Around Ladoga by car. Lake Ladoga Distance around Lake Ladoga

I would like to say a huge thank you to Alena Lazareva.
You are an excellent driver, organizer and a very good person!

I had been thinking about a trip around Lake Ladoga for a long time, but these were just ideas and an approximate start day. For such a trip, in order to see everything to the maximum, I needed 3 days in a row and it had to be warm. June and its holiday (June 12) fit perfectly here. The next task was to find a desperate partner with a car, since I didn’t have a car at that time. Alyonka volunteered to keep me company, and while preparing for the trip, she helped me find a bunch of interesting places located along the route.

This is what the final route looked like, the route is divided into days by colors.

The first day

It all started at 6 in the morning, I had to go as far as possible outside the city before the summer residents woke up, Alyonka picked me up and we set off. The first place on our way was the Tiverskaya fortress. Its coordinates are 60.836111, 29.816944. It is located, or rather its remains, right on the banks of the Vuoksa River. To be honest, there is little left of the fortress, a little stonework, and perhaps that’s all. If you don’t look closely, you might not notice anything, but the places here are beautiful, you can feel the influence of Karelia, although there were still about 60 kilometers left to its border.

The next place was a church in the village of Vasilyevo - the Church of St. Andrew the First-Called on Vuoksa. It’s a very beautiful place, I recommend checking it out, you don’t have to go far, it’s located near the road.

Having rested a little on the pier, straightening our backs after 90 kilometers of sitting in the car, we drove on, and then there was the famous, active quarry in Kuznechny and no less famous since the times of the USSR - the Ho Chi Minh trail!
To get to the trail, you first need to walk along the entire quarry, its scale is captivating, in the photo below, for example, a rather large tractor with a bucket is captured)))

Belaz circles are wound along the roads around the quarry. By the way, sometimes they blast rock in a quarry, so get ready for a possible rockfall))

A few panoramas of the quarry below:

Walking around the quarry, it will be difficult not to notice this sign and a pile of worn-out shoes; this is the beginning of the Ho Chi Minh trail:

Here's why this trail is called that:

There are a lot of different flowers along the way, including those listed in the Red Book...

The trail leads to the famous Yastrebinoye Lake.

Here's what Wiki says about this lake:

Yastrebinoye is a lake in the northern part of the Karelian Isthmus in the Priozersky district of the Leningrad region. The lake is located near the border with the Republic of Karelia, 10 km from the railway station of the village of Kuznechnoye. The lake is located in a depression between the steep granite ledges of the tip of the Baltic Shield, rising up to 50 m. Parnassus Rock is a popular rock climbing site. Yastrebinoe has a strongly elongated shape from north to south, about 2 km long. Yastrebinoye Lake and its surroundings (including lakes Pestovo, Glukharinoe and Protochnoye) are a protected natural monument “Lake Yastrebinoye”. Before being renamed after the Great Patriotic War, it was called Haukanjärvi.

In general, normal people come here with tents to spend the whole weekend here. There are a lot of equipped parking lots here - this is the merit of tourists, it is also very clean and peaceful here, because the lake is located far from civilization and cannot be approached by car, so for some time the lake will be protected from redneck tourists. There's not even cell phone reception here.

But we - we are not normal, so we went to the lake, about 15 km one way, enjoyed the views and walked back the same way)))) There were many more interesting places ahead!

It was getting dark and we had to look for a place to stop... After asking around the locals, they showed us a very nice place with an excellent view, we pitched a tent, collected brushwood, had dinner and went to bed.....

Second day

We woke up, had breakfast, packed, and hit the road!))))
The northern shore of Lake Ladoga is already Karelia, with its abundance of rocky landscape, waterfalls, skerries and dense northern greenery...

