Finally made it to the right (lower) side of the Kolvitsa river yesterday and saw what was left of the famous hydroelectric power station that was built in 1949 and supplied energy to Kolvitsa and a few neighbouring villages until the mid-1960s. Five or six boulder-filled log cages are still there. Was impressed.
Something different and drastic must have been happening here epochs ago because large stones along the southern edge of Kolvitsa Lake don’t look like boulders elsewhere, and their arrangement in a long row along the water is beyond me to take a wild guess as to why. Below are some photos from our yesterday’s walk among the rocks by the lake in the late fall mist.
Normally this little and rare (several hundred pairs in the entire Murmansk Region) birdie lives in a rather dispersed fashion, with one to three pairs per 10km of stream. But today we have been observing at least five individuals at once, diving into bubbling water to get their bugs and worms and what not.
Kuzomen too succumbed to the temptation of having a bite off the growing tourist traffic. Several guesthouses have popped up recently.
Here is a couple of contacts:
On our way to Kuzomen with a stopover in Kashkarantsy. Of things unpleasant, it was road repair, with 10 kilometers of large gravel between Umba and Kashkarantsy. Of misadventures, it was a blown camper tire. If we lose another one we are looking into a serious adjustment of plans as the nearest tire repair place is in Umba, 100+ kilometers of a really bad road back.
Saw a fox right in front of us but by the time Alexandra got out her camera the animal had almost disappeared in the bush.
Three rooms, first floor, with ~1/10 of an acre plot of land. Location: Luvenga, 14km east from Kandalaksha.
Cheap: 220 th. roubles (~$3500).
But requires a full renovation job.
Sold by a good friend of mine, the knife and sleigh maker Vasily Ivanovich.
This offer may be of interest to those wishing to establish a foothold in Russia.
Photos will be added soon.
Contact me at manfriday@yandex.ru for more information.
I don’t know how many inches of the stuff fell down this week but here is a short video by Natalia Vopiyashina of Varzuga showing the Kandalaksha to Varzuga bus being pushed through snow by passengers somewhere around Kashkarantsy.
On our way from Kuzomen we stopped by the village of Olenitsa some 50km west. Somehow this place managed to evade our attention in all these years. The village turned out to be a delight, as are most places along the south cost of the Kola Peninsula. Here are a few photos of this charming Olenitsa place:
