights, so we had to look urgently a budget option. Suddenly the idea was born to hunt for Aurora somewhere in Russia. Within a minute we found a village that we had never heard of before - Teriberka. North of the Kola Peninsula, 150 kilometers from Murmansk and even highway There is. On Instagram we found several fantastic photos of the untouched Arctic, and on the Internet we dug up a couple of reviews from those who had already been there. That evening we bought tickets to Murmansk, booked a rental car and began packing our bags.
Many believe that the toponym Teriberka is pronounced with an emphasis on the second “E”. This is absolutely false. To speak correctly "Teriberka", hitting the letter “I”. Locals never make mistakes when it comes to accents, so remembering this moment will be a sign of respect.
How to prepare for your trip so you can come back alive
Looking back, I realize that we went a little overboard with our preparation. Perhaps we were lucky with the weather, or maybe the advice of experienced people was initially reinsurance. They said that in winter on the Kola Peninsula it is piercingly cold (up to -45) and snow falls in loads. The charge in the local language is a snow cloud, which, once released, can turn a medium-sized car into a snowdrift in about 20 minutes. These charges are short-term, but very powerful. In general, this is how it is: it’s cold and snowy here. And if snow falls on the road far from the federal highway, you can spend up to several days in natural captivity. Later we asked the natives if this was true. It turned out to be true, but it is unlikely that you will have to sit for more than a day: the local Avtodor knows its business and is ready for the blows of the elements. If the road is skidded, a dozen or two special snow removal machines - auger rotors - can come onto the line at the same time. The northerners call them the angels of the polar roads.
Read a lot of horror stories and warm up to the fullest
In short, we heard enough horror stories and packed up as if going to the front. In a rented car, we had to cover almost 200 kilometers from Murmansk to Teriberka along an unknown road full of vigorous winter surprises. We were afraid that the charge would go through and we would get stuck. Therefore, they tried to collect as much belongings as possible, taking into account the possible overnight stay in a car in the middle of the forest beyond the Arctic Circle.
Clothing, food, personal hygiene
First of all, we took almost all our warm clothes. Sweaters, scarves, wool socks, etc. Everything that could keep us warm went into the suitcase. However, this turned out to be not enough, and I had to fork out a little.
What was purchased in advance in Moscow:
- two ski suits (for me and my little gypsy);
- thermal underwear;
- gloves made of waterproof material;
- self-heating insoles (sold at Sportmaster);
- hand cream and hygienic lipstick;
- power bank (portable charger for gadgets) with a capacity of 2000 mAh with five USB outputs (cost about 1500 in DNS).
The rest of the equipment was preserved from previous trips:
- thermos;
- small plastic electric kettle;
- a travel set of pills for everything: head, stomach, temperature, painkillers, etc.;
- spoons, forks and knife;
- matches.
After we arrived in Murmansk and received the car, we added the following to the collection:
- shovel (at your nearest hardware store);
- a canister for gasoline in reserve (there are no gas stations in Teriberka);
- 20 liters of drinking water;
- rations from Magnit: a bunch of packs of instant noodles, cookies, candies, dried fruits, sausages, bread, toilet paper (again, taking into account a possible overnight stay in the forest);
- Megafon SIM card.
Not everything was useful. I'll give you a couple of practical tips that will improve the quality of your vacation.
Shoes
It turned out that it was more important to take not warm boots, but waterproof ones. My leather ones quickly became saturated with the snow that had melted from the body’s warmth and were soaked through. And the guy we met in the village was wearing very cheap-looking boots, either plastic or polyethylene. I think I saw these in Auchan for 500 rubles a pair. If you wear two or three woolen socks under them, it will be warm inside, and melted snow will not seep outside.
Gasoline canister
I got greedy and bought the cheapest one, plastic, 20 liters. Cost 800 rubles. And, although it was originally for fuel and lubricants, the plastic hardened from the cold and gasoline began to ooze through the lid. We smelled it all the way to Teriberka. Upon arrival at the site, fortunately, we were able to almost completely pour the contents of the leaking container into the tank. Therefore, I advise you not to save money and buy an aluminum canister with a normal lid at a gas station. The issue price is approximately 1300.
We are preparing for a forced march to Teriberka. However, I had no luck with the canister - it was leaking
The problem is that if you plan to return home by plane, there will be nowhere to put this canister. I donated mine to the rental office free of charge. It turned out that they already have a whole warehouse of such gifts.
By and large, if your travel budget is critically low, you can buy four five-liter bottles of drinking water and replace the contents with gasoline. I think nothing will happen to them for 200 kilometers in the trunk. All the gas stations we visited in Murmansk operated on the “first fill up, then pay” system. No one keeps track of what containers fuel is poured into. This method goes slightly against safety precautions, so be careful, use it at your own peril and risk and only if there is a critical need to save money. But I did this a couple of times and everything was ok.
Mobile communications and chargers for gadgets
In Teriberka, only Megafon has excellent signal reception. I had to buy their SIM card back in Murmansk, and this purchase was extremely successful. Having driven 30 kilometers from the city, we found our Moscow Beeline phones dead. It just says “no signal”. We inserted a megaphone SIM card, and the signal appeared.
They say that MTS also works well here. It was not possible to verify this, but there are generally zero complaints about Megafon. AND mobile connection, and the Internet works flawlessly even on the most remote sections of the Murmansk-Teriberka highway.
Now regarding charging. At -20, our iPhones categorically refused to work in the fresh air for more than 15 minutes. The battery ran low and the phone simply turned off. Assuming this outcome, we bought a powerful power bank. And he really helped.
Car rental
We decided that, if possible, it would be better to book a car in advance. We planned to drive for four days, plus we would like the car to have the necessary polar equipment: a shovel, a spare canister, a strong towing rope and, if possible, a rack and pinion jack. There are a lot of rental offices in Murmansk, so we decided to study the reviews first. And this is what happened.
Rentacar51.ru
This company was recommended by many. You could say she was the undisputed opinion leader. But it didn’t work out for us in the end – it turned out to be a bit expensive. To fill out an application, you need to write a letter to info[##dog##]rentacar51.ru, attach scans of your passport (page with photo and registration) and license, and indicate in free form what kind of car you need and for what dates.
First, we wrote to them that we wanted to rent a car on such and such dates for a trip to Teriberka, and would prefer to rent a Renault Sandero (1,400 rubles/day). It turned out that they don’t allow economy class cars into Teriberka, and the cheapest they can offer is a Mitsubishi Pajero. And this is already 3900 rubles/day + 1000 rubles for each trip to Teriberka. In 4 days it turned out to be 17,600, plus 15,000 had to be left in cash as collateral.
For this money they were ready to put a cable, a canister and a shovel in the car. The mileage limit is 300 km per day, you can travel to Finland and Norway. Re-mileage – 5 rubles per kilometer. Before returning the car, you must wash it yourself, or pay 390 rubles for washing at the cash desk. Gasoline - take it with a full tank of AI-95, return it with the same amount. If there is less in the tank, they charge an additional payment of 49 rubles per liter.
For an additional 800 rubles, the car will be delivered directly to Murmansk airport.