The first place of our new day was the White Bridges waterfalls, here is some information from Wikipedia:
Two waterfalls, which are located at a distance of 30 meters from each other. When the Finns were building a road across the river, they decided to build a bridge in the place where the water falls in vertical waterfalls. This is how the name of this place was formed - “white bridges”. Now all that remains of the bridges themselves are rubble, and the road has not been used for a long time. But the waterfalls themselves are still very beautiful. The height of the falling stream reaches 19 meters - these are one of the highest waterfalls in Karelia.Getting here by regular transport is quite difficult, the road is broken and it is better to use off-road vehicles.
And now pay attention to the red belly, among the harsh cars with high ground clearance)) We were the only ones there, but the Citroenchik passed the test with honor! Well, Alyonka’s merit here is certainly there too!)))

And here it is, the treasure of Karelia - White Bridges.

As has already been written, there is another waterfall nearby, but it is more difficult to get to it; you need to walk along a log that is thrown upstream and then walk a little along the path, listening to the sound of the water.

There are a great many interesting places in Karelia, one of them is a joint project of Finns and Russians. The essence of the project is to turn the ruins of the plant into a kind of tourist attraction. It all looks, of course, very cool, there is a mowed lawn everywhere, benches, information signs, everything is at a very high level, but for such pleasure you have to pay, for this there is a cash desk at the entrance. We managed to take a walk completely free of charge, since that day the quest “Road of Adventure” took place and everything was paid for)))

And here is some information from Wiki regarding the historical component of the place:
The Tulmozersky plant is an iron smelting plant in the Olonets province, founded near the village of Kolatselga by the joint-stock company "Steel" in 1896.One of the initiators of the creation of the joint-stock company was Grand Duke Peter Nikolaevich, who inherited from his father design documentation for the plant and land lease agreements, which is why another name for the plant - “Petrovka” - was often found in the documents. Blast furnace melting at the plant was carried out from July 1899 to July 1902, and did not justify the funds invested in the construction of production.

This is the level of most of the road along the northern part of Lake Ladoga, RosAvtoDor really works, and does not patch up holes))

On the way we repeatedly came across abandoned churches; in general, there are quite a lot of them in the Leningrad region, as in many others... There are especially many such churches in the Kostroma region.

Lake Ladoga from the north side.

It was getting dark, we had to get up for the night, and I already really wanted to eat))

For the night we chose the picturesque shore of Lake Ladoga, coniferous trees that very much resembled Christmas trees growing straight out of the sand, it looked very unusual))

The weather was excellent, warm, sunny, sound of the surf...

And Alyonka even took a swim up to her ankles)

Peace for everyone!)

Day three

On the third and final day, we planned to visit several more places, but we only managed to visit one, but more on that later...

In the city of Lodeynoye Pole there is a very high bridge, but few people knew that at that time it was open to the public, i.e. there was not a single obstacle on the way to the very top of the bridge. I really love vantage points, and from here a very beautiful panorama opens up.

By the way, for some reason there are a lot of midges at the top, so it’s extremely difficult to stay there for more than 20 minutes, they eat you alive!

Well, then, according to the plan, we were supposed to go to the Svirsky lighthouse, but ten kilometers from it, our clutch fell off, and the release collar gave in for a long time. Alas, we drove the last 100 km to St. Petersburg in the cabin of another car, and the persistent, but exhausted Frenchman over these three days rested on the “back” of the tow truck.
As they say, anything can happen, and this is far from the worst ending to the trip, we are still alive and well, almost all the planned places were visited, a lot of photographs were taken, and calling a tow truck 100 km from St. Petersburg turned out to be not so expensive.

Travel everyone!

…End

At the beginning of spring, the idea arose to take a car ride around our “Great” lakes. It’s no joke, I’ve lived in St. Petersburg all my life, I’ve been abroad more than once, but I’ve never traveled to places close to my heart further than the Northern Ladoga region. Besides, you have to spend your vacation somewhere; your conscience doesn’t allow you to stay in the city. Prices for overseas tours have recently skyrocketed - you can’t go wrong. I've had my fill of Crimea for the rest of my life since I was a child, and it's not the season yet... Where can a St. Petersburger go? That's right, to Karelia! So...

