![\"OLYMPUS](\"http:\/\/phpaddlers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/1.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Like big rivers the world over, the Volga\u2019s source is auspicious in it\u2019s humble beginnings. \u00a0 A small pond-like body of water over which had been built the aforementioned shrine. Just a few weeks earlier it had been frozen over.\u00a0 As I set off the rain began in earnest.\u00a0 It was cold, bleak and once more I found myself alone in a strange land ready to undertake another big river descent.<\/p>\n
The river\u2019s drainage was contained in a small, marshy valley.\u00a0 I walked on it\u2019s sides, across it\u2019s middle and along its course.\u00a0 I had left my heavy, fully loaded P & H Scorpio kayak a few miles from the source.\u00a0 It sat in the front yard of a family\u2019s house by the edge of a small lake.<\/p>\n
A few hours in, thigh deep in very recently thawed ice water under a heavy grey sky is not great fun, but it is what it is, necessary.\u00a0 I burst out of the dense, wet forest on to the lake shore and made my way to the nearby village where my boat lay.<\/p>\n
After being stuffed full with hot tea along with meat and pickle sandwiches, I bid farewell to my first river saviours and dragged my kayak down to the water\u2019s edge.\u00a0 A brief repack and I was paddling.\u00a0 The clouds parted and the sun burst through with surprising intensity.\u00a0 Now it was really on.<\/p>\n
The upper Volga, indeed the entire Volga is akin to one giant lake.\u00a0 A total of 9 dams choke the river and reduce it\u2019s flow to a near standstill.\u00a0 No mean feat over a couple of thousand miles.<\/p>\n
The first meandering lake is alternately populated by rustic, grey, Soviet-era (and much older) wooden house villages and enormous luxury holiday surely owned by that infamous character, the Russian oligarch.\u00a0 Homes styled with their own (totally unnecessary) lighthouses, pirate themed boat houses, marbled columns, Ibiza style gazebos and fire pits.<\/p>\n
![\"OLYMPUS](\"http:\/\/phpaddlers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/2.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
My first few days on the river were punctuated by bright sunshine and frigid blasting winds swapping with rainy squalls.\u00a0 My dry jacket, wool cap and thermals were put through their paces.<\/p>\n
That first week, 2 weeks of a long journey are always the same.\u00a0 That period of adjustment from comfort, warmth and cleanliness, to, well, the opposite of all those things.\u00a0 To me, long kayak journeys, no matter the hardship are really just one big holiday, so I try not to complain too much (or at least out of earshot of anyone else).\u00a0 Life is simple.\u00a0 Stay dry, stay fed and watered, stay upright.\u00a0 It\u2019s pretty straightforward.<\/p>\n
The first dam, appearing below Selishche, is small and guarded by private security contractors.\u00a0 Their knuckles covered in tattoos, sporting old and rumpled uniforms and cigarettes hanging from mouths, I wasn\u2019t sure what to expect.\u00a0 With a flourish of my official looking letter from my hosts, the Russian Geographical Society, well adorned in government stamps, the lads jumped into action.\u00a0 I was ready to pull my boat around the dam on my kayak cart but they indicated we, the 3 of us would carry it.\u00a0 A few hundred metres of struggling with my heavily laden kayak and I was back paddling, kind of.\u00a0 The first couple of kilometres below the dam was boney with little water.\u00a0 Knuckle dragging and actually dragging my way downstream was arduous.\u00a0 The river was just 20m across and wound its way this way and that through the dense pine forest.<\/p>\n
![\"OLYMPUS](\"http:\/\/phpaddlers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/3.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
