Tuesday August 30th.
Tough day today. Up early. Neil wants to leave at seven at the latest. And even before that he is already gone to explore. That is no problem for us because he is 500 meters down the track. Today we have to pass a difficult intersection. A very difficult intersection. One would say that it is impossible. And it takes a couple of hours. Here the ladders we had to bring along, are very much needed. This is what they have been intended for. But we also build a kind of tracksurface with the help of logs of wood. Wood is abundant here, lots of dead, fallen trees laying around and with the chainsaw it is easy to cut that into pieces that can be handled.
One by one the cars must be guided through the area. Vaughn and Lisa's car being disabled is no
real problem. Traction or not, here wheels have hardly any function. Here winches are the only means
to get through. With our winch there is a problem. For one reason or another I do not get it in the low
gear. That means that I do not have full pulling capacity. Fortunately it proves to be sufficient. And it's
even a lucky thing because of this, there is only little damage to the car. That damage is caused by
one of the ladders getting wedged between the underground and the car's floor plate. At a certain
moment, because of the restricted winch, I do not get through any further and that forces us to look
well at the problem. We than discover the ladder.
Eventually we get there. The ladders are collected and one of the 'Dutch' ladders is missing.
Despite half an hour of searching for it, it remains untraceable in the bog..
Don't you think it's over now. The area changes from swampy and boggy in rocky with mud pits.
It is one large ongoing struggle.
Neil, being up front, gets stuck several times. A couple of times Folkert and Netty succeed to pass
him by means of a slightly different route, but it is a continuous wrestle.
Eventually, around seven, Neil decides to call it a day.
Everyone is tired and getting to the spot Neil had in mind to make camp, must be given up.
It costs a lot of effort to find a spot more or less horizontal. Due to the mud ponds in the surroundings, lots of mosquitos are present, also because of the fine weather.
It has been fine all day and now there are no clouds anymore. Thus it cools down rapidly. And by the time we are going to sleep there are hardly any 'puncturers' around.
What a great day. And oh yes, today we covered exactly 3,74 km (2 and 1/3 of a mile).
Wednesday Augusts 31st.
Slept badly. The mosquitos were cumbersome, I had not succeeded in killing them all. But well.
Weather is at its best again. Splendid sunshine, a little bit of wind and dry. One more time. Not that you will hear us complaining about it.
The area is and remains difficult. Of course that's why we are here and now our rigs can show what they are capable of. We hardly get stuck and need a winch-cable very seldom.
Vaughn does a marvellous job but is limited by his cripplede car and regularly needs a short tow to avoid overstressing the 3-wheeled drivetrain but Mark with his white Defender gets stuck pretty often.
Still it is great fun. The area is provocative and changing its character all the time.
And no living soul to be seen.
Yesterday evening,for the first time since long, I have seen a light from outside. It originated from the area of the enormous mine that dominates the landscape to
the east of us.
An open uranium-mine. All that's visible of it are the enormous deposits . What a gigantic hole in the earth's surface must be the consequence of this.
Vaughn and Lisa have one more set-back. A piece of wood pierces the
side-wall of the right front tyre,tearing it up completely. With united
forces that's solved . Mid afternoon we get to the public road again.
Exactly north of Monchegorsk. To the city is about 10 km.
A depressing area. Steel works dominate the landscape. We are not very
tempted to visit the gray and dull looking city.
At an ultramodern Statoil filling station we top up the tanks. Also we do some 'urgently needed' purchases. Like sodas and candy bars like Snickers and that kind of 'life-saving' stuff.
The staff is neat and very pleasant.
The atmosphere is relaxed despite the guard present with an impressive piece of heavy metal on his hip.
With our hands full of things we want to buy, we line up at the pay-desk, but a Russian with just a couple of purchases pushes forward in a pleasant manner and is helped first. This doesn't bother us, and all we do is laugh about it..
Then we set off again. We follow the main road to the south, direction
Kandalaksha. Around half past seven we make camp, a few hundred meters
from the main road.
Thursday September 1st.
Relaxed day.
Around ten we leave for Kandalaksha. About thirty km. The city, you can't imagine. A dark city. Simple
built houses. Little colour. Everything lacks colour and paint. 
At the market we do some purchases. That market is not very impressive. Simple stands, or better, sheds.
Also people, simply with some vegetables or a couple of fish, standing or sitting somewhere.
I am addressed by a salesman who wants to sell me aviator goggles. Real old-fashioned. Coloured inserts against the sun go with it. He wants 2000 rouble. But say 65 euro or 40 BP. I'd like to have it, because the thing looks very genuine. Has been lined with chamois leather, looks neatly unused and is presented in an obviously original packaging. Perhaps I can get some rebate. But the guy only accepts roubles and no euros. So no sale because at the moment we are short on Russian money.
At the local Statoil we top up again. Just 12-13 litres, but Neil wants us to take along as much fuel as possible. At that station we want to top up potable water as well. Unfortunately no water at that moment. The water supply 'accidentally' is out of order. So we buy 10 litres still water we find on one of the shelves. Saves some pumping to filtre riverwater later on.
Just outside the city we enjoy a splendid view over the White Sea which we have reached here and whose borders we will follow eastbound. Whilst we are enjoying the view, Mark tries to find the problem in his Defender. The engine lacks power and he is assuming that there is a blockage in the fuel line. Trying to clear the line with the help of pressurized air doesn't solve the problem.
Tightening one of the hose clamps does however. Obviously the engine drew some air into the fuel system and for a diesel engine that's killing.
Then leisurely we set off further to the south east with a speed of about 90 k's an hour.