Rentacar51.ru has many good reviews, but it turned out to be a little expensive for us
In principle, the conditions are good, but we initially did not plan to spend so much money on a trip to Teriberka, otherwise the budget would have been closer to the price of visiting Lapland.
Autoprokat51.ru
Sighing sadly because it was not possible to follow the simple path, we began to look for alternatives. International Rentalcars does not work in Murmansk, so we turned to the all-knowing Yandex.
We found the website Autoprokat51.ru, the conditions seemed to be suitable. We called 8-8152-75-11-88, found out that you can go to Teriberka with a Renault Duster for 2300 per day, and immediately made an order. They did not provide shovels, canisters or cables, but renting a car was more than half the price. And the deposit is only 10,000.
The rental conditions from Autoprokat51.ru suited us
The contract contains a condition that if the car travels at a speed of more than 130 km/h for more than two minutes, the deposit will not be returned. This is tracked using GPS. Once I went for a long overtaking on the highway, pushed it to almost 130, but immediately remembered what this was fraught with and slowed down the gas.
The car had an MTPL policy without restrictions + comprehensive insurance according to the “total” system. This means that insurance payments for a car are made either in the event of theft, or if the car cannot be restored after an accident (more than 70% damaged). They pay for theft only if the tenant still has the keys and documents in his hands. That's why I always carried them with me.
It turns out that if you commit a minor-medium accident through your own fault, you will pay for the repairs yourself. If you are not the culprit, there are no problems - the losses are covered by the MTPL of the culprit. But you shouldn’t worry about this; there is a sure-fire recipe for preventing such troubles: just don’t break traffic rules. Anything can happen, there are a lot of fools, but if you drive according to the rules, then accidents through your fault are excluded.
We handled the car with care, but not to the point of fanaticism. Just a little more carefully than with your own. A couple of times in Teriberka we dug ourselves into a snowdrift, then picked up a shovel and dug ourselves out. Once they towed out the same Duster, stuck in a rut. In general, nothing special. When we returned the car, the deposit was returned without any problems.
Route to Teriberka
From Moscow you can get to Teriberka only through Murmansk. It's 2000 km by car, you can't count on the quality of the roads, so we preferred to fly. If you buy tickets at least a month in advance, it will be much cheaper than already 2-3 weeks. We flew to UTair, but there were other options: Nordavia and RedWings. You have to look at what is more profitable for specific dates, it varies. Plus, flights differ in arrival times. As a rule, in less than a month, the most convenient ones are already taken apart.
The most convenient way to track prices is at Aviasales
If you saw good price, but are in doubt whether to take it or not, the answer is: take it! At first we were mischievous, we thought that Murmansk is not the most popular destination, there will always be places. In the end, there were places, but the tickets were 4 thousand more expensive.
We arrived close to midnight. Surprisingly, there was even a minibus to the city near the terminal - apparently the last one. Travel for one with luggage costs about 130 rubles, taxi drivers asked for 700 (or 600, if you don’t agree right away). We chose the minibus, but then regretted it. The road is not very good, the minibus drives slowly and makes you feel sick. Plus, he didn’t go straight to his overnight stay; he still had to take a taxi in the city.
Stopover in Murmansk and fishing shelter
Having bought tickets for the evening flight to Murmansk, we began to look for an option to spend the night. There was nothing to go to Teriberka right away, and it was not very convenient to do it at night. The rental office opened at 9 am, so we needed somewhere to sleep. We chose according to the principle “where is cheaper, but not infested with bugs.” After studying the reviews, we chose to stay at the Rusalochka guest house.
The city taxi driver was surprised at this choice. According to him, only people of varying degrees of marginality usually stay in this area. Which is strange, because reviews about guest house They weren't bad.
A reminder of the star quality of our flophouse
In reality, The Little Mermaid did not disappoint. Yes, not 5 stars, but clean and decent. It would be difficult to live there for several days, but a break for a few hours would be just right. Registration is 24 hours a day, the administrator is a pleasant woman of Slavic appearance. In the registration room you can buy simple food (water, juice, cookies, instant noodles) and personal hygiene items. What else is needed for transit?
Rise at 7:30, get ready, breakfast. We checked out of the hostel. At 8:30 we take a taxi to the car rental office. At 9:00 we get the car. Before starting to Teriberka, we had to get food, a Megafonov SIM card, a shovel and gasoline. It all took an hour and a half.
10:30. Fully equipped, we are heading towards the Kola Peninsula. Hello adventures!
Section "Murmansk - Teriberka"
We were lucky with the weather. It was a frosty day with partly cloudy skies, but no precipitation. The road from Murmansk to Teriberka for almost its entire length was an icy narrow-gauge railway with one lane in each direction. In some places the track was rolled almost to the asphalt. It felt like they had never heard of de-icing agents here, but the Duster’s wide studded tires held the car confidently. If you don't press the gas pedal, the road is quite comfortable. Our ABS even worked three times at most.
The landscape outside the window pleased with its diversity: the winter forest turned into endless white virgin soil, which, in turn, gave way to snow-capped hills. In the second part of the path there are two checkpoints that are worth stopping and taking a dozen photos.
The first “attraction” is a sign to Teriberka. Even without leaving the car, you can see that more than one hundred extreme tourists have left their mark here: stickers, inscriptions and a well-trodden path to the sign shouted about the popularity of this artifact.
A little further, as a last warning, the permanent guard of Teriberka is on duty. This is a creepy-looking scarecrow, to which creative travelers fitted a corded telephone, a police uniform and a couple of other blood-chilling toys.
Permanent sentry at the entrance to Teriberka
Five steps away is a car, frozen literally to the body. It must be assumed that many years ago a security guard rolled here on it, and remained there, forever frozen to his workplace.
Service car of a Teriberian security guard
If you are not scared even now, after a few kilometers you will see what you came such a long way for: two villages, Teriberka and Lodeynoye, which, in the course of optimization, administrative reforms and population outflow, turned into one.
What to do if the road is covered with snow and you are stuck
The only thing you can do if you find yourself trapped in snow on the way from Murmansk to Teriberka is to call Avtodor and report that the road is snowy, you are stuck and need help.
Avtodor control room telephone number: 8-8152-214-070, 8-8152-250-808. In winter the service operates 24 hours a day.
If you are traveling for the first time, do not want to take risks, or the weather forecast for your dates is unfavorable, there is a way to protect yourself from surprises. Four times a week a large regular bus travels to Teriberka from Murmansk and back. The road in front of him must be cleared. You can sit in the tail and drive to the village behind it.
If suddenly the road was cleared, but it snowed and the bus still fell asleep, Avtodor will come to its aid much faster. In especially difficult cases, an auger arrives and works like an icebreaker: it goes first, clears the road, and is followed at a minimum distance by a bus and those cars whose owners decided to play it safe.
This method is especially relevant for those for whom it is important to return to Murmansk by a certain time to transfer to a train or plane. History knows cases when people had to stay in Teriberka for more than a day due to weather conditions.
The bus does not travel fast, about 40 - 50 km/h. It takes about 3 hours to get to Teriberka if everything is fine with the road. By car you can easily do it in 2 hours, all other things being equal.
