(Summer) Roads in Northern European Russia
 

Hi

This summer I'm looking to visit a few more new places in Russia.

Specifically I would like to visit Syktyvkar, Arkhangelsk and Murmansk (then down to St Petersburg) with as little doubling-back as possible.

Is anyone here familiar with this area?

What I'm particularly interested in trying is a route from Syktyvkar to Arkhangelsk without going through Kotlas... for example going through Usogorsk and Smolenets.

I'm happy to drive off-road and am in a tough, high-clearance 4x4, but I am not looking for a gruelling off-road marathon or waiting days for a ferry to appear to cross a river.

How about a road from Arkhangelsk to Murmansk near the sea?? I can see some faint tracks on Google Earth, no idea if these are just service roads for the railway, or perhaps even fire-breaks.

Any ideas??

Thanks

EO

The only thing I can think of is that we might meet. We will be testing our new MAN truck overthere next summer.

GRTZ,

JP

Sounds good (I'll bring a tow strap so you can pull me out of the mud :helpsmilie:)

Would be interesting to hear your route. My dates are roughly early May to early July (I love the long Dutch holidays... not so much the Dutch car taxes!!)

EO

I fund a GPS track on a Russian Forum of somebody who did more or less what you are asking for. Peals send your e-mail adress by pm and I will send it to you.

JP

PS I will be out for few days.

Did any of you crossed the northern route this summer?

Looking at the map in google it is hard to say if it is doable on motorbike....

Currently toying with the idea of crossing Russia from the North:
From Finland to Arkhangelsk, Salekhard, to Tomsk, then Krasnoyarsk, Kyzyl, Tuva track etc....

Could go via Sykhtyvkar if easier... just prefer to avoid the main road west to east full of trucks and explore the north part ...
Anyway, if you guys rode part of that way, kindly let us know.

Thanks,

In the end I chose to stick to normal roads rather than trying to find remote tracks.

There is no road in summer to Salekhard.

To Tomsk there is also only the main route in from the south. Along the Ob River is only possible in winter as far as I know.

EO

Hi EO, thanks for the update. :thumbup1:

Yes I think the road to Salekhard is only a winter road.

We will cross Murmansk from Finland, avoid St Petersbourg and go to Arkhangelsk using the back roads. I can see them on Google Earth and my russian maps. There are few t hings I wnat to visit as well on teh way, in Keralia Oblast.

From there, after talking with Colebatch and few other peoples, consulting google Earth and my russian maps, we will go to Nizhnevartovsk, on the Ob river; maybe via Kotlas and Khanty Mansiysks, as suggested by Walter ( Thanks Walter! :thumbup1:) We will see once on the move.

From Nizhnevartovsk there are no roads South but there are boat services apparently. So we will get on a barge or ferry or whatever it is and up the river to Tomsk.

that's the plan anyway :innocent:

Hi Maria

Sorry for the delay in responding. Sounds like a good route you have there.

This summer I drove up to Syktyvkar, where I left my truck and took a train to Toritsko-Pechorsk, then joined a tour (first time in many years!) which consisted of myself and one Russian lawyer from Moscow. We were taken on a minibus to the Pechora / Ilyich junction, then travelled for 200 km upriver on a speedboat, then a brutal two-day slog through bogs and a final climb to the mountain-top spectacle of Manpupuner in the North Urals:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-B...anpupunyor.jpg

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-f...omi-Forest.jpg

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-S...anpupunyor.jpg

One of the more incredible things I have seen in many years of travelling!

Back in Syktyvkar I drove south for about 100 km back towards Kirov, then turned west to Kotlas on a good road. From Kotlas the road north is good, though unpaved and very dusty in parts. It passes some beautiful Russian villages:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-K...a-Shetters.jpg

The rad from Kotlas eventually joins the M8 which heads north to Arkhangelsk and Severodvinsk (the latter is definitely worth a visit). I doubled back about 125 km from Arkhangelsk and took the road to Mirny (and missed a Soyuz launch by one day :( :( ). This passes some very beautiful wooden villages:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-m...ga-Village.jpg

And then there is Kargopol, an ancient city, something like a mini-northern Suzdal with all its churches:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-b...l-Churches.jpg

Roads in the west of Arkhangelsk Oblast were not very good, but as soon as one enters Karelia they improve, though there were roadworks in places.

I drove up to Kem, where I took the boat to the Solovetsky Islands:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-P...-White-Sea.jpg

Then to Murmansk and a little east to the Barents Sea in Teriberka:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-N...iberka-Bay.jpg

And back to Kandalaksha, along the gorgeous Tersky Coast to Varzuga:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-o...zuga-River.jpg

Again doubling back. Here is Kandalaksha Bay:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-h...laksha-Bay.jpg

From here I drove south, stopping in Petrozavodsk for a few days, then drove out of Russia via Stary Ladoga and Pskov.

Northern Russia is absolutely beautiful. My only warning would be the insects; they really ruin your time when you're outside. Next year I will go in autumn, rather a bit of cold than being harassed continually by them!

