Day 114. 23 June. Midsummer in Belomorsk. No paddling. Waiting out gale force winds.

Doing some shopping. Wisiting a hardware store, noting that the selection was good and that it was more oriented towards repairing things compared to Norway. Labour is cheaper here.

After yesterday’s vegetarian dinner (boiled potatoes, tomato and cucumber), we indulged in one last dinner at the Pomorskoye restaurant at Gandvik hotel.

We also did some planning for the crossing to the Solovki archipelago.

Tomorrow we start on the about 90 km paddle to Solovetskij. We expect to use about 36 hours as weather permits. Late evening and early morning looks best windwise. It’s daylight 24 hours so we are free to choose our timing. We’ll go out and see what we can do, lots of small islands on the way if we need to pause.

Even FSB has wished us good luck and safe paddling.

We are as good to go as we will be for our last paddling stage in Russia.

And there is only 99 days left!

Day 112. 21st of June. At sea level and in salt water again (OK. Brackish) From just before lock 19 to Gostevoy Dom Starchina, Belomorsk. 5.0 km, 5.8 km/hr average speed.

We got up at 0900, after having talked into the night yesterday. We had coffee with Chris and Oleg, then we packed the boats alongside Silvertärnan. Not so easy in 5 m/s winds. But not a big problem either, we should just paddle 5 km so it was OK to pack the “left overs” on deck and stuff some into the cockpit.

As we were preparing our border guard friends from yesterday came again. This time it was about us. They want us to report our position every day. So that is what we will do, coverage permitting, hopefully.

Then at about 1100, we started for lock 19, and went through without any issues.

Next we sailed with Silvertärnan to an abandoned and derelict fishing harbor, but with a quay alongside which Silvertärnan could moor.

Chris again took command of the kitchen. Whether it was a late breakfast or an early lunch, it was the last time we had the luxury of eating at Silvertärnan.

We took our time, but not too long, Silvertärnan was bound for Solovetskij and planned to get there this evening.

So we bid good bye to our friends Chris and Oleg and paddled off toward a shorside cabin resort called “Starchina”, very conveniently located for kayakers.

We used the good weather to do some boat maintenance, and then set out to do some shopping in town.

But just as we came to town at about 1700 the shops started to close and the one Cafe we found as well.

The problem was a power outage, so nothing could be cooked and nothing paid as the teller machines did not work either.

We tried a short walk to the railway station, hoping that would be some kind of a (electrified) center.

Not so. Just the a small station building and a very long Murmansk bound train calling.

It was a bit surprising, we have been paddling along the railway line for some days, and generally what appeared to be the best maintained and central parts of villages along the line is in the vicinity of the railway Station.

We kept walking and crossed the river Vyg. There things ran normally, either the electricity had come back or the other bank of Vyg has more stable supply.

We had dinner at the same place as yesterday, with a number of the same guests, strengthening our impression that the dining options in Belomorsk are limited.

But one good restaurant in a town of 13,000 isn’t that bad.

We will stay two nights.

Weather forecast says we cannot paddle to Solovetskij before Sunday, so better wait here than on some tiny island in the White Sea without cell phone coverage to keep FSB at ease.

Also it is OK to have some small breathing space between the chapters of our “adventure”. And since we have progressed quicker through the interior waterway than our (conservative) plan, we have time to spare.

Day 110. 19th of June. From lock 11 to lock 14. 45 km, 8.0 km/hr average speed.

We are going “downhill”, and just after the locks/dams we had following current, but most of the day we paddled in two open lakes, one 30 km long and one 15 km long. We kept Silvertärnan waiting a little at both end points, but with lightly loaded boats only light headwinds and knowing someone was waiting, we did our first – and probably last – day with 8 km average speed.

It is a comfortable life. We combined passing locks 12 and 13 with lunch on Silvertärnan. Stein served “Real Turmat”. The verdict was good, but not as good as Chris cooking!

Today it will not be cooking, but grilling. Stein and Chris are at it now after we had an evening dip in the Belomor Canal.

Tomorrow the locks come with little separation, six locks in 20 km, so we will not paddle, but sail through on Silvertärnan.