Bus schedule Murmansk – Teriberka – Murmansk
Local time. From the Murmansk bus station, a bus to Teriberka (route No. 241) leaves in the evenings:
- on Monday: at 17:40;
- on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday at 18:00.
Leaves Teriberka for Murmansk early in the morning:
- on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday at 07:00.
On Mondays the bus passes through the city of Kola in both directions. Tickets are sold at the ticket office at the Murmansk bus station daily, from 06:30 to 21:00. Just in case, the Murmansk bus station information phone number is: 8-8152-45-48-84.
You can also get there by taxi
Murmansk taxi drivers focus on the weather and, if everything is ok, they will be happy to take you to Teriberka. Theoretically, you can order a car through Uber, Yandex.Taxi or Gett, but these aggregators give such low price that realistically no one will go to Teriberka for this money.
Yandex.Taxi tariffs for a trip to Teriberka from Murmansk start from 2000 rubles
The normal price for one-way travel by passenger taxi in winter is around 3,000 rubles. If you are planning to travel this way, here is a list of popular services in Murmansk:
- “Taxi is lucky”: 8-8152-999-888;
- "People's Taxi": 8-8152-700-000;
- Taxi "M151": 8-8152-994-151.
If you want to be picked up from Teriberka, you need to agree in advance either with the driver who took you there or with the dispatch service. With a 99% probability, before the driver picks you up from Murmansk, you will be asked to transfer money for the trip to his card. And this is absolutely normal: the path is not close, and the risk for the taxi driver is great. What if he arrives, and you have already changed your mind.
Housing in Teriberka and Lodeynoye
For clarity, it is worth clarifying that now, when people say “Teriberka,” they mean a collective image of an area consisting of two villages: Teriberka and Lodeynoye. Some time ago, in order to reduce the administrative apparatus, two villages were combined into one and called Teriberka.
Teriberka and Lodeynoye on the map: now they are one village
To avoid confusion, here and further we will consider these two settlements separately. Teriberka is what is “up to the river”, Lodeynoye is higher. It's clearer that way. The main life is now concentrated in Lodeynoye - a new school, two grocery stores, kindergarten, post office and the final stop of the bus, which runs to Murmansk three times a week.
For those traveling to Teriberka for the first time, the easiest way is to book accommodation in the village via the Internet.
Housing is available for rent in both Teriberka and Lodeynoye. If you plan to come here without a car, keep in mind that the maximum amenities of civilization (2 shops, a post office and an ambulance station) are located in Lodeynoye, that is, in the upper (northern) part of the now united village. There is also a snowmobile rental point and a meeting place for excursion groups.
In Lodeynoye you can ride a snowmobile
In the lower (southern) Teriberka there is that same abandoned school, for the sake of which many are embarking on such a long and difficult journey.
The entrance to the famous abandoned school is now open
There is also a restaurant with panoramic windows and a view of the bay - “Teribersky Coast”.
Panoramic view from the Teribersky Bereg restaurant
If you plan to come here by car, then it does not matter in which part of the village you will live: moving from one part to another takes 5-7 minutes. If the road is not covered. If it gets swept up, it will be difficult to move around the area even on your own two feet.
Under normal weather conditions, you can walk from Lodeynoye to Teriberka with stops to photograph the breathtaking (without exaggeration) landscapes in about an hour. If the wind blows and it snows, you will need to hide your face and eyes, otherwise they will freeze over, like a seasoned polar explorer.
We traveled by car, so we decided to rent accommodation in Lodeynoye. We settled on the option “Recreation center 45th pier”, since it was located in the most remote part of the village, and we wanted atmosphere. The downside (also a plus for the atmosphere) is that you can’t always drive up to the camp site by car. The first two times we succeeded, but then there was snow and it was decided not to risk it. We left the car at the nearest apartment building and walked for 7-10 minutes to the base, ankle-/knee-deep in snow. Once we saw a Mitsubishi Pajero abandoned halfway on the road, the owner of which overestimated the capabilities of the equipment and buried the car in snow almost up to the windows.
Separate house near our base
The inside of the base is very clean and there is a large shared kitchen. You can rent either a private room or a bed in a shared room. There are not many rooms, toilet and shower in both cases are on the floor. Everything is very clean and cozy. You must understand that you will not find 5 stars here in any case, so you will have to put up with some everyday difficulties. The end of the Earth, after all.
We booked this beauty online, and a couple of days before the trip we decided to call there and find out if our reservation was still valid. We confirmed everything over the phone and then met us on the spot without any problems.
If you don’t like the base, you can take a closer look at the remaining options. The main thing is to study reviews and look at photos.
What to see in Teriberka
By and large, to the question “What to see in Teriberka?” You can answer like this: “Look everything. A city dweller there is interested in every bush.” But to be specific, we have compiled a selection of attractions that deserve special attention.
Abandoned school
Just a few years ago it was a functioning school. Then a new building was built for her in neighboring Lodeynoye, and this building was sold to an unknown private person. It was supposed that instead of a school there would be a hotel, but it is still there.
Former gym
It’s interesting that the building was abandoned along with all its interior decoration: even the computers in the library were left behind. True, during the years of desolation it happened that these computers disappeared somewhere, and as of 2018, only part of one system unit remained there.
Getting comfortable in the library
All the furniture was gradually removed from the building, then the wooden floors were removed in many rooms, and finally the radiators were cut off along with the pipes. Who did it? Probably those who really needed it. Oddly enough, only the library was not completely plundered: textbooks and fiction books are still lying underfoot.
Despite the devastation, creativity flourishes here
Abandoned Ship Cemetery
If you walk/drive from Teriberka to Lodeynoye and vice versa, on one side there will be a hill, and on the other - a bank to which those who spent their time were dragged sea vessels. Everyone who goes from one village to another takes photos here.
Dinosaur eggs and waterfall
In the most northern point The village has access to the ocean, the beach of which is filled with large oval stones resembling the eggs of ancient dinosaurs. Theoretically, you can get here on foot, but it is much more convenient - by snowmobile. A ride costs 600 rubles per person; for this money, after the beach you will be taken to a waterfall in the rocks. Perhaps these are the most picturesque places for photos in Teriberka.
Beach with dinosaur eggs
What to do in Teriberka
Leisure in Teriberka differs depending on the time of year. In summer people come here to fish for cod and capelin, and in winter to watch the northern lights. The Chinese are especially partial to the shine. They believe that if you conceive a child during the Aurora, good luck will follow you throughout your life. When you are in Teriberka, you get the feeling that the Chinese are here at every turn.
Interestingly, in general there are not many people here: about 500 local residents and there are hardly as many tourists during the season. Therefore, funny situations often arise. For example, in the morning you helped pull a car with Chinese out of a snowdrift, an hour later you met them in an abandoned school, during the day you constantly crossed paths from Teriberka to Lodeynoye and back, and in the evening you had dinner together at the Teribersky Bereg restaurant. And every time they rejoice at you as if it was the first time, they never tire of thanking you for the car you rescued from captivity in the snow.