With sun shining, the Volga was magical.\u00a0 With rain about slightly less so.\u00a0 I passed several groups of paddlers who had spent a long weekend kayaking on tributaries of the river.\u00a0 At the town of Staritsa I was keen to resupply with food.\u00a0 A couple of young boys on bicycles stared down at me from the high river bank.\u00a0 I asked them where a \u201cmagazin\u201d or shop might be in my best Russian.\u00a0 Nothing. \u00a0\u201cMagazin?\u201d, I repeated.\u00a0 Oh yes, over there somewhere, they waved.\u00a0 Not exactly reassuring.\u00a0 Just downstream was a huge steel bridge spanning the river.\u00a0 Below it on river right were a couple of trucks.\u00a0 Here, I thought I could leave my boat and head into town.\u00a0 As I approached I realised one of the old trucks was loaded down with about 10 kayaks!\u00a0 Sweet!\u00a0 A group of young Russians had just taken off the river after 4 days paddling the Volga and a tributary.\u00a0 I was immediately invited to join them for tea and food.\u00a0 Instead of allowing me to venture into town they began putting together bag loads of food for me.\u00a0 Cheese, sausage, bread, cookies, tea, spaghetti, tuna, corn, apples, pickles, milk and juice.\u00a0 Their trip was over and they were headed back to Moscow.\u00a0 Their kindness was amazing.\u00a0 As I paddled away, the clouds cleared and the sun shone.<\/p>\n
After 8 days I reached the city of Tver.\u00a0 My first chance to upload some photos and write some articles for publication. I spent 2 nights in Tver, also resupplying and getting lost in my first Volga city.<\/p>\n
![\"OLYMPUS](\"http:\/\/phpaddlers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/4.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
After Tver I began to meet and visit with more and more people. Their welcome and kindness was hard to believe.\u00a0 I had not expected this sort of welcome.\u00a0 There are always nice folk on every journey but on the Volga it seemed everyone was smiling at me.<\/p>\n
A few days later I reached the second dam at Dubna.\u00a0 This time a significant hydroelectric dam whose construction included a lock for ships.\u00a0 Entering (and leaving on river right) was the Moscow Canal.\u00a0 Had I so desired I could have paddled this waterway all the way to the centre of Moscow!\u00a0 But my destination lay a couple of thousand miles to the south.<\/p>\n
I was met by a new friend at the portage.\u00a0 Ilya was a giant of a man who worked as a security guard at the dam.\u00a0 It was his day off and he and friends had celebrated his wife\u2019s birthday the night before.\u00a0 Instead of loading my kayak on to my cart Ilya insisted we carry it.\u00a0 Oh man!\u00a0 It was heavy.\u00a0 I think both of us had some national pride helping us.\u00a0 Me the Australian and him the proud Russian.\u00a0 We took a few rest stops for Ilya to smoke a cigarette and share the vodka he kept in an army issue water bottle on his belt.\u00a0 After 5 breaks to reach the river once more I was feeling pretty relaxed!\u00a0 The first of many vodka battles on my journey.<\/p>\n
Days continued unabated.\u00a0 Long hot days, long wet days, always punctuated by meeting people on the Volga.\u00a0 On resupply in larger towns or cities, someone was always more than happy to keep an eye on my kayak.\u00a0 In small villages it wasn’t necessary.<\/p>\n
Russians love the Volga!\u00a0 On weekdays and weekends in particular, every day saw people camping, relaxing, fishing, swimming and boating.\u00a0 Even when I felt totally alone, around a bend I would see a cluster of tents and people about.\u00a0 It was great to see them making use of this giant river, not just for industry or commerce but for it\u2019s true wildness.<\/p>\n
I paddled on and on.\u00a0 Each dam portage took on average a hard hour.\u00a0 From landing on the concrete wall of the dam to putting in below I unpacked, did multiple carries, dragged my kayak trolley over busy train tracks, busy roads, through dry scrub, down steep hills, repack and away.\u00a0 From start to finish I pushed as hard as I could.\u00a0 Portages are never much fun.<\/p>\n
Below each dam, there was actually some flow.\u00a0 It was a surreal feeling to have spent days and weeks on what amounted to one long lake to be suddenly carried along in a swift current.<\/p>\n
![\"5\"](\"http:\/\/phpaddlers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/5.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
In the city of Yaroslav I visited with the Russian emergency services group, EmerCom.\u00a0 They look after safety on the river for all users, from sunbathers, to fishermen in boats, to the cruise ships and tankers that were now becoming more common.\u00a0 On a Saturday afternoon, some of the younger members eagerly volunteered to patrol the packed beach with a pair of giant binoculars. Tough gig.<\/p>\n