Task: travel by car along a circular route around lakes Ladoga and Onega, trying to visit the maximum number of cultural, historical and natural attractions

Estimated route length: 1600 km. + 15%
Actual route length at the end of the trip: 1680 km.
Automobile: Chevrolet Aveo 2007 bottling
Team: three people (2M and F)
Estimated travel duration: 6-8 days
Actual travel duration : 6 days
Overnight places: preferably tent/campsites, possibly hotels and guest houses

Route map. Clicking on the picture will open Google, where you can get acquainted with specific points, some have a brief description. The route is divided by day.

I’ll say right away that there were a lot of “not” and “never”. Never before have I traveled so far and for so long by car and while driving. It was not entirely certain that Chevy In general, he will be able to get to some places - this is not for you to ride along Nevsky, this is Karelia! Never before have I prepared even such a not very serious trip, incl. the lack of experience was felt at every step. What if the car gets stuck somewhere in the middle of nowhere? Where to look for help on the highway, in the forest? Where to sleep? Will there be enough gas stations along the way? In general, there were many questions and ambiguities. Looking ahead, I’ll say that I was poorly prepared, I didn’t collect enough information, we set off on our journey largely hoping for a national Russian event. On the other hand, the more interesting and useful the trip turned out to be. The experience gained was through the roof; there were both pleasant discoveries and sad failures. About this and much more below. I hope our experience will also inspire someone to explore Karelia.

All photos are clickable - you can expand them to full screen and make them look beautiful!

DAY 1

Opposite the entrance there is a memorial plaque like this.

The building itself had seen better days and only vaguely resembled a museum (ha, we thought so then, having not yet seen other “museums” and “houses of culture” of the Republic of Karelia). Surprised that it was open at all, we went inside. Having gotten used to the twilight, my eyes discerned an encouraging picture - the room was being renovated. We were met by a pleasant female guide (who also happens to be a museum caretaker), and the excursion began (I think it cost 50 rubles per person). Unfortunately, either because of fatigue or shyness, we took practically no photographs in the museum. Those interested can virtually get acquainted with most of the exhibition by walking along this link. There were a lot of interesting things. For example, we were told about the traditional activities of Karelian women: knitting, felting, sewing. You can try all this: touch the spinning wheel, the loom, the spindle. If you want, you can even sew something for yourself - if only you have time.

After...

After Kurkiyoki, the path went to Sortavala, where we planned to have lunch and buy a map of the roads of Karelia (I’m smart, I didn’t buy it in St. Petersburg in advance), and then go look for a place to stay for the night. I can't say much about the city. The only thing that baffled me was the absence of these unfortunate road maps in all the bookstores we visited. Such is the problem. Of course, there was still a navigator with maps from Google, Yandex and Navitel, but it’s somehow not the same... In general, having had a good meal, having a snack at the Black Orange fast food restaurant (a local version of poppy), we went to look for a place for a tent . Our requirements were modest: a more or less flat area, not far from the water. As it turned out, here, and throughout Karelia as a whole, it is very, very difficult to find something even for such low demands. We went to one place on the way to Pötsövare, but the Chevy didn’t pass there. I had to drive backwards for about a kilometer to the nearest turning point. The pleasure, let me tell you, is not pleasant. By the end of the ride the clutch was stinking a lot. But they found traces of a club-footed friend in the wet mud on the road. The desire to stop at the Pötsövar Lakes diminished even more.

After searching for about an hour more in search of a suitable place (unsuccessful points are marked with diamonds on the map), we finally came across a wonderful parking lot on Lake Tenyarvi. I recommend it to everyone who finds themselves in those places.

DAY 2

In general, as I realized later, Karelia appeared before me as a kind of country of many large and small hydroelectric power stations, a land of pacified rivers, dried up swamps and irretrievably lost waterfalls. And although I understand the value of technological progress, I was still sad to see those obscenities that people did in relation to nature.

Along the recently repaired highway, we quickly covered the distance to the first point - the Cross of Sorrow. This interesting monument was erected in mid-2000. The initiators were both the Russian and Finnish sides. The monument is dedicated to the victims of the Soviet-Finnish (or as the Finns call it, the Winter) War of 1939-1940. The sculptor is Russian, apparently with Finnish roots, Leo Lankinen.