The road is good. And again we have splendid sunshine. Neil doesn't understand at all. It's supposed to be rainy and cold.......
During our initial meetings he warned about the weather conditions. We
had to expect sunshine, freezing cold nights, wind and rain. Rain at
least every day!! Tough day today. Up early. Neil wants to leave at seven at the latest. And even before that he is already gone to explore. That is no problem for us because he is 500 meters down the track. Today we have to pass a difficult intersection. A very difficult intersection. One would say that it is impossible. And it takes a couple of hours. Here the ladders we had to bring along, are very much needed. This is what they have been intended for. But we also build a kind of tracksurface with the help of logs of wood. Wood is abundant here, lots of dead, fallen trees laying around and with the chainsaw it is easy to cut that into pieces that can be handled.
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One by one the cars must be guided through the area. Vaughn and Lisa's car being disabled is no
real problem. Traction or not, here wheels have hardly any function. Here winches are the only means
to get through. With our winch there is a problem. For one reason or another I do not get it in the low
gear. That means that I do not have full pulling capacity. Fortunately it proves to be sufficient. And it's
even a lucky thing because of this, there is only little damage to the car. That damage is caused by
one of the ladders getting wedged between the underground and the car's floor plate. At a certain
moment, because of the restricted winch, I do not get through any further and that forces us to look
well at the problem. We than discover the ladder.
Eventually we get there. The ladders are collected and one of the 'Dutch' ladders is missing.
Despite half an hour of searching for it, it remains untraceable in the bog..
 |
 |
Don't you think it's over now. The area changes from swampy and boggy in rocky with mud pits.
It is one large ongoing struggle.
Neil, being up front, gets stuck several times. A couple of times Folkert and Netty succeed to pass
him by means of a slightly different route, but it is a continuous wrestle.
 |
 |
Eventually, around seven, Neil decides to call it a day.
Everyone is tired and getting to the spot Neil had in mind to make camp, must be given up.
It costs a lot of effort to find a spot more or less horizontal. Due to the mud ponds in the surroundings, lots of mosquitos are present, also because of the fine weather.
It has been fine all day and now there are no clouds anymore. Thus it cools down rapidly. And by the time we are going to sleep there are hardly any 'puncturers' around.
What a great day. And oh yes, today we covered exactly 3,74 km (2 and 1/3 of a mile).
Wednesday Augusts 31st.
Slept badly. The mosquitos were cumbersome, I had not succeeded in killing them all. But well.
Weather is at its best again. Splendid sunshine, a little bit of wind and dry. One more time. Not that you will hear us complaining about it.
 |
 |
 |
The area is and remains difficult. Of course that's why we are here and now our rigs can show what they are capable of. We hardly get stuck and need a winch-cable very seldom.
Vaughn does a marvellous job but is limited by his cripplede car and regularly needs a short tow to avoid overstressing the 3-wheeled drivetrain but Mark with his white Defender gets stuck pretty often.
Still it is great fun. The area is provocative and changing its character all the time.
And no living soul to be seen.
Yesterday evening,for the first time since long, I have seen a light from outside. It originated from the area of the enormous mine that dominates the landscape to
the east of us.
An open uranium-mine. All that's visible of it are the enormous deposits . What a gigantic hole in the earth's surface must be the consequence of this.
At an ultramodern Statoil filling station we top up the tanks. Also we do some 'urgently needed' purchases. Like sodas and candy bars like Snickers and that kind of 'life-saving' stuff.
The staff is neat and very pleasant.
The atmosphere is relaxed despite the guard present with an impressive piece of heavy metal on his hip.
With our hands full of things we want to buy, we line up at the pay-desk, but a Russian with just a couple of purchases pushes forward in a pleasant manner and is helped first. This doesn't bother us, and all we do is laugh about it..
Thursday September 1st.
Relaxed day.
Around ten we leave for Kandalaksha. About thirty km. The city, you can't imagine. A dark city. Simple
built houses. Little colour. Everything lacks colour and paint.
At the market we do some purchases. That market is not very impressive. Simple stands, or better, sheds.
Also people, simply with some vegetables or a couple of fish, standing or sitting somewhere.
 |
 |
 |
I am addressed by a salesman who wants to sell me aviator goggles. Real old-fashioned. Coloured inserts against the sun go with it. He wants 2000 rouble. But say 65 euro or 40 BP. I'd like to have it, because the thing looks very genuine. Has been lined with chamois leather, looks neatly unused and is presented in an obviously original packaging. Perhaps I can get some rebate. But the guy only accepts roubles and no euros. So no sale because at the moment we are short on Russian money.
At the local Statoil we top up again. Just 12-13 litres, but Neil wants us to take along as much fuel as possible. At that station we want to top up potable water as well. Unfortunately no water at that moment. The water supply 'accidentally' is out of order. So we buy 10 litres still water we find on one of the shelves. Saves some pumping to filtre riverwater later on.
Just outside the city we enjoy a splendid view over the White Sea which we have reached here and whose borders we will follow eastbound. Whilst we are enjoying the view, Mark tries to find the problem in his Defender. The engine lacks power and he is assuming that there is a blockage in the fuel line. Trying to clear the line with the help of pressurized air doesn't solve the problem.
Tightening one of the hose clamps does however. Obviously the engine drew some air into the fuel system and for a diesel engine that's killing.
Then leisurely we set off further to the south east with a speed of about 90 k's an hour.
The road is good. And again we have splendid sunshine. Neil doesn't understand at all. It's supposed to be rainy and cold.......
At four o'clock we stop. On a area where a little river flows into the sea in we make camp and enjoy.
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