Russia (local)

Warum Karelien? Warum nicht! Ich wollte schon immer einmal mit dem Fahrrad durch Nordrussland fahren, seitdem ich dort einmal mit dem Zug durchgefahren war und aus dem Zugfenster heraus die endlosen Wälder bewunderte. Dann las ich während meiner Arbeitszeit, beim Drucken der ``Frei atmen'' um genau zu sein, die Anzeige von Markus Müller, der Leute zu einer Radtour durch Karelien suchte und ich rief an.

Unreliable server, you'll have to dig for the story.

The natives of Kola Peninsula are kindhearted and eager to help, but there is one strange thing about them. Each time you try to ask someone about the road he puts a strange smile on, makes wide gestures and mutters something about off-road vehicles and ice roads. Sometimes our questions brought sweet memories to life: ``Yes, it was in the year before granny died, 1973 it was, and we drove 150 km to the very end of this road in a lorry in no more than a week. And don't listen to the neighbor, he just got to the middle the year before last.'' Inspired by these descriptions we took one of the ground roads north. It started from simply bad quality and later turned out somewhat between ``absolutely impossible to ride'' and ``possible to ride if you Really want it''.

We wanted to visit the classical destinations of the Russian Republic of Karelia... But not in the usual way with a river-cruise on a vessel... We did it by bike!

A nice report, with plenty of pictures, and extensive practical information.