In order to see all the sights of Lake Ladoga, you need to spend more than one vacation in Karelia.Actually, a person who has been here once will be drawn here constantly. After all, a unique natural phenomenon - the largest freshwater lake in Europe - is itself the main attraction of this region. More than 40 rivers carry their waters to it, and only one Neva flows out of it.

Ladoga lake

More like a sea than a lake, it has frightened and attracted since ancient times, seemed mysterious and beautiful. More than 18 thousand cubic meters of fresh water are stored in a basin formed by a glacier millions of years ago. Ladoga was completely freed from ice only 12 thousand years ago. The water here is cold, you can swim only in the middle of summer, and only in the southern part of the lake, where the water warms up to 19-23 degrees.

Extraordinarily beautiful shores with a length of 1000 kilometers attract tourists and pilgrims here. The dimensions of the lake are impressive: 200 x 130 kilometers, and the depth in the north of the reservoir reaches 230 meters. This is the Great Nevo - Lake Ladoga of Russia.

The peculiar structure of the bottom and the slope from the south form a wave that constantly breaks and goes in different directions. That’s why Ladoga is changeable and looks different every minute. Legends were made about her, poems and songs were written. It can be scary, stormy and even, like blue paper.

Since ancient times, Ladoga has been a transport route “from the Varangians to the Greeks.” But the unpredictability and menacing nature of the raging sea frightened the sailors. Many died in its waves. Therefore, mastering this harsh, but so beautiful and necessary region for Russia, Emperor Peter Iordered to dig a bypass. He goes along the southern edge of the lake. Then they dug another one, Novoladozhsky.

The following sights of Lake Ladoga are also unusually picturesque:, like skerries. Rocks, pine forests, a huge number of large and small islands, separated by clear water channels, are concentrated mainly in its northern part.

Ladoga region

Going on a trip around Ladoga in any direction, you will see not only beautiful landscapes, but also touch the rich history of these places.

The first prince Rurik, who created the Old Russian state, came to us along this water. Powerful fortresses were built on the shores and islands to defend the lands from the enemy: Oreshek, Staraya Ladoga, Korela. Shlisselburg and new Ladoga are already many more recent attractions of Lake Ladoga.

"The road of life"

The time when the Nazis surrounded the city of Leningrad is moving further and further away from us. But he did not give up when he froze, died under bombing, and died of hunger. This topic still resonates with pain in the hearts of the residents of St. Petersburg. Of course, all Russian people know what the “Road of Life” through frozen Ladoga is. This terrible and dangerous path helped someone survive in besieged Leningrad. But for local residents it is a shrine.

Now it is a monument road, along which there are concrete obelisks marking each kilometer. Driving along it, you see monuments to traffic police girls, blockade lorry drivers, Leningrad children, sailors, pilots, and Katyushas. These attractions of Lake Ladogawill lead to the main monument of the road - the “Broken Ring”.

Valaam archipelago

There are places on earth that seem specially designed to glorify the greatness of the Creator. And it is not without reason that they are separated by some kind of barrier from the bustling world. Lake Ladoga keeps such a place in its core - Valaam, a landmarkand the greatest value for the Russian heart.

The area of ​​50 islands in the northern part of the lake covers 36 km 2 . Two-thirds is the area of ​​the island of Valaam, this is where the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery is located. Amazing place. Sheer cliffs hanging over the water seem formidable and impregnable. But on the shore, among peace and pine trees, you feel peace and love for everything earthly. According to legend, when he came here, he erected a stone cross and predicted a great future for the monastery.

The history of Valaam, this harsh region for life, is interesting and difficult. But it is inextricably linked with the monastery, which experienced many troubles and hardships here. Today it is extremely beautiful and majestic. And rightfully on Lake Ladoga Valaam is a landmark, one of the most important and unforgettable.

Konevets

The dimensions of this island are small: 8 x 3 kilometers, and it is all strewn with boulders of glacial origin. And the very name of the island Konevetscomes from the name of the largest of them, Horse-stone.It weighs 750 tons; only a glacier could drag such a huge thing. And the stone resembles a horse's head.

