Every year I go to my foot tours. These tours are a part of my spiritual practice. Usually I go alone to the Belomor-Kuloy Plato from Sojana to the White sea. It takes me one month and I go 200-400 km across the forests, swamps, lakes, rivers, meadows. Usually I drift in my small boat on rivers such as Sojana, Megra. I take my boat with me when go on foot. There are no people in this area, no village. Only I and God. For a food I fish and collect mushrooms and berries. I take with me a tent, sleeping sack, axe, knife, dried bread, salt, map and compass. I have a big rucksack. And two last years I take tours also with schoolboys. In 2003 we went from Kimzha to Sovpolje and back /120 km,15 children, one week / and in 2004 - from Kamenka to Azapolje along the Mezen river /110 km 25 children, one week/.
2000. That autumn
during holydays I made two fascinating foot tours on native edge. First my route
was extent of 240 km. I left my native village Kimzha on 16th of the
August and went on winter road to Archangelsk. The first night I spent in a log
hut near a small river Shala. Then the road turn on the left to Sovpolje
and I went along the river without road with help of map and compass. On summer
Shala was uninhabited. There were a lot of traces of the bears, elks, wild
boars. I saw a lot of hazel hens, wood-grouses. In the river graylings and pikes
lived. On meadows near the river Shala I saw a lot of raspberry.
Next morning was wonderful, solar. The birds votes merged in a continuous
rumble. A good weather had been established for the period of all my three-week
travel since that morning. In the evening I went to river Kuloy. That night was
a frost and I spent it in my tent in a birch grove. Next day I arrived to
village Karepolje. Here I lived a week, visited a lake Vilan, fishing in
it.
Then I went to village Sojana along the Kuloy. Some part of this
way I floated on the raft. In Sojana I stayed a week. During that stay I went to
old fish work up to river in 25 km. The fish work had planted young fish of the
salmon till 1963 year.
From Sojana I went to Kamenka where was situated a
sawing factory. And from Kamenka I went to Kimzha along the Mezen river.
The second tour I made in one month, in September, on a route Kimzha - Leshukonskoje, extend 120 km.
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| River Sojana Fish work | Kimzha river |
