We continue a series of travel essays, which describe how fascinating hiking trips along Russian rivers can be. This time we will go on a 70-kilometre trip on foot along the Don River basin.
One of the largest Russia's rivers runs through Voronezh Region. A two-day-long 70-kilometre hiking route is a section of water way from Voronezh to Novovoronezh nuclear power plant.
Country of Water Springs, Churches and Strawberry
At the South-West station I hopped in a first bus going along the Kursk highway and two kilometres later I asked to drop me off after the bridge across the Don River. It is difficult to miss the place.
Locals recommended me to walk along the right bank. It is steeper and harder for hiking in many respects, but the left bank area known for a very wide flood-plain valley would present such difficulties as water obstacles that could be crossed only by swimming. It might be not a big deal if you are not loaded with a backpack. My backpack contained a small tent, a sleeping mat, a sleeping bag, a raincoat, a camera, a notepad and a pen.
A range of hills abounded with strawberries and streams bubbled here and there. Sometimes the path ran through small villages and hamlets. Each settlement's edge street would inevitably be called Naberezhnaya ("Embankment") or Pridonskaya ("Near Don"). Local romantics installed self-made benches on a hill near Petino village for Don-viewing. I tried it out as well. Then a fisherman sat next to me. Ivan caught a dozen of gobies and a couple of crucian carps for his cat. Anything goes in this life: he was a miner who used to mine coal somewhere near the city of Tula and now he settled down in this intimate place away from the world.
Behind a pontoon automobile bridge and a pump station, I saw the river mouth, the point where the Voronezh River enters the Don River. The southern edge of the Voronezh Reservoir, a huge artificial body of water within the city borders, lies five kilometres away from here. The "Sea" spreads to tens of kilometres. Though it was formed in its present shape in 1972, the reservoir's history has begun long ago. As long ago as in the times of Peter the Great, who ordered to build the first Russian ships at the shipyards of Voronezh Admiralty, dams and unique flood gates were constructed here, after which the Voronezh River level raised up to 15 feet. The project was designed by John Perry, an English engineer.
The slope of the river bank became low for some time. At a distance from the river, no anchoring signs occurred in a field planted with root artichokes. Which meant that it was prohibited to drop a chain with an anchor here, what a shame?
Here is the Village of Gremiachye ("Rattling village"). An impressive memorial erected for commemoration of the 60th Anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War could be seen from afar. A white-stone church sits nearby. There was a good opportunity to take some water from a holy spring. According to legend, it was the spring that gave the name to the settlement.
There is an old aerodrome not far from here. Derelict helicopters and aircrafts have rusted under rain and snow for decades but the aerodrome is still active. During weekends, it is used by young skydivers from Voronezh's Zelenko Aero Club DOSAAF ("Voluntary Society for Assistance to the Army Air Force and Navy"). The Club was named after Yekaterina Zelenko who was a legendary pilot from Kursk. She is the only woman known to have performed an aerial ramming. Yekaterina graduated from the Aero Club in October 1933, when she was 17. The aerodrome was built during the same year's summer, thus there are good reasons to assume that it was in Gremiachye that she flew a plane for the first time.
Another village, called Rudkino, has also something to see. A XIX-century temple hovers over the edge of the River. By some miracle, it eluded destruction during Soviet Power, although the sad fate embraced all holy places in the vicinity.
Darkness fell. Two women drove a herd of sheep for night grazing. I confirmed the directions from the herdswomen. To reach Kostenki where I was planning to spend the night I had to walk seven more kilometres and to pass two settlements, but my feet were killing me already.
"Why d'you go alone? Not afraid?" they asked.
"But I have a guard..."
Indeed, a stray dog followed me from Gremiachye for two good hours. On the other hand, who guarded whom could be a matter of debate because when my puppy-bodyguard saw other country dogs it shook as a leaf in the wind.
I pitched the tent on a high chalk hill in Kostenki Village already at midnight. A beauty of scenery was subject to contemplation only in the morning. The moon that previously flooded elusive light on the Don valley was obscured by clouds; it started to rain.
From Mammoths to Peaceful Atom
My little journey had a weightier reason than just weekend activities. The Voronezh region is closely connected with my family. One or another small settlement on the Don river bank could have played an important role in the destiny of my family. Grandfather Alexey, a driver and combat veteran, used to drive these roads during World War II and then after it when he worked as a driver in a suburban bus service. And grandfather Sergey was sent here by the Party in the 1960s to administer a kolkhoz (a form of collective farm in the Soviet Union) ...
However, there are generally recognized points of interest too. Kostenki village is worldwide renowned for ancient human occupations. It is the Russia's most significant Upper Palaeolithic site. Over 60 sites dating back 18 to 40 thousand years have been discovered here since 1879. Many skilfully-made artefacts have been found, including female figurines, known as famous Kostenki Venuses. Back in the Soviet time, a concrete dome was built over one of ancient dwellings made of mammoth bones. There is a modern museum inside now and the whole surrounding territory is a federally-protected conservation area.
The trail that previously ran along the river diverted to a forest belt and unexpectedly ended up in...a potato plantation hidden in a small wild forest. And then I encountered one more. And one more again. But as compared with my accidental stumbling on a "garden" with cannabis near the city of Penza one day, this find did not seem too surprising. No doubts, reclamation of virgin land is an important affair.
In the meantime, a lightning flashed across the sky and up ahead in a distance I saw the Novovoronezh cooling towers through the sudden sheeting rain. Wet? Well, I am not made of sugar. A last burst of effort still remained...
