Yesterday we was ride to The Road of Life. The Road of Life - is an important historical site, dating to the WWII. I'm not going to describe it with my clumsy words, I quoting about it from Wikipedia: "The Road of Life (Доро́га жи́зни, doroga zhizni) was the ice road winter transport route across the frozen Lake Ladoga, which provided the only access to the besieged city of Leningrad while the perimeter in the siege was maintained by the German Army Group North and the Finnish Defence Forces. The siege lasted for 29 months from 8 September 1941, to 27 January 1944. Over one million citizens of Leningrad died from starvation, stress, exposure and bombardments. Each winter, the Lake Ladoga ice route was reconstructed by hand, and built according to precise arithmetic calculations depending on traffic volume. In addition to transporting thousands of tons of munitions and food supplies each year, the Road of Life also served as the primary evacuation route for the millions of Soviets trapped within the starving city." Now I will tell more about our journey The weather was good, it was around zero Celsius and no rain. Only at the end was a little snow, but by then we do not care about it. We drove a total of 150 km (90mi) round trip. At the noon we left the home and ride by the smaller roads, and avoiding highways. Now I try to avoiding the highways, as they are treated by anti-ice chemical agents, corrosive for my beloved hack. Sometimes, of course, we had to go by the highways, but mostly we were moving on a clean roads with packed snow. The trip was easy and pleasant. But it was cold, there's no escape around it. We need to buy neoprene muzzles, but I always forget it. I had to use the helmet-liner, clothed on a face, at this time. We reached the village Lekhtusi and stumbled upon a fancy military facility. A large space-tracking radar, seeing on a background of the photo. Serious thing: I mean, that is "Voronezh" aka "Backfire" in NATO classification. In the photo you can see, how I warming my hands in the exhaust gases - very convenient. And during the halts I put my mittens on the cylinder heads to be there it kept warm. Next, we quickly reached the village Matoksa. From there are starts interesting places: we were here in the summer, rode to Rzhevskiy Artillery Range. The place is remarkable in that it is, despite the proximity to st.Petersburg remains very wild and solitary. For example, as we drove up to Borisova Griva (40km), we met only one vehicle. ItÂ’s Volojarvi lake. On the ice you may see the ice-fishermens. Yes, this region are very lonely in the winter. Nevertheless, in summer, this place is only little smaller solitary, than now. Something like this we can see on the road. In summer here is the lay old broken asphalt, but in winter all the pits are hidden under the snow, and the road is gone smooth and uniform. 40 km (25 mi) of desert rolled snowy road, which runs among the woodlands and wetlands. Is not exactly cold, but the body parts are freezing hard. Basically - a face, hands and foots. Every couple miles we stops to drink hot tea from a thermos and warm ourselves. In willage Borisova Griva we turned left and get to the monument of the "Siege of Leningrad breaking" And all would be fine, but suddenly appears problem with engine: first cuts off one cylinder, and then the engine stalls. OMG! The tank is filled to 2/3, so that everything is okay. I fill the floater chambers of carburetors, but the fuel are barely flows through the fuel filters. I waiting until it will pour out of Carbs, and I starts the motor. I think, something happened with the fuel crane. Soon we saw the Lake Ladoga and convenient access to it. There were cars of the ice fishing-lovers. We could to see fishermen right up to the horizon. Here I must say that the ice fishing in Russia is an extremely popular hobby. I was pleased to ride into the lake ice, but we got stuck in a hummock. My wife were begged to not go further, and I had to submit. We leave a loose snow and return back to shore. Fortunately, we have a hot tea, and it really helps a lot. With longing I think that we still have 45 mi to ride home, and some part of our way we will drive in the evening darkness. We stood there for a little, and then go to ride back. We drove into a deserted road, but here was again appeared engine problems - its suddenly halts. I quickly disassembling fuel tap and washing it. But nothing helps. I must to complete the repair before it gets dark. I disassembling fuel tract over again, again, all were washing and blowing. But gasoline is still not flowing. What can I do? What the reason? But suddenly I remember troubleshooting page of the user manual. "Gasoline is not flowing? Check the fuel tank cap!" And indeed - cap air vent clogged with ice. I was purged it by my mouth, and everything starts to work. Here I am a fool. A little more, and I could be start to disassemble the carburetors. However, the way back, as we know, is often shorter than the road there. Soon we will happily return home. Eh, it was a wonderful place - it is necessary to go there again.
A great ride report and the images remind me of how similar Canadian and Russian winter landscapes can be! Thanks for sharing.
I love reading ride reports from your country. One day I will make the long journey and ride my Ural to Russia. Keep the pictures coming. Good job.
Great ride report and pictures. I love seeing riders from the more frozen climates out there riding. Please keep it up Petre Bob
Thanks for posting your ride report, it's well written and a great read. I'd never heard of the The Road of Life and I'm glad to read about it. Nice dog too. And wife. Best wishes, LL75
I'm glad, what you all like it. By the way, almost all the photos is shoots my wife - this is why she appears in the pictures so rarely))
Oh, she goes with me in much more difficult conditions)) And yes, I'm is really very lucky. She even radically changed my life, and thanks to her, we started to trip into a serious expeditions - before - on a boat, further - will try on a hack. And more further - I will build another boat, large and reliable.
Thank you very much for this report. You have snow and we have high temperatures and forest fires in the south-east of australia
Cool report. My wife wants to steal your dog...she thinks he's cute. You are truly a lucky man. Cheers.
Interesting to see about historical things I have read about. Big contrast to summer here in NZ. thanks for the story.
So come on, why not? Next summer we just want to go across the country via an interesting and non-trivial route. For a two or three month, heh I just thought about that, because I myself would like to visit in the Americas. And in your case, when you shipping from the U.S. to Russia, all can be much easier to organize.
I have a son at university and my other son is 12 years old. I get the kids out of the house and it's on. Me and the old lady want to travel the world one way or another. Just wondering if there is a car ferry that goes across the Bering Straight? I'm sure I can ride that far. May be some fisherman could float me across the Bering Straight. Any way, keep the pictures coming, and good luck on your trip. I look forward to reading about it. I have a large back yard and you are welcome to use it for camping.