Once upon a time there were pagan temples in these places, but with the baptism of Rus', many monuments of Orthodox culture appeared here. In the XIVcentury, the Monk Arseny created a new monastery here. His first cell was built on the Holy Mountain, along the slope of which a stream still flows, the only source of water on the island. Later, people came to Arseny, a temple was built, and the life of the monastery began, difficult and at times dangerous. Now the destroyed buildings have been restored, and the monastery is Konevets Island surprises with its beauty.

Priozersk

It is impossible to talk about the wonderful cities located on the shores of a harsh lake in one article. But one of them, Priozersk, is famous for its Korela fortress.

It is believed that the city was created in XIII century. But one of the chronicle sources claims that in 879 it was here, “in the city of Korela,” that Prince Rurik died.

It is located in one of Karelia, where it flows into Lake Ladoga, a natural landmark.The Korela fortress, created to protect the lands from enemy attacks, took part in all the wars that took place in these places since the times of Ancient Rus'. The long-suffering city changed hands many times, always finding itself in the thick of military events. After the Great Patriotic War it was rebuilt. Only fortress, powerful walls have been standing for many centuries.

A trip around Lake Ladoga by car is one of the most easily accessible and wonderful trips that you can organize yourself.

Our trip route lasts three days. The purpose of the trip was to feel and enjoy nature; we stopped a lot at different lakes, waterfalls, and walked through forests. Our route reflects more specifically natural places. Of course, we visited several architectural sights, but still they were not the main goal.

On the road we used the maps.me map. This is the best offline map, which has helped us out more than once; it shows the main attractions, shops, places where you can stay overnight and their rating.

Day 1

First place we visited – Lembolovskoye Lake. It is located on the Karelian Isthmus, surrounded by picturesque forests and hills. Sandy beaches, many good approaches to the lake. Suitable for fishing and recreation with children.

Razdolinskoye Lake was next. It is located near the village of Sosnovo. There are convenient approaches to the water from the Priozerskoe highway from the west. The water is clean and transparent. Also suitable for fishing and relaxing with children.

Vuoksa River- the largest river of the Karelian Isthmus with fast rapids. The place is suitable for rafting and kayaking. Everything you need can be rented on site. Ideal for fishing; before our eyes, a man caught five large trout; you can find places for tents and for families with children.

Museum-Fortress “Korela” is located in Priozersk, near the Vuoksa River. Detailed information about the cost of visiting and opening hours can be found on the website, and I will share photos.

Lighthouse. I have a hobby - . On the map we saw that we would meet one along the way and how could we get past it? It turned out that it is located on the territory of the Park Hotel Captain-Morgan, where only vacationers are allowed. We really, really asked and were allowed to come in for a short while.

We spent the night on the shore of Lake Ladoga in a tent, using the maps.me map we found the road to drive up by car. And at the end of the day we saw off such a sunset.

If you don’t plan to spend the night in a tent, but would not refuse such a sunset, then I recommend the hotel “Point on the map. Priozersk". It's more than just a “place to stay.” Maximum interaction with nature, minimum influence on it - this idea is the basis of “Tochka”. The architecture rhymes perfectly with the surrounding landscape, take a look.

From here it is convenient to get to the main attractions of Priozersk. And from Priozersk it is easy to get to Valaam, Ladoga skerries and Konevets Island. “Point on the map” - comfort and quality at a reasonable price, breakfast included.

Day 2

We arrived in Karelia, there are even more beautiful natural places ahead: lakes, rivers, waterfalls and endless forests. We were in Karelia this winter, so for comparison I will share winter photos too.

Khiitol rocks. If you turn right from the main road towards Tiurul, you will come to a 20-meter steep cliff on which climbers train.

Sortavala

What to see?

• The city center and the pier from which ships depart for Valaam.
• City Park “Vakkosalmi”, here you can see a beautiful view of the city from Mount Kuhavuori.
• You can have a snack and taste local Karelian pies at the Kalitka cafe. The place is small: two tables and chairs. But the pies here are very tasty + cheap tea and coffee. Address: Komsomolskaya street, 9, Sortavala.

