Day 115. 24th of June. Belomorsk to the eastern most Kuzova Archipelago, just across from the Solovki archipelago. 53.2 km, 7.6 km/hr average speed.
The sun has turned and we have only 98 days left.
And today was a good one. We had a late start (1140) as the wind was forecast to fall during the day.
It was no problem and we paddled 53 km in four legs with good speed.
We were curious about the paddling conditions and “landscape” of the White Sea. We were pleasantly surprised, it’s a “skjærgård” type of seascape with many small and larger rocky islands. Not entirely unlike Bohuslän.
On a day like today finding good landing places are no problem. With more wind it pays off to study Google Earth. Some, but far from all, islands have small sandy coves typically on their south western side. If this had not been so remote, it would have been a paddling destination.
We had planned for a shorter day, but we opted for one last leg to be in position for a three hour crossing once the weather permits. The forecast is not 100% and also varying quite a lot from update to update (they come twice a day)
Tonight’s update says a wet and windy morning, an even more windy day, and then favorable conditions in the late afternoon. But today weather and wind were significantly better than forecast. We look forward to Solovki and hope for the same better than forecast weather tomorrow.
The Russian - Scandinavian Kayak Expedition 2018 -2022 