Day 103 – Alexey had even built a Canadian type canoe. Where did the drawing come from? YouTube! – 12 June

Day 103. 12th of June, Russian national day. Kizhi to Tibnitsy village. 27 km, 6.2 km/hr average speed.

We slept well in our 20 feet container, part of a three container building which is top of luxury for the workers on Kizhi, no running water, but a practical kitchen where we had breakfast with Marina.

Erling tried the Maria’s Russian breakfast; a mix of cottage cheese and sour cream, both produced at a nearby farm. Just to make sure he also had fried potatoes and sausage. And a couple of slices of bread. Weight loss is under control.

Next stop was the local doctor on her day off. Erling had discovered a tick on his arm in the morning. The tick was no match for the Leatherman, but they have great respect for ticks (“flått”) around here as they can carry encephalitis.

The doctor was glad to know that Erling was well vaccinated, and could confirm that the Leatherman had done a good job; all of the tick was gone.

Next we went with Juri to the boat museum and boat building facilities, where Igor and Alexey work. 

Very interesting, Alexey had even built a Canadian type canoe. Where did the drawing come from?: YouTube!

Erling has already changed boat twice on this trip and took the canoe for a test run. But no, good boat, but much safer in the kayak. 

Next we tried to make contact with a Swiss sailing boat, who has been following us on the blog, we agreed that they would come across the island to see us off. 

The seeing off was a protracted process. Even more when Erling ran into Dr. Gordeev a fellow geologist and manager from Rosneft. Kizhi is the place to be and meet on the Russian national day!

And then there was lots of people wanting their picture taken with us, and then Christoffer came across from the Swiss boat. 

Turns out we will meet again in Povnets, the entry of the Belomor Canal. We were invited to hitch a ride through the first set of locks. A generous offer we might well take him up on. 

At last it was time for one last hug to Marina, Yuri and Igor, and we were off to a 1430 start, the latest ever and just as the headwind picked up.

Whatever, the hospitality we met on Kizhi mean that the visit was well worth every minute spent.

However, some paddling is unavoidable on a paddling trip, and today we had to work for every kilometer. 6 m/s headwind, 7 m/s, 9 m/s. Fortunately the wind was blowing away from shore so the waves could not build.

Marina had tipped us that we could find lodging in the Tibnitsy village.

Indeed we could. We called 10 minutes before arrival and was met at shore by the family who runs the place and members of a merry fishing club from St Petersburg.

We were shown in, changed clothes, then dinner was served. Then it was time for some toasts, and as guests of honor we were served the vodka specially and carefully made by the uncle of one of the fishermen. The best available. Meantime the sauna had been warmed up and we had sauna and some dips into Onega. 

Back to the house and one last toast to russian generosity before the fishermen went out to catch Zander (Gjørs), and we were shown to a nearby house where we sleep. About time!