Hope this gives you some ideas :)

EO

Very interesting. I am planning to drive up to Salekhard in March 2017.

How do you plan to get from Karelia to Nizhnevartovsk?

I am planning to cross the North Urals again by car next September. I am interested to try the ancient portage route from Solikamsk to Verkhoturiye and believe there are small roads in the area (and some beautiful mountain scenery). But I am not aware of any route between the Urals (e.g. Perm / Nizhny Tagil etc) and Nizhnevartovsk which does not go through Tobolsk. Have you found one? I'd be very grateful if you could share any info on this ;)

When are you planning on making this trip?

My 2016 plan is driving Pskov - Moscow - Kazan - Izhevsk - Perm - Solikamsk - Verkhoturiye - Tobolsk - Irkutsk - Novokuznetsk - Skovorodino - Khabarovsk - Vladivostok - Skovorodino - Yakutsk - Magadan and flying back. It'll be a fast trip though, in September / October.

Cheers

EO

interesting
 

hello folks
This is almost the kind of trip i would like to do , maybe bringing the bike by train until St Petersbourg end then riding along if
- this is possible
-i have time enbough( this is sure:clap:) and habilities ( less sure, age and fit' )
- i found a rider or two to do it !

It will take me some work to re-improve my russian speaking ( 4 years at school) to be able to speak and so on . Still able to read verbs and titles
Gonna' follow the thread
pajasta :thumbup1:

Hi EO,

I plan to leave late May / early June 2016, from the UK and finish in Bishkek mid-September. We have booked with Sambor to pick up our bikes there and bring them back to the UK by truck.

So we have a good 3 1/2 months, but that will include exploring a bit more Kyrgyzstan and trying to get into Tajikistan and ride part of the Pamir.

From Arkhangelsk we will probably ride south by the M8, then take the bridge across from Ust-Vaga to Chamovo, then continue south and across the river to Kotlas.

Then ride East via Kuratovo to Perm then East North to Khanty Mansiysk, then Surgut to Nizhnevartovsk. Then we will come across a “wall”, i.e. the massive River Ob. We will take a Ferry to go all the way to Tomsk as there does not seem to be any road south from Nizhnevartovsk to Tomsk.

According to Google there are quite few alternatives avoiding Tobolsk, but whether these roads are doable in the summer remain to be seen:

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/dir/Arkhangelsk+Oblast,+Russia/Nizhnevartovsk,+Khanty-Mansi+Autonomous+Okrug,+Russia/@59.2984121,62.0907775,6z/data=!4m16!4m15!1m5!1m1!1s0x441a6049e61899b1:0x102 a3a583f195e0!2m2!1d42.5884191!2d63.2852803!1m5!1m1 !1s0x436d3ea933d05687:0xd611216bd7fa542d!2m2!1d76. 5433724!2d60.9431185!2m1!1b1!3e0

My itinerary is vague, as we like to remain flexible.

I hope as we get on the way, to get “inside“ knowledge from locals and bikers and be able to avoid the main roads and use smaller tracks instead.
That is the whole point of taking two small enduro bikes.
We will also use the very useful waypoints file from Walter Colebatch.

I am also keen on using Airbnb as much as possible to get to know the locals, get inside knowledge about roads and what to visit, and practice my Russian!

Eurasia, great pix, thanks for posting those.

I've never heard of that Manpupuner place, it looks very cool!

Thanks for that link Maria, I wonder how feasible that road is.... It does give me a potential Asia - Europe route for winter 2016 / 2017 if the Polar Urals between Labytnangi and Vorkuta are totally inaccessible.

Thanks motoreiter! The seven giants of Manpupunyor are actually one of the seven wonders of Russia, which is a bit odd as I would estimate that about 99.9% of Russians have never heard of the place! According to the authorities of the zapovednik between 200 and 300 people a year (legally) reach the site, and foreigners are in single figures.

The walk was brutal but when one first catches a glimpse of those odd stone towers in the middle of the rolling, soft Urals... I couldn't take my eyes off them. I totally understand how the local Mansi people were terrified ofthem and would not approach the ridge.

They can also be reached by snowmobile or on a very rugged (and illegal) track from Sverdlovsk Region, which gets very close to the Dyatlov Pass.

Cheers

EO

EO,
The northern route showing in google, when i compare with my russian maps and atlas, beyond вуктыл there are only winter roads going east. So dead end during summer.

But there are some minor roads going south toward красновишерск.

Very few roads north of 60 degree, past Arkhangelskaya....

Beautiful pictures btw. I was looking at visiting those standing stones.... But i don't fancy abandoning our bikes. We will see as we get along.

eurasiaoverland, thanks for the description and the great pictures!

may I ask, why you didn't go by truck from Syktyvkar to Toritsko-Pechorsk?

I hear Man-Pupu-Ner is currently closed to hikers so I contemplating a helicopter tour from Toritsko-Pechorsk in Summer 2016.