Where to stay?

Ahvenkoski Waterfall- a complex of several waterfalls, their height is on average 3-4 meters. In 2005, the film “The Dark World” was filmed on Ahvenkoski. A dummy of a log hut was specially built for filming, and it is still there today. The bathing scene of the main character of the film “The Dawns Here Are Quiet” was also filmed here.

To approach the waterfall you will walk along a beautiful wooden staircase next to which there are figurines of various heroes. Everyone loves to take pictures with them, we couldn’t resist either.

Marble Canyon. Canyon Ruskeala is a former quarry in which various types of marble were mined. It was here that marble was mined for the palaces of St. Petersburg. On the official website of the mountain park you can find up-to-date information on prices and how to get there. In the evenings, the park is illuminated with beautiful lighting.

After the walk, the weather began to deteriorate and we began to look for where to stay for the night. Traveling during the high season is bad because there are no vacancies in hostels/guest houses/hotels. So we recommend that you think about this in advance.

You can book accommodation at a favorable price on the website hotellook.com. This is a hotel aggregator that compares prices on all booking sites and shows the best one.

Day 3

Lyaskelya hydroelectric power station. Karelia is rich in hydropower resources, which are used by various hydroelectric power stations; we were able to visit several of them. First we saw the small Läskelä hydroelectric power station, located on the Jänisjoki River. It was launched in 1899, destroyed during the Great Patriotic War, and then restored. After the reconstruction was completed, the station became fully automated; now its work is carried out without permanent staff.

Waterfall “White Bridges”. This is the highest waterfall in the entire south of Karelia, its height is 19 meters. Next to it there is another one, which is often called White Bridges 2. The peculiarity of White Bridges 2 is that in hot summer weather this waterfall can dry out almost completely. But in the spring it is no less picturesque than its older comrade.

The road to get there is not very good, depending on the season, of course. We were there during the rainy season, the road was washed out and full of deep puddles. Many people left their cars halfway and walked further; large cars passed without any problems.

Lake Rukojärvi– a picturesque lake, it was here that we decided to stop for a snack and rest. The place is also great for fishing, camping and families with children.

Waterfall "Lower Koirinoya" is located outside the village. Its height is approximately 4 meters.

Pieni-Joki hydroelectric power station

The last place we managed to stop at before dark was Lodeynoye Pole, we walked along the main square, stood by the banks of the Svir River, and the road home lay ahead of us.

We did not have time to see: Shlisselburg and the Oreshek fortress, new and old Ladoga, the city of Olonets.

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Thank you for traveling with me!

In winter, you quickly get tired of sitting under the tree and your soul begins to ask for adventure. Not the ones where you went to the store for the first time in a year and forgot to buy bread, so you had to go back, but the real ones. So my friend and I decided to take a ride around Lake Ladoga.

We pre-selected the cities where we would stay: St. Petersburg, Priozersk, Pitkyaranta, Staraya Sloboda, Shlisselburg and St. Petersburg again. The distances between them are very small. We planned to travel only during daylight hours, which is quite short at this time of year.

Preparing for the road

I had no experience in long winter trips, but I had twenty years of experience in alarmism, so a month before the trip I started writing to groups of car enthusiasts on social networks. The questions were always the same: “What can happen on a winter road?” and "How to prevent this?" The answers were full of variety, here are the most useful and interesting of them:

“You need to take a pack of salt on the road, this is one hundred percent! After all, when you get on bare ice, you will need to somehow get out. I added some salt, waited, it corroded a little - and it was off! You also need some kind of shovel, in case you’ll get stuck again. You definitely need a rope! I’ve pulled people out very often,” advises Dmitry.

"In winter, the first thing you need to do is take a kit for repairing wheels. Also, dry rations (preferably army), rescue blankets (cost around 150-250 rubles). Next, fuel - 10 liters in a steel canister. Clamps, electrical tape, wire with a cross-section of 2-2, 5, 15 meters. Well, I’m silent about the first aid kit, cable, gloves, emergency warning sign, fire extinguisher, they should be there. Take cold welding if something falls off or the gas tank needs to be sealed for a while,” Roman compiled a whole list for me.