Ride a snowmobile
A very popular activity here is snowmobiling across fields and hills. You are taken in an open sleigh, your legs are wrapped in old fur coats, and you are given a ski mask or goggles. The feeling is great: you can ride on a snowy plain and have a blast in the mountains. The asking price for a standard (and very large) circle: 600 rubles per person. It’s easy to seat four people in one sleigh.
For 600 rubles per person they ride for 2 hours
Get stuck in the snow
Another fun thing that is popular among visitors: at first we think that the road to that house is quite normal, we go there and bury the car in the snow up to the windows, then we take a shovel and dig it out for about 40 minutes at best. The locals have made a business out of this - they are ready to come to Urals and pull careless off-road workers to mainland for a certain amount. We never found out how much it cost, since each time we managed to get out on our own.
We got stuck on the way from the camp site in Lodeynoye, and dug ourselves out in about 20 minutes
Eat crab
There is a feeling that you can buy crab everywhere here. We met a very old pensioner who walked around the village and said: “Do we need crab? I can sell!"
But the best and cheapest way to eat crab is at your hotel. As a rule, owners can not only sell crab, but also cook it in sea water and serve with beer and other snacks. In short, the first thing we recommend is to find out at your camp site whether they can boil crab here.
Price – approximately 1000 rubles per kg. It is optimal to order half a kilo per adult or less, so as not to get protein poisoning. If it’s not enough, it’s better to order more the next day. We miscalculated slightly and took 2.5 kg for three (800 grams per person). We finished it with difficulty, and the next day, remembering the crab, an unpleasant lump came to my throat.
Our crab is two and a half kg
Dine at the Teribersky Bereg restaurant
This restaurant is almost business card Teriberki. This is understandable: there is nothing more beautiful in the area. Tables for the evening must be booked in advance: there are few places, but there are many people willing. There are traditionally a lot of Chinese here.
Don't expect your gastronomic interest to be completely satisfied. The menu is quite limited; venison dishes and pastries are held in high esteem.
The most important thing about this place is the atmosphere and panoramic views of the bay.
Traditional venison steak with fried potatoes and lingonberry sauce
See the Northern Lights
The Northern Lights - Aurora - are perhaps the main reason why we ended up here, at the end of the world. Guarding Aurora in Teriberka is cheaper than in neighboring Finland and Norway. The lights can also be seen in Murmansk, but the closer to the North Pole, the greater the chances. In addition, no light pollution from big city plays into the hands of photo hunters.
Seeing the northern lights is not so easy. Some have been chasing him for months to no avail, while the indigenous people of the north complain that Aurora is boring and makes it impossible to sleep at night. For those who are not lucky enough to live permanently in the north, in order to see this polar miracle in person, you need to monitor the solar activity index and cloud cover. However, this is a topic for a separate article.
We were lucky to see the lights in just three short days. It only appeared for a couple of minutes, but we were fully armed. GoPro, tripod and photo with a shutter speed of 15 seconds. Here, look what happened:
Northern Lights caught on the last night in Teriberka
Teriberka Map
We marked the main points in Teriberka on Google maps: the “Teriberka Coast” restaurant, an abandoned school, a gathering place for snowmobiles and excursion groups, a ship cemetery, two grocery stores, a beach with dinosaur eggs and a scarecrow of the Teriberka guard.
Conclusion
Teriberka is a very interesting destination for domestic tourism. The village has a long and difficult history, and the film “Leviathan” was filmed here. Personally, the place gave me a wow effect. This is not at all like resort Thailand or week-long trips around comfortable Europe. I warmly recommend to anyone who considers himself at least a little traveler to come to this place. After you leave Teriberka, Teriberka will never leave you.
Day 10. 06/21/15 “Teriberka by car”
Murmansk – Kola – Teriberka – Murmansk
Mileage per day: 303 km.
Today is the longest day of the year and the shortest night. How can these definitions be applied to Murmansk if it is a polar day here? The sun does not set below the horizon 24 hours a day. Look at the photo taken from our window at one in the morning!
Murmansk. View from the window at one in the morning It’s good that our windows didn’t face north, otherwise it would have been very difficult to fall asleep. And so, tired during the day, we quickly fell asleep, without even closing the thick curtains.
Another day of our stay in Murmansk will also be full of events and impressions. To please the children, we decided to first go to an amusement park, then go on an excursion to the nuclear icebreaker "Lenin", and then go out of town, but to the east, again to sea coast- to the village of Teriberka.
Since the amusement park opened at 10 o'clock, it was possible to sleep longer in the morning. The weather was sunny, 14-15 degrees, real summer!
Murmansk. Attractions. Flying saucers The attractions occupy a relatively small area of the main city park, located on the shores of Lake Semenovskoye. The places are beautiful to just take a walk, but, unfortunately, we don’t have much time - just go for a ride a couple of times. We were unpleasantly surprised by the prices - the simplest attraction costs no less than 200 rubles. They put 1000 rubles on a special card, went to the race track, took the children on a canoe ride, on a swan ride on the water, and everything was empty. I had to add something else because we saw an unusual attraction with flying saucers here. There are two joysticks on the round bun with inflatable sides that control two motors. By manipulating them, you can move forward, backward or turn around in place. Vova tried it - Natasha wanted it too. While you learn, you spin around at random, colliding with others. Funny.
Then we rushed as fast as we could to the city center. They left the car there railway station and along a long passage over a dozen railway tracks occupied by coal cars, we moved to the port area. At the pier stands the world's first nuclear icebreaker, Lenin, turned into a floating museum. On weekends there are excursions for everyone. Starts at 12 o'clock. The website says that you can call and make an arrangement, but no matter how many times I called, no one answered the indicated phone numbers, so we decided to take a chance and just show up at the appointed time.
We turned out to be not alone. On the way, we overtook a group of Chinese moving in the same direction, and at the entrance to the pier there were already two dozen of our fellow citizens who also wanted to visit the icebreaker. Taking advantage of the fact that there was no queue, we squeezed closer to the gate and, when the sailor on watch began to let tourists through, we found ourselves in the very first group. They let people through in groups of 20 people. Once on board, you buy tickets and then continue on your way, accompanied by a guide.
At the helm of the icebreaker The duration of the excursion is about an hour. You can't get around much during this time, but you can get a general impression. All the main elements are located in the main superstructure of the ship. We went down a little - engine room with steam-gas turbines, from there you can look into the reactor hall through a small window. We went up a little - the wardroom, the officers' lounge, the captain's cabin. A little higher and narrower - navigation bridge. The tour ends there.
The overall impression is quite favorable. This is the only icebreaker museum in the world. You won't see this anywhere else. And it’s also fun to take a photo in the helmsman’s seat. And it’s interesting to look at the navigation instruments of the last century. We were very lucky to be able to go on such an excursion!
Then it was possible to immediately go east towards Teriberka, but I decided that to fully explore Murmansk, it was necessary to stop by the town of Kola, which was founded here a long time ago, several centuries before Romanov-on-Murman.
Kola city. Stone Church Since the wooden town burned more than once, and during the Russian-Turkish War of 1854 was fired upon by English ships, only the stone church with a huge onion dome has survived among the attractions. Going inside, I was somewhat surprised to see an ordinary flat ceiling instead of vaults under the dome. The jackdaw lit a couple of candles, and another tick appeared on our route.
