Day 109 – The locks here are double with a height difference of more than 10 meters combined – 18 June

Day 109. 18th of June. From a lighthouse in the middle of Lake Vyg to just beyond lock 11. 32 km, 7.8 km/hr average speed.

We are traveling along the Belomor Canal, in good comfort and the  good company of captain and crew (Oleg) on Silvertärnan.

After a long breakfast with eggs and the rest of pasta from yesterday, we got in the boats about 1030 and paddled off towards lock 10. A little beyond half way Silvertärnan overtook us and she had to wait a bit for us to catch up at the lock at about 1500 hrs.

The locks here are double with a height difference of more than 10 meters combined. We have double checked and the max height of the Canal is 102 meters, and 12 locks from there to the White Sea.

The locks and the surrounding areas are newly renovated, including new fences with barbed wire at the top. Buildings are newly renovated and painted as well. So the Canal is being invested in. Still there isn’t a lot of traffic. We have just seen two commercial ships for three days. And besides that only Silvertärnan.

Passage through the locks is smooth, guards are friendly, and it takes about 30 to 45 minutes per lock.

The distance between lock 10 and 11 is short so we towed the boats.

Tomorrow we plan to paddle a 35 km long lake to lock twelve, then tow five kilometer to lock 13. Day after tomorrow is an 18 km paddle to lock 14, and from there we plan to tow through the last six locks.

The hospitality of Captain Christoph makes this a smooth passage, and staying at anchor in the middle of the lakes almost eliminates the mosquitoes. Again we are in luck!

PS!
As dinner was getting ready the ship VOLGO-BALT 210 just passed, taking the count of commercial ships to three.

By the way, dinner tonight is tuna rolls for starters and saffron risotto for mains, and still some apple pie left for dessert! We could get used to this 🙂