 | Home > Expedition & Overland > Trip to Kuola, Russia Agust 2015 |
 
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| Td5 Member Since: 29 Jun 2015 Location: Finland Posts: 53   
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We visited Kuola end of August, 2 Jeep Wranglers and my Defender 90, and as here are no trip ”reports” to Russia,
I tought that I add a brief one. Photos are just snapshots, apologize of the quality and my English. This was a “princess-trip”, as we had our lady’s with us, that meant minimal winching and no hood deep wading. More like lazy-mans hiking, the car carry all gear. Started comfortable, took the car train to Kemijarvi where we arrived in the morning and headed out to Salla and crossed the border to Russia. We drove to Kirovsk and stayed at Izovela Resort, a nice time trip back to ~1960. Old but clean hotel. Foreigners have to register in Russia if you stay there over 7 days, not including Sat or Sun. This is easiest done by staying overnight in a hotel. All other nights we camped. After breakfast we started our drive to Hiipina mountain. The road got gradually more and more difficult, but nothing a basic 4x4 can’t handle. What we have noticed in Russia is that when we think that the track start to be relatively bad, we find a Lada (Russian car) parked there and the Russians are picking berries or whatever. A very capable car this Lada. We was this time in Russia a little over a week, the weather was not very good, almost every day we got various amount of rain and it was quite chilly. Off-roading in Russia is very good, there is lot of “roads” that require wading, winching and such just to get thru. If this is not enough, one can drive the various stages of Ladoga Trophy or other races. "Bottomless" swamps are also plenty available, so winching and other off road activities can be practiced to full amount. The people in Russia are very friendly, very few speak English, but usually that is not a problem. If you would like to go there, I can give maps calibrated to OziExplorer and other information that can be useful. You need a visa. 
Train that took us overnight from Helsinki to Kemijärvi, instead of driving, we slept.
Crossing a river. Click image to enlarge Arriving at Hiipina. We drove up there. Click image to enlarge Road up to top. Click image to enlarge Further up.
Still snow on the top.
"Normal" bridge.
Carefully here.
Village at Umba "highway".
Umba "highway".
Umba "highway".
Village at river Warzuga.
Met locals at the beach.
This I would call big.
Handy on sand dunes. The white one.
Nice house at the beach.
Camp at Tuntsa river. Click image to enlarge Our track. Brgds, Juha '96 300Tdi 90 '07 Puma 90 |
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14th Aug 2015 7:24am |
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| Td5 Member Since: 29 Jun 2015 Location: Finland Posts: 53
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I have a short video of the performance, it was really nice. They was on the way to
Warzuga where they had a "show" in the evening, but wanted us to have a teaser. Been traveling some amount and several things puzzle me in life, and specially the fact that the less people have, the more they give. Brgds, Juha '96 300Tdi 90 '07 Puma 90 |
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14th Aug 2015 8:26am |
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| Penguin Member Since: 08 Dec 2014 Location: Tienen Posts: 247  
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super!
How did you manage the communication with the locals? Or do they speak English? 28/02 - Loss of a good friend...
In a time of chimpanzees, I was a penguin. |
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14th Aug 2015 9:17am |
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| Td5 Member Since: 29 Jun 2015 Location: Finland Posts: 53
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There was couple members in the "beach" group that spoke English, other vise
the language is sometimes a small problem. But with hand gestures and guessing we have managed to communicate. We know some basic words that also help. Most of the shops in small villages are over the counter shops, some supermarkets, but still quite rare. Sometimes it's quite funny, you make it clear that you don't speak Russian and they reply with a quick salvo of Russian. For example filling up the cars, you just walk to the counter that usually is a sliding little hatch and say [Polni Pak] that means full tank. Put ample rubles in the slide and go and fill up. Return then and collect the receipt and change. The locals are very honest, I've been several times in Russia since 2007 and had no meaningful experience about cheating. But we explore only the back country, no big cities where the story can be and is different. I admit it bothers me a bit, these trips would be much more if we / I could communicate with the locals. Of course we know the alphabet so we can read the signs and a lot of words sound familiar so we can recognize what it is. Once when we drove thru a village, a woman kept repeating [Chernika] and we was wondering what the heck is she saying. Later we found out that she was trying to sell us blueberries (Chernika]. Brgds, Juha '96 300Tdi 90 '07 Puma 90 |
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14th Aug 2015 10:08am |
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| JimC Member Since: 22 Jan 2011 Location: NOVA Posts: 164  
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If you let me come along sometime I'll speak Russian for you
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14th Aug 2015 4:40pm |
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| Rosco Member Since: 03 Dec 2010 Location: Burntwood Posts: 1833  
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That looks pretty awesome scenery. Russia is on my bucket list. Along with the rest of Northern Europe 2007 - Stornoway Grey 90 XS SW - Gone
2002 - Black Discovery II - Gone 2014 - Montalcino Red 110 XS SW |
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14th Aug 2015 5:36pm |
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| GSLRO Member Since: 13 May 2012 Location: Tyne and Wear Posts: 499 
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Excellent adventure and thank you for sharing
 Adventure isn't paved! |
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14th Aug 2015 7:08pm |
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| Eduardo Member Since: 28 Aug 2008 Location: Región Metropolitana Posts: 2110  
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Nice trip Td5.
Eduardo
MY 2007 110 SW PUMA 2.4: Big Fog of 64' MY 1994 Jayco 1207 Folding camper: "El Tremendo" Click image to enlarge |
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14th Aug 2015 7:11pm |
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