Now nothing stopped us from going out of town and moving towards Teriberka by car. The eastern direction does not have the same importance as the western direction - towards the border, so the first 50 km of the road were broken asphalt, and when we turned towards the sea, it was a generally dusty grader. I was surprised by the number of cars on the roadside. Today is Sunday and, apparently, many local residents chose to spend it outside the city. There is tundra and swamps all around, so you can’t go far to the side; here and there smoke from fires rose from the bushes along the sides of the road.
If in Murmansk itself there are parks with large trees, then outside the city the natural nature of the Arctic is low, gnarled trees, moss, and an abundance of berries. Having stopped in one place, we were surprised by the dense carpet of blueberries under our feet, completely strewn with small red flowers, future berries.
The village of Teriberka is located in a closed bay of the Barents Sea, at the mouth of the river of the same name. It once flourished with its fishing collective farm. Now times are different - desolation is everywhere. Two-story houses have no windows. There are also no signs of life in the small wooden huts. But above the trailer at the entrance there is a sign “Fashionable women's shoes.” Rave.
Having driven along the only street, we found ourselves on a wide sandy beach. It was low tide. The water went down about a hundred meters, revealing a flat and clean sandy bottom. Streams of water were still oozing from the sand, forming a bizarre pattern.
Besides us, there is only one couple driving a Lexus with local license plates. And so - complete desertion. The sea is calm. There was no wind, and a light wave barely rolled onto the shore.
We walked around and took photos. Children being children, they began to dig in the sand and build some canals. “Water intake,” Vova explained. The sun was warm, but the water temperature was 10 degrees. An improvised table and benches were made from the fragments of boards. We had a snack, enjoying the clean air, space and wildness of nature.
And then we went swimming! This, of course, is said loudly - they simply rolled up their pants to their knees and ran into the salty water of the Barents Sea, giving Natasha a camera and instructing them to quickly take a photo of us. The water, of course, is cold, but you get used to it quickly, and five minutes is quite bearable. Moreover, you will then stand on the dry sand, warmed by the polar sun, close your eyes, and it will seem that you are somewhere on the Black Sea, and not at the edge of the world beyond the Arctic Circle.
"Swimming" in the Barents Sea The weather has completely cleared up. You can take off your jackets and bask in the sun. But the trumpet is calling! We have another interesting point here. Returning to the fork in the road at the bridge, we took a little to the left and after a few hundred meters we entered the neighboring village of Lodeyny, which, despite the abandoned houses on the outskirts, has a more residential appearance. Children are playing on the street. The school and kindergarten boast freshly painted walls.
Having driven along the only street, we again found ourselves on a rocky path that winded between the seashore and almost round lake. Somewhere further away, there should be a waterfall, falling from a cliff directly into the sea. Apparently this place is quite popular with locals. Rolling from bump to bump, driving around large rocks, we came across various vehicles, from well-worn VAZs to an IVECO SUV with a kung car, which had the names of many countries and an image of a kangaroo on it. We decided that these were probably Australian autotourists traveling around the world.
Waterfall We reached a small area where about a dozen cars were parked and then continued on foot. It was just a short distance to the waterfall, and the rocky road turned out to be so broken that not every UAZ could handle it. However, walking 500 meters after sitting in a car for many kilometers is a pleasure.
Behind a small pass there was another lake, from which a river flowed, immediately falling from a stone ledge directly to the sea. It's Sunday, and quite a few people decided to have a picnic in this picturesque place. Not to say that there were crowds of people, but there was no feeling of being lost or “the end of the world” here. On the contrary, smoke curls and smells of barbecue. To take a good shot, you need to wait until other photographers clear the space.
The waterfall is not outstanding, but quite beautiful, like all the surrounding nature. Pink stones covered with fresh green vegetation, blue Lake and clear skies. We admired it and headed back. Although, perhaps, it would have been worth going a little further - to the neighboring hill, on which the guns of an abandoned coastal battery still stood. But I found out about this later, when I was looking at our route in Google Earth. We just enjoyed the walk to this beautiful place. The mosquitoes disappeared somewhere, although there was no wind. The children even took off their sweaters.
Our return journey lay along the same road and would have been unremarkable if the spillway had not been opened at the Teribera hydroelectric power station dam. We drove forward and didn’t even notice anything, not understanding whether it was the shore of a lake or a reservoir dam. Now a cascade of water was seething along the concrete trays of the spillway. The entire riverbed below is flooded. And a powerful crater formed on the surface of the reservoir near the gates. Judging by the reaction of drivers in the 51st region, who also almost all stopped here to look at the man-made waterfall, this is not a frequent phenomenon. It turns out we were very lucky.
We arrived home around 9 pm. The sun is still shining high above the horizon. We ran into the store to get supplies for dinner and the road ahead. It’s early to leave tomorrow, so you still need time to get some rest.
The end of my two-week journey was a night on the Barents Sea, in the small fishing village of Teriberka. (emphasis on the second syllable!). Why night? Because the bus goes there in the evening and back in the morning - but the Sun doesn’t set here at that time. Why Teriberka? Because this is the only place on the Russian Barents Sea where you can get to public transport and without a special pass. Even without a pass you can get to the Rybachy Peninsula closer to Pechenga, but there is no transport there. And several cities on the coast are all closed cities.
My story about Teriberka will consist of three parts. The first one is about the road there from Murmansk through real treeless tundra.
The bus schedule from the capital of the Arctic to Teriberka is quite tricky - they run no more than once a day and not every day. Fortunately, the Murmansk bus station has an official website, so you can plan in advance to go there for one or two nights. I decided on one. The Teribersky bus is, in general, transport “for our own people”: all passengers and the driver usually know each other, and go home in the evening.
At first the road is not impressive... well, at least if this is not your first time in the Murmansk region. Typical Lapland landscapes with hills, low-growing forest and countless lakes that are literally hung across the mountains at different heights. On a hot weekend day, probably half the population of Murmansk swam in these lakes.
After half an hour of travel, the city is clearly visible on the right:
This is the "troika", or Severomorsk-3. And if anyone doesn’t know, Severomorsk is a ZATO, the capital Northern Fleet. At the entrance there is a checkpoint lined with sandbags and a machine gunner. They don’t check documents, although they say that previously a border guard would get on the bus and make sure that just anyone didn’t get off. The bus enters the center of the village, and 3/4 of the passengers get off here:
When I asked my fellow travelers what was here, they answered me - “a submarine base.” Yeah, in a swamp, probably... As they say on Wikipedia, Severomorsk-3 is a military airfield. It lost most of its garrisons (primarily the missile unit) in 1993, but apparently not so little remained.
Behind the “troika” the landscape gradually changes, the mountains become more and more bald, the ground becomes more and more rocky:
And about an hour after Murmansk you find yourself in the bare tundra. Here the trees are not burned by industrial emissions, as in Pechenga - there is simply no climate for them to grow here. The air is pristinely clean. An endless undulating surface covered with mosses of two colors - and thousands and thousands of lakes, all at different heights.