“Something unexpected is bound to happen. For example, I always have tools with me, two jacks, a spare wheel, a shovel, oil, antifreeze, a generator belt, spark plugs and a bunch of other little things. But last winter, at 2 a.m., The most severe frost stood up tightly due to the collapsed tension roller of the generator belt."

As a result, I formulated the main postulates for myself. When going on a road trip, you need to check the performance of your car. Visit a car service center and check the car's chassis, make sure you have everything you need for urgent car repairs. It is also worth stocking up on things that will help you not die from cold and hunger while repairing your car or waiting for help. This could be warm clothes, nutritious and non-perishable food, hot water in a thermos.

It is also worth booking hotel rooms in advance in all cities where you plan to stay. It’s better to download offline maps on your phone that show gas stations, hospitals, shops and cafes.

The first day. St. Petersburg - Priozersk

Oddly enough, one of the most intense sections of the winter journey around Ladoga was a dozen kilometers through St. Petersburg. Judge for yourself, a new car, heavy traffic, getting used to driving using a navigator is a rather stressful period. The journey was not very far, 160 km, so by the time we arrived at the hotel in Priozersk the car had already been tamed and tamed. The highway in the Leningrad region was quite well cleaned, the road was without holes or ice, and along the way there were no accidents or cars parked in emergency lanes.

In Priozersk itself, wandering around in search of our hotel and a place for dinner, we were faced with the fact that the navigator was desperately trying to direct us against traffic on those streets where it was one-way (and there are many of them in Priozersk). So rely on the navigator, but don’t make a mistake yourself.

Every time we stopped in a city, we refreshed our thermos with boiling water and replenished our supplies of food and water. This is very important, because at any moment you may find yourself cut off from civilization.

That evening and the next morning we encountered perhaps the only problem with our vehicle: the car did not set the alarm, and if we managed to set it, then it was impossible to unlock it. Imagine the situation: you approach your car, in your hand there is a remote control key, which categorically refuses to open the car and disarm it, you, such a decent person, go to open the car manually with the key, it screams heart-rendingly under your hands, and passers-by they begin to look at you as if you were a criminal who, with a tire iron at the ready, is trying to steal a car somewhere in the vastness of GTA. Yes, it's a pretty creepy feeling.

Common sense suggested that there was some kind of problem in the car, but perhaps the Russian won and we decided that everything would pass by morning.

It did not pass.

Second day. Priozersk - Lakhdenpokhya - Sortavala - Pitkyaranta

The next morning after the treacherous opening of the car, we began to google the nearest car services, of which there were very few in Priozersk. Having reached the couple, they heard a categorical “we don’t work with electronics!”

So my travel companion found on the Internet the model of the battery used in our remote control, went to the store, unscrewed the key, replaced the battery - and, lo and behold, it works!

We also poured anti-freeze into the windshield washer reservoir, which froze almost immediately. Therefore, part of the treacherous blue liquid was poured into a 0.5 liter bottle, in the lid of which we made a hole, and I was retrained from a navigator to a windshield washer tank with legs. From time to time we stopped, I leaned out of the window and sprayed water from the bottle onto the windshield. XXI century, automation!

Somewhere 24 kilometers after Priozersk Karelia begins. The local roads are hard to describe, but it’s just some kind of automobile paradise. The surface is perfectly smooth, despite the constant precipitation, the road is perfectly cleaned, on both sides there are giant snow-covered coniferous trees, and the road surface itself seems to have been punched right into the rocks. Our path lay in Pitkyaranta, but along the way we stopped in Lakhdenpokhya, because there is direct access to Lake Ladoga, which in these places was not frozen, but simply covered with ice.

On the opposite side there are green pine trees, there is fog over the water, boats and small ships are moored along the shore. This is exactly the kind of spectacle for which you don’t mind getting out of the car and freezing a little.

In Lahdenpokhya we visited Mount Filin - this is a military museum in the rock, which used to be a functioning fort. Inside there are two halls dedicated to the history of Karelia and its participation in the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939–40. There you can find entertaining posters like “Give up! The Finns are warm and satisfying!”

