Days 9 & 10: We had decided on an early start to make it to the Finnish-Russian border crossing in due time and hopefully avoid long waiting times there. Also we didn’t quite know what to expect on the level of road conditions on the other side, but it would probably be worse than the roads we had been cruising on so far so leaving early would give us the additional edge there as well. Eventually we left somewhat later than planned from our Inari lakeside camping spot due to a last minute lavish breakfast (more lavish than the breakfasts we had had before on this trip, that is) as we wanted to get rid of some of the food stuff we weren’t sure about if we could take it into Russia or not. Then we lifted off in convoy to the border crossing. A few kilometers before the fence we handled some last essential details. First of all we emptied the jerry can with emergency fuel into our car’s tank, as according to the info we got from the Finnish border guard the day before we were only allowed to bring 10 extra liters into the Russian Federation. Given that our jerry can could hold the double of that, we felt it was probably better to arrive at the border with a completely empty can rather than a partially filled one that could trigger questions about how much was exactly in there. Second essential point was our blue paperclip challenge. As our stay in Finland had been a very short one, we hadn’t actually had good opportunities to trade. Hence we traded 2 out of 4 of the bottles of beer we got from a trade at North Cape for a lighter with another rally team. With all these things settled and passports and visa in hand, we drove up to the border checkpoints. After a quick formality check and optional passport stamp on the Finnish side, we continued for 200m under heavy camera surveillance through no man’s land to the Russian side. Reception there was cool but correct. I can’t say that the Russians made it very difficult for us – quite the opposite in fact, I had expected things to be a lot harder and more questions being asked. The whole process just took a lot of time because quite a few teams were gathered there (easily the border guard’s busiest day of the year I’d say) and paperwork for people and cars needed to be handled. When it was finally our turn, car and luggage were given a quick inspection and then we were finally given the go to cross into Russia. From the border it was just 250km to the city of Murmansk, at the heart of restricted military territory during the Cold War and still today the headquarters of the Russian navy’s Northern Fleet. In normal conditions this would have been a 3-hour drive. However the road turned out to be in extremely poor condition with unpaved gravel stretches and potholes everywhere, forcing us to swerve to the other side of the road and into upcoming traffic repeatedly and limit speed to 20km/h often. This made the drive both somewhat fun and annoying at the same time. Teams also started to run into technical issues with their cars and as we went along the road the convoy started to break up. Our suspension was put to the test as well but didn’t give in and after hours and hours of driving we finally made it to Murmansk. It was already evening though and the day was far from over for us. Still on the schedule: getting a picture of the car and a radioactivity warning sign (task of the day), finding ourselves another meal, driving hundreds of kilometers down south to Kandalakscha. Our attempt at the first point ended soon when we got a bit lost driving around Murmansk trying to locate the harbour and Severomorsk (a former Soviet naval base now used for dumping decommissioned nuclear submarines). We backtracked to a monument commemorating the efforts of Russian soldiers during World War II and bumped into 2 other teams there. One of them had actually tried to make it to Severomorsk but had been stopped at a military checkpoint (barbed wire, spikes around the car and all) and sent back without chance to make the sought-after picture. Only later we heard that the warning sign was actually located way back on the other riverbank, on the road to Polyarny (an active base of the Russian navy) but by that time we had already managed to get something to eat and were keen on leaving this city as soon as possible. Too bad for the daily task, maybe more luck later that day. The road ahead was now our main concern. It was only 2am when we finally pulled into Kandalakscha but there we couldn’t find a suitable camping spot. The tough decision was made to press on and continue to Petrosawosk, another 600km further down the road. Motivated by the prospect of a real bed, shower and some time for relaxation, we drove all night and arrived on day 10 shortly after noon. As our camping was located next to a small lake, short trousers, swimsuit and some beers were pulled out and soon we were all chilling out and enjoying a quiet sunny afternoon. -David
Posted on: Fri, 28 Jun 2013 05:00:00 +0000
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