In this tundra there is a fork marked with a cross. The asphalt road goes to the village of Tumanny:
And the way to Teriberka looks like this:
The bus slows down to 20 km/h - 100 kilometers behind, 40 ahead, but this is still the middle of the journey. And while we’re admiring the tundra, this is the first time I’ve seen it outside of the snow:
On a hot day, the tundra vividly resembles the steppe, in some places the landscape is almost Orenburg or Kazakhstan, and reindeer moss is like a thorn. If not for wooden snow guards:
And the snow here is noticeable - in places in mid-July there are patches of snow:
Trees are appearing near large lakes again - but not for long:
Meanwhile, the Teriberians felt freer after the “troika”, and a completely special atmosphere was established on the bus - it seemed that all these people were going home from some common cause. I got into a conversation with a man driving nearby - he is from Vladimir, he moved to Teriberka a couple of years ago, he works at a fish factory there. It’s strange to you how you can exchange the Middle Zone for the End of the World? But for him it’s not strange: northerners live anywhere, if not in the world, then in Russia, but they may not even know that they are northerners... and then suddenly they accidentally come to the North and stay there forever.
In the other seat was an intelligent, middle-aged woman with a completely Moscow look - I would have taken her for a teacher at a prestigious university or the director of a small company. With her is a guy of about 18, also a perfect Muscovite with a long white hair. She lived in Teriberka during the Soviet times, worked at PINRO (Polar Research Institute of Marine Fisheries and Oceanography), stocked Kamchatka crab in the Barents Sea, and in the famine years she left for the mainland - now Teriberka for her is something like a summer house, where she was traveling with her son. She told me in plain text that I am not a Muscovite - my dialect is not Moscow.
At the next pass, she simply asked the driver to slow down for 5 minutes, and her son and I went out onto the deserted road to photograph the view. None of the passengers expressed outrage. Everyone is their own, and they’re on their way home, there’s nowhere to rush...
The feeling of danger disappeared very quickly. Without the slightest fear, I gave a man from Vladimir my player, took photographs through both windows and even from the front... This is what is called “The crow will not peck our eyes out of our sockets, because there are no crows here.”
And the terrain becomes more and more harsh and mountainous:
A huge lake appears ahead, stretching for tens of kilometers - I have time to think that this is already the Teriberskaya Bay of the Barents Sea:
But it turns out to be a reservoir - a cascade of three hydroelectric power stations operates on the Teriberka River:
Height difference - 20-30 meters:
But how they work is unclear; there is not the slightest sign of housing nearby. Sometimes cars dusted past along the road, but from the turn all the way to Teriberka I didn’t see a single settlement. There were only two abandoned houses along the road:
Although some kind of life goes on here - here, for example, is a weather station (?) on a hill:
The feeling of approaching the End of the Earth never leaves me:
The smooth surface of the Teriberka River is another reservoir, and a hydroelectric power station is only 7 kilometers from the village:
The last 5 kilometers are a fantastic gorge:
Overhead are sheer cliffs that look like weathered faces:
Then the valley widens, and you notice pedestrians and cyclists along the edges:
And around the bend in the road Teriberka itself appears:
To be continued...
POLAR DAY 2011
. From Arkhangelsk to the Barents Sea.
Summer Beach (Arkhangelsk and surroundings).
Arkhangelsk-2011.
January 30th, 2018 , 05:38 pm
There are not many places in Russia where you can drive directly to the Arctic Ocean. And if we take into account the presence of a normal road all the way to the ocean and transport accessibility, then it becomes obvious that there is only one such place - a village Teriberka in the Murmansk region. Should not be discounted and great power movie. After the release of Andrei Zvyagintsev's film "Leviathan", where the action mainly takes place in these harsh lands, curious people flocked here in search of exotic things. Going to Teriberka, we expected to see something depressing, something like the recently visited Belomorsk, but we saw a village in which life is in full swing, new hotels are being built and roads are being paved. Tourists here are like midges in the Arctic tundra, and Murmansk residents go to Teriberka just to eat barbecue with a view of the ocean.
Although, to be precise, this is still not the Arctic Ocean, but the Barents Sea.
But when you look into the distance, it’s so easy to imagine that there, beyond the horizon, beyond the icy waters, a kingdom begins eternal ice, and there it’s not far from the North Pole. And it’s so unusual to feel like you’re on the edge of the earth. So for us in this place the Barents Sea was the Arctic Ocean :))
It must be said that the Arctic Ocean broke stereotypes from the very beginning. He turned out to be not stern, leaden and gloomy, as it seemed, but quiet and gentle, just like southern seas. The similarity was emphasized by the beach with golden sand, along which sunbathers in swimsuits walked.
But we must understand that this oceanic serenity is very deceptive, and the real Barents Sea is angry and merciless.
From Murmansk to Teriberka it is about 140 kilometers. The first two-thirds of the way is excellent asphalt.
The landscape outside the car window immediately changes after leaving Murmansk. There is a real tundra here. It was here that we saw classic dwarf birches and aspens for the first time in our lives.
From the turn to Teriberka, a dirt road begins, bumpy, but passable for any vehicle.
Soon after the turn, you can see a strangely dressed traffic cop near the road.
According to the old northern custom, offerings are left for the traffic cop.
Next to the traffic cop is a traffic police car.
At the entrance to Teriberka the road forks. If you drive to the right, you enter Staraya Teriberka.
The village of Staraya Teriberka stands on a bay with the same golden beach mentioned above.
Only about 300 residents live in Staraya Teriberka. This village is old, Pomeranian, known since 1523. In Soviet times, especially in the post-war years, there was a prosperous urban settlement with a population of 4.5 thousand people. There was a port, a fishing collective farm, a fish factory, and even had its own reindeer herd of 2,000 heads. Then everything fell into disrepair: the port ceased to exist, fish stopped being caught due to the construction of the Teribersky hydroelectric power station, and the reindeer herd was transferred to Lovozero.
True, in recent years there has been a significant revival of life. And this is not just about tourists and not about the revived fish factory. Not far from Teriberka, Gazprom is building its base, as well as a plant for the production of liquefied natural gas. There was already a decent road there, which we drove along the next day.
Soon gas from the Shtokman field will arrive there, it will be liquefied and loaded onto tankers. There is a possibility that thanks to this Teriberka will once again become a rich and prosperous village.
Although no one really believes in it, and so far it’s like this:
Harsh Teriber stops:
If you go left at the fork, onto the bridge, you will end up in Lodeynoye. This is the name of the far outskirts of Teriberka.
On the way, it is impossible not to stop at the “graveyard of tired ships.”
This is a former fleet of a fishing collective farm.
A very impressive picture, especially at low tide.
From the “cemetery of tired ships” it’s about a kilometer further and we enter Lodeynoye. Lodeynoye is several times larger than Teriberka. Approximately 1000 residents live here. Lodeynoye is built up mainly with five-story and two-story buildings. Some of them are empty.
There are even new house. It was built and built and finally built))
But there are others.
Cool Tikhvin Church in an ordinary silicate two-story building.