It will be the end of one month in freshwater!

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 🙂

Day 108. 17th of June. 52.5 km, 7.7 km/hr average speed.

From lock 9 to a lighthouse in the middle of the lake, 30 km from lock 10.

It is hard to believe it is no more than a month since we were celebrating 17th of May at the Norwegian Consulate in St Petersburg, so much has happened, and so many impressions to digest since then.

With the boats only half loaded and no wind we made good speed. 8.4 km/hr average for the first two and a half hours. The next leg went a little slower but we just managed to beat Silvertärna to our agreed anchor place for the night.

Unfortunately we missed a rendezvous with the four Finnish paddlers. They had chosen a different path around a big island. It would have meant 10 km extra for us, and 63 km is a bit too much. A pity all the same.

Again the captain transformed into a chef and we had a tasty and solid pasta stew. Stein and Erling dug in.

Today we will call it a day a bit earlier and tomorrow we will hopefully pass through locks 10 and 11. ETA Belomorsk is Wednesday evening or Thursday lunchtime. Weather and Channel authorities Permitting.

Day 107. 16th of June. Povenets to just beyond lock 9. 20.5 km paddling, 7. 7 km/hr average speed. 106 days behind us, and from tomorrow 106 days to go! The half way mark!

After a bit of weighing back and forth last night we decided to go by car from the 13 km to lock 7, and then paddle about 20 km to lock 8 and meet up with Silvertärnan there.

We had sent a lot of our stuff with Chris and his crew and loaded the basically empty kayaks onto Igor’s trailer last evening.

A bit risky to part with our stuff in case some confusion arose, but we kept enough food to last a few days and took the sleeping bags.

Igor, the watchman at the camp, showed up as agreed and took us to lock 7. We packed the boats while beating around after the horse flies. Probably a funny dance to watch.

Some Russian fishermen were at the same place and loading up for a weekend expedition, or maybe a full year by the amount they packed.

Anyway we wished each other luck and we paddled off.

We had been warned by Konstantin that good camp sites might be difficult to find, since the landscape was flooded by the construction of the canal.

However, we did see a number of small sandy beaches.

Good to know, but we had been offered berths on Silvertärnan, so we were not going to camp anyway.

It took us about three hours to get to lock 8. Now we just had to wait for the good ship Silvertärnan.

Waiting is not our favorite past time, so we wanted to call Silvertärnan and if they were far away we would carry the boats and go to lock 9.

One problem. No cell phone coverage. Fortunately some forest workers came past were we were sitting, and they claimed better coverage could be found on the other side of the locks.

Crossing the locks would supposedly mean trespassing into military and therefore prohibited area, but the workers did not worry and there were no fences like on the other locks. Erling decided to give it a go.

The coverage was supposedly found by sitting in on a bench beside a container house and keeping the phone close to a window.

Erling did as adviced, but failed to find any coverage. On the other hand the guards found him. It was an amicable conversation with few common words, but it was clear: Not only had Erling been trespassing, but we had parked kayaks on forbidden territory too.

So no hurry and no pointing with the Kalasjnikovs, but we had to paddle off.

So we just had to get in the boats and wait. In all we waited about five hours before Silvertärnan finally appeared. Long story involving locks and meeting boats.

Finally we got to pass through a lock. It had been newly renovated with new lock doors etc.

We passed through the lock on board Silvertärnan, with the empty kayaks tied to the boat.

It would have been absolutely no problem to pass the lock in a kayak. But it is forbidden, so we are very grateful for the opportunity to travel with Silvertärnan.

We towed the kayaks for the 8 km to lock 9, and passed through that one as well before captain Christoph called it a day and let the anchor go.

Then the captain turned into a chef, and soon dinner was ready. A really tasty stew.

Then we toasted to mark our halfway milestone.

And then talked through the white night till well after midnight.

A really good start to the Belomor Canal part of our trip.

Day 107. 16th of June. 20 km paddling, 7.7 km/hr average speed. 10 km with the Swiss sailingboat Silvertärna.

No coverage. Lock 9. Update tomorrow if possible. See inReach message below.