On this day we stopped briefly in Sortavala to have lunch. On the way, we sometimes regretted that we had not thought through places for lunch in advance. If you can have breakfast and dinner at destinations and hotels, then lunch usually finds people on the road. And if you want something hot and nutritious, you have to urgently look for shelter, and the Internet is not always good enough to find a cafe. So it’s better to think about this question in advance.

In the evening we reached a hotel in the vicinity of Pitkäranta and almost instantly fell asleep from cold and fatigue.

Day three. Pitkyaranta - Old Sloboda

When we woke up in the morning and got ready to leave, it was discovered that the car was covered with a thick layer of frost - the temperature at night reached -30°C!

As luck would have it, we didn’t have any scrapers with us, but somehow a plastic card ended up in my pocket - a ticket to the St. Petersburg Mayakovsky Library - which turned out to be extremely convenient for cleaning windows. Now we can safely say that Mayakovsky helped us on our winter trip.

We had breakfast, prepared the car and moved to a village called Staraya Sloboda. It is located only 160 kilometers from Pitkäranta, but this journey seems like an eternity, because a very bad road begins here. Perhaps motorists from some forested areas of Lensk will tell me that I simply did not see bad roads, but believe me, after the excellent surface that accompanied us in the previous days, the path to Staraya Sloboda seemed like a living hell.

We drove very slowly, because the icy road with snow crust twisted like the basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets (remember in “Harry Potter”?). In order not to provoke emergency situations, we very leisurely got to our destination.

In Staraya Sloboda, it seemed as if the entire village had gathered for a church service. I think that about 50% of the area of ​​the settlement is occupied by churches and monasteries, and people leisurely wander towards them straight along the roadway, not paying any attention to the cars.

To be honest, it was so cold outside that we climbed into our house and only came out to have dinner. The whole evening was spent watching movies and occasionally glancing out the window, which inevitably made me shudder, but -30 degrees is no joke.

Day four. Staraya Sloboda - Shlisselburg

When we were getting ready to leave Staraya Sloboda in the morning, the car began to groan, not wanting to start. But after some time, she finally gave up and we heard the usual growl of the engine. It's actually quite a nerve-wracking moment when you go to your car in the morning and wonder how the overnight frosts affected it. I still can’t be overjoyed that we were so lucky and that even on the coldest sections of the road the car behaved wonderfully.

The road to Shlisselburg was simply ideal: a good road, clean asphalt, the road almost always went in a straight line. We made a stop along the way, as we were passing by the exit to Ladoga. It was very cold, but we couldn't miss the opportunity to run on the ice. There were mountains of ice on the shore, and the snow mixed with river sand. There was a familiar fog over the lake, which was pierced by the sun, making it seem as if the entire horizon was on fire.

I’m not sure if this was a smart move, because turning off a car in the middle of a forest at such low temperatures is strictly not recommended. But I was reassured by the fact that the road was quite busy and cars often passed along it, and if something happened they would have helped us.

We got to Shlisselburg quite quickly. We visited the place where the Neva flows out of Ladoga - the only river that originates in this lake. But we did not find a way out to Ladoga itself - a canal stretches along the shore for many kilometers, which blocks the path to the lake.

It was very cool in the Shlisselburg hotel. My advice to you: never hesitate to ask for heaters and extra blankets, because otherwise you will have to be chiseled out of a block of ice in the morning.

Day five. Shlisselburg - St. Petersburg

On the last day of our trip, we allowed ourselves to sleep until lunch, because there were no more than 50 kilometers left to St. Petersburg, which we covered very quickly. Despite the awareness that the road was coming to an end, we tried not to relax too much, because the city would have much busier traffic, which means the likelihood of getting into an accident would increase.

But my soul was still calm: we drove around Lake Ladoga, never broke down, didn’t get stuck in the wilderness, and didn’t even fly into a ditch. This seemed like an unprecedented success, because in my head I was scrolling through a variety of possible scenarios and even prepared a draft version of my will just in case, but, fortunately, it was not useful.