Behind Lodeynoye we stopped at garages with the sign “fish”. The locals immediately pulled out a huge salmon, citing a price of 1000 rubles. Teriberka has long enjoyed the reputation of a poaching settlement. Suffice it to say that for several years the head of Teriberka was captain Valery Yarantsev, the same one who the Norwegian navy was chasing, and he fled to neutral waters and held two Norwegian inspectors hostage.
The landscape around was so unusual and attractive that every now and then we stopped for a photo shoot and ran to the ocean.
The cloudy photos below were taken the next morning, when we, barely waking up and fighting off the midges that were in abundance that windless morning, went to meditate by the ocean.
Teribersky Cape, at the far end of which you can see the lighthouse.
The one-story building is the first weather station on the Murmansk coast, founded back in 1889.
The beach here is completely different than in Staraya Teriberka. A real harsh arctic beach.
The water in the Barents Sea gives off a hint of turquoise, as if it were not the harsh Arctic, but the sultry Mediterranean.
The road eventually leads to a waterfall. But the further path is passable only for jeeps.
We, a little before reaching the waterfall, set up camp. First line overlooking the ocean. What more could you ask for?
The waterfall is located in a beautiful and cozy bay. Nearby is a clean high-water lake.
After seeing the Karelian Voitsky fall, the Teriber waterfall was not very impressive. But the gorge near the waterfall among the red rocks is very picturesque.
And an absolutely stunning view of the Barents Sea.
We finally broke away from the people. Finally, wildness and solitude.
The path to Cape Dolgiy goes past small lakes with a waterfall...
Past stone rivers.
Hills, swamps, modest polar flowers, lichens, mosses, cloudberries, fresh wind and endless expanses opening ahead - this is why we climbed so far.
On one of the hills there was a wooden pillar covered with stones. Most likely, there used to be a wooden cross here. Crosses in the North are not so much symbols of Orthodoxy as navigational signs. Such crosses were placed by Pomors until the 19th century, and now this tradition is being actively revived and wooden crosses can be seen on many hills.
After spending the night on the shores of the Arctic Ocean, the next morning we set off towards the Gazprom base. And here the fly in the ointment was waiting for us.
Near the road we saw an information board with the inscription “ecological trail”. And we love ecological trails; we got hooked on them back in Finland. We were pleasantly surprised by the presence of a developed trail here, at the end of the world, and decided to walk along it. Moreover, at the end of the road a bird market was promised.
At the beginning of the trail there were dense stands with information about the plants growing here and the animals and birds living in the tundra. One of the stands spoke about the vulnerability of the tundra and urged people not to trample poorly regenerating plants and lichens, but to walk only along paths. So we are always FOR!
However, the path soon got stuck in a swamp. Bravery and stupidity! and we rushed into the swamp. Naturally, we failed and got our feet wet, but we stubbornly continued on. And then the trail disappeared.
Everywhere, as far as the eye could see, along the hills there were stands in disarray, and the information on them was repeated five times. We walked across the tundra, which cannot be trampled, from stand to stand, hoping to see the missing trail to the bird colony.
But she was nowhere to be found. We were simply duped!
Apparently, having received the money, the performers stupidly set up stands so that they could report on the correct expenditure of funds. What was most disturbing was that as a result we trampled much more tundra than if we had simply walked along the coast to the bird colony.
Frustrated, we decided to end our stay in Teriberka, especially since it began to rain seriously. Nothing reminded me of yesterday's beach splendor.
But, despite the last bummer, Teriberka remained in our memory as one of the most unusual and attractive places we have ever visited.
The idea of filming Teriberka, the village where Leviathan was filmed, turned into a whole epic, as a result of which I visited Murmansk twice in a week and covered more than 4,000 km by car.
First I went to the Kola Peninsula by car, the second time by plane. The first attempt ended in failure - after traveling 2000 kilometers, we got stuck in hellish snowdrifts before reaching 18 kilometers to Teriberka and were forced to turn back. The second time turned out to be more successful and I was still able to see this village with my own eyes and understand whether it is really as terrible as many are now writing, or, in pursuit of the trend, it is shown one-sidedly, leaving all the good things behind the scenes.
In this post I will talk about how to get to Teriberka and what you will see along the way...
P.S. All the faded and ugly photographs at the beginning of the post were taken on Dimin Canon, but everything is beautiful and bright on my Nikon.
The P-21 highway or the Kola federal highway runs from St. Petersburg to Murmansk via Petrozavodsk. In general, the price is not bad.
I went as follows:
From Moscow I drove towards St. Petersburg along Leningradka and after Veliky Novgorod, after Chudovo, I turned towards Kirishi. This shortcut, of course, is so-so - the road is narrow and winding, but it saves more than 100 kilometers, so you can be patient.
I arrived there already after dark, plus it was snowing thickly in large flakes. The road was not lit and driving was incredibly difficult and difficult. It felt like I was in a movie star Wars and turned on hyperdrive in intergalactic space. I had to turn off the high beams, since its reflection from the snowflakes blinded me, and drive with low beams and fog lights. At the same time, there were few cars there, and the road was quickly covered with a blanket of snow. The speed dropped to 40 km/h, as it was simply impossible to see where the road was.
Jumped out on the R-21 after Volkhov in the area Staraya Ladoga. The road became straighter and busier. From the tracks of the cars in front, it became clear where my lane was and where the oncoming lane was.
The original plan was to get to Petrozavodsk on the first day (900 km), and by the evening of the second day to get to Murmansk (another 900 km). However, cutting and bad weather I was so exhausted that we stopped for the night in the city with strange name Lodeynoye Pole.
The next morning we started towards Petrozavodsk. From Lodeynoye Pole there is a normal and deserted road. The first 250 kilometers after Petrozavodsk towards Murmansk the road is wide, straight and two-lane. It's a pleasure to drive. Later it begins to wind its way through the hills. Cars disappear and mostly only trucks are found.
First Big City- Monchegorsk is located about 100 km from Murmansk, so the route is long and there is nowhere to stop along the way - only at rare gas stations.
From Monchegorsk to Murmansk the highway again becomes two-lane in each direction and incredibly beautiful (a couple of photos with beauties under the cut):
To get to Teriberka, you need to turn east 10 kilometers before Murmansk, drive 100 km towards Tumanny, and then turn north. You will have 42 kilometers left to Teriberka, but if you decide to go in winter, they will be the most difficult on your entire route. About our struggle with bad weather in this area, see the detailed story with pictures under the cut.
But I got back from Monchegorsk to Moscow in 23 hours. 1800 kilometers at a time with one steering wheel - this is my new record.
The previous day we were exhausted, unsuccessfully making our way to Teriberka and went to bed at 6 pm. I woke up without an alarm clock at four in the morning and left at half past five so as not to jostle with trucks on the road.
The initial task was to get to Petrozavodsk, but we were there already at one o’clock in the afternoon. Don't stop! So we went further, to Lodeynoye Pole. We were there at 4 pm. It's too early to spend the night. We moved to Novgorod, where we arrived at 9 pm.
And then I thought that there were only 6 hours left until Moscow along the understandable Leningradka, where I already knew the names of all the villages by heart. And I moved on. I wanted to make a surprise for the children. Imagine, they wake up in the morning, and dad is already home!
There was heavy snowfall on both days of the journey to Murmansk. They did not have time to clear the road everywhere:
3. 
Half of the road signs were covered with snow and one could only guess about their meaning and purpose. This made it especially difficult to move at night, when you can’t see anything ahead:
4. 
Periodically, pockets of road work arose. The largest was about seventy kilometers beyond Kemya. There it stretched for 20 kilometers and traffic slowed down greatly due to the road surface being “blown up” by heavy trucks.
On the way there and back we saw only one accident. On a hill in Zelenoborsk, a truck went into a ditch, and two others froze on the rise, blocking all traffic on the federal highway. Fortunately, they were quickly dragged up by a tractor:
6. 
Lodeynoye Pole is a small town in the northeast of the Leningrad region, on the left bank of the Svir River. The best hotel is the Petrovsky Hotel (about 2,000 rubles per night per person). The hotel block borders an unidentified production workshop and an investigative department located on the ground floor of the building. However, the presence of such “neighbors” did not prevent the company under the window of my room from drinking vodka at midnight and shouting at the whole neighborhood:
7. 
Petrozavodsk is much more advanced than Lodeynoye Pole, and if you are planning to travel by car to Murmansk from Moscow, try to plan your route so that you can spend the night there:
8. 
9. 
Petrozavodsk has the most luxurious KFC in Russia. Was it converted from the House of Culture?
10. 
The city center is pleasant and well-kept (shot on Canon):
11. 
And on the outskirts everything is as usual: wooden two-story buildings, industrial zones, wholesale warehouses and the private sector:
12. 
13. 
Near Petrozavodsk, a snowplow was clearing the snow, throwing streams of snow mud into vegetable gardens along the roads:
14. 
The Arctic Circle runs almost along the border of Karelia and the Murmansk region, as indicated by an inconspicuous stele. Starting from this place (and further north) you can observe the polar day or polar night - the sun does not set or rise. There is no parking at the stele, no path to it. Dima had to climb through snowdrifts to take a selfie with the stele:
15. 
We didn’t get to Murmansk from Lodeynoye Pole in a day. Again it snowed all day and we weren't driving fast. I went with Dima Markov, who does not know how to steer. In general, Dima, from the point of view of car travel, is an absolutely useless person. He is silent and either sleeps or is on his phone the whole way. So you can say that I was alone in the car the whole time. As a result, we decided to stop for the night in Kirovsk (150 km to Murmansk). About him I already:
16. 
Part of the film Leviathan was also filmed in this city, so in the morning we drove around the city, and then went to Apatity and Monchegorsk:
17. 
By the way, the whole road from Kirovsk to Murmansk is one sheer beauty. I’ll even make a separate post with this beauty, but for now a couple of pictures for starters:
18. 
19. 
Well, we were lucky with the weather. Imagine that you have a fixed light for a couple of hours:
20. 
In summer, the road to Teriberka from Murmansk is heavily loaded with mushroom pickers. They say it’s impossible to even park a car along the side of the road, and in winter there’s no one here. Cars pass once an hour:
21. 
For the first 100 km the road is clear, even if there is wind, but then drifts begin, which are cleared with an auger. True, he drives very slowly:
22. 
In a strong snowstorm, until the road is closed, Teriberians line up in a column at the exit from the village and wait for the auger. If you fall 50 meters behind him, the road is already skidding and the car gets stuck. Everyone starts honking and the auger returns and pulls out the car trapped in the snow:
23. 
A gnawed strip remains on the road behind the auger:
24. 
The snow edge reaches almost to the glass of the tall Land Rover Discovery:
25. 
Before reaching 18 km to Teriberka, we first saw a strange sculptural exhibition:
26. 
These are the locals warning about the most difficult place on the road:
27. 
In the lowland behind this small architectural form there is always a strong wind blowing and the road is covered with snow literally before our eyes:
28. 
Another problem is poor lighting. We arrived there at dusk, when the headlights were no longer visible and there was still not enough sunlight. Imagine that in front of you is a white veil without any texture. That is, you cannot see at all where the tracks are broken, where the snow is deep and, in general, whether the road has been cleared or not. You are guided only by the poles and try to ride in the middle between them.
As a result, I didn’t even see that there were large snowdrifts ahead. We just drove forward. At some point I felt that the car was getting heavier. We stopped. I lowered the car, raised the suspension, and moved it back a little. He also stood up and tried to rock the car back and forth - to no avail. The wind blew snow under and around the car so quickly that we hung on our bellies:
29. 
Like all good Moscow boys, we went to the North without a shovel or warm gloves. And the wind, I tell you, was not childish. We started digging out the car with a snow scraper. So small, like a child’s shovel from a sandbox.
Half an hour later, guys in a Niva arrived from the direction of Murmansk. They stopped on a clear road and went to us to see what happened:
30. 
While they went to us, chatted, they returned, their car was already covered in snow so that they, too, were “stuck” and could not move. It's good that they had a real shovel. With their help, we began to dig out our car more energetically. It was still a thankless task - while you were digging out the rear axle, the front axle was again covered in snow:
31. 
Another hour later, a Lexus drove up from the direction of Teriberka. We have already realized the futility of trying to dig ourselves out. We had 30 meters left to a clear road. My jeep past taught me that you can’t have too many cables, so I took 4 dynamic stops out of the trunk, tied them together and that was enough for the Lexus. We were pulled out!
After we were on the move again, we went to dig out the guys on the Niva. The five of us literally carried her in our arms onto a clear road. True, back towards Murmansk. Just at this time, a collector UAZ Patriot drove up to them. We waved our hands, the UAZ stopped and lowered the window a little. We: “You can’t get through there.” UAZ: "I don't give a damn! I have a winch!" and went straight away. Apparently, he was afraid that it was an ambush and we would rob him. Oh well. Naturally he sat down:
32. 
The UAZ driver carefully got out of the car. I looked around. He adjusted the holster on his belt and walked towards me. I asked permission to take care of it for me. I didn't mind. While he was unwinding the winch, a new participant drove up to us - Bukhanka from Teriberka. She was returning the doctor to the city and was in no particular hurry. The driver said that he had already been sitting in this place in the morning and that until the auger arrived, no one would go anywhere:
33. 
The collector's UAZ Patriot caught onto the UAZ Bukhanka and began to swan:
34. 
It didn't help him. He simply dragged the Loaf towards him, instead of getting out of the snow himself:
35. 
As much as he didn’t want to admit it, he was forced to cool down and wait for the auger:
36. 
Three and a half hours after we were the first to get stuck in this lowland, the headlights of an auger appeared at the pass. He, like an old bull from a joke, slowly descended the mountain, drove up to the UAZ, easily pulled it back and cleared the way for everyone:
37.
Daylight was already coming to an end. We had the option of driving to Teriberka for the auger, but this would mean that we would be stuck there until Friday, since according to the forecast the weather was getting worse and we would be locked on the shore of the Barents Sea, or turn back, and while the road was not yet blocked, go back to Murmansk.
On Friday I had a nosebleed to be in Moscow at the opening of the nature festival "Primordial Russia", so I decided to turn around and go back to Moscow:
38. 
But I didn't give up. On Monday I boarded a plane and flew to Murmansk, where, together with