At every stop, I longed to stay.\u00a0 Just sitting, drinking tea, eating, laughing, talking with these people of the Volga was incredible.\u00a0 The Russians I had met were so full of life and so friendly.\u00a0 A start contrast to the brainwashing I had been given since birth of life behind the Iron Curtain, its dreariness and its underlying anger to the West.<\/p>\n
A month into my descent of the Volga and it had surpassed everything I had hoped for.\u00a0 The beauty of the river, the welcome of its people was difficult to believe.\u00a0 But it just continued to get more amazing.<\/p>\n
At the city of Kimensha I had been battling a headwind all day. \u00a0 I was a little over it.\u00a0 Just beyond the bridge that spanned the river I thought I could see a giant wooden raft.\u00a0 Could it be?\u00a0 As I paddled closer the raft revealed itself.\u00a0 It was a huge hybrid Kon-Tiki (the balsa raft built by Thor Hyerdhal to cross the Pacific) with a wooden body and three giant inflated PVC pontoons.\u00a0 Around it milled a dozen people.\u00a0 I had to explore this!<\/p>\n
![\"6\"](\"http:\/\/phpaddlers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/6.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
The raft was named, \u201cRus\u201d, the old word for Russia.\u00a0 It was a boat for travelling the world!\u00a0 Piloted by just 3 crew it had been all over the Arctic, the Berents Sea, Greenland, Canada, Black Sea and of course the Volga.\u00a0 I was welcomed with tea, beer and a stew for lunch.\u00a0 A television crew arrived and I was honoured to help push the 3 tonne craft into the water and raise its mast.\u00a0 What a boat!\u00a0 I stayed the afternoon with the boatmen and as the sun was setting pushed off to paddle a couple of more hours downstream.<\/p>\n
It was slowly becoming clear that the Russians of the Volga were not people to sit still.\u00a0 In just a few short weeks I had met ocean sailors, whitewater kayakers, parachutists and round the world cyclists all by the banks of the river.<\/p>\n
My descent continued.\u00a0 The river grew wide and wild.\u00a0 Powerful winds whipped up breaking waves.\u00a0 They crashed on steep shores and on concrete embankments in front of towns, creating such confused water.\u00a0 I dared not miss a stroke or a brace or I would be wrong side up in an instant.<\/p>\n
It felt strange to still think of the Volga as a river.\u00a0 It was so wide with huge bays and coves it could not be so.\u00a0 Late in the afternoon but still with plenty of light to paddle I chanced upon a group of kite surfers.\u00a0 High winds for me a nightmare, for them it was time to play. \u00a010 kites jumped and sped across the water.\u00a0 As brothers in arms I stopped to say hello.\u00a0 Immediately dragged over to their camp I was fed a late lunch, vodka, tea, dried fish and beer.\u00a0 As luck would have it a few of them were headed to the shop in town.\u00a0 I took a ride with them and filled up on pasta, sugar, sardines and chocolate bars. Perfect.<\/p>\n
Another dam, another portage over.\u00a0 For a while the water flowed, then as before slowly petered out.\u00a0 Flat water, still water to paddle.\u00a0 The large city of Nizhny Novgorod loomed ahead.\u00a0 From start to finish the urban centres on the Volga stretched for some way.\u00a0 With masses of tankers, cruise ships and small boats about it always took longer than expected to clear them.\u00a0 At Nizhny, the river Oka entered from river right, in the centre of town.\u00a0 As the slowest moving vessel, I played chicken with all the other boats.\u00a0 Jet skis roared by, expensive speed boats complete with bikini clad models, cut across in front of me.\u00a0 The city itself was clearly divided into ancient and modern.\u00a0 It\u2019s impressive Kremlin dominated a green hillside, while in front and behind modern apartment buildings loomed.\u00a0 Almost past the city, a cable car stretched across the river. It took passengers on a scenic ride from Nizhny Novgorod to the smaller city of Bor on the left bank of the Volga.\u00a0 As I floated by I wished for more time to explore the city.\u00a0 Slowly, very slowly the days left on my visa had started to enter my mind.<\/p>\n
Again, the river\u2019s flow subsides and it\u2019s banks move further and further apart.\u00a0 The Volga\u2019s beauty continues.\u00a0 Where are the factories and industry spewing pollution into it\u2019s waters?\u00a0 If they exist they are well hidden from view.<\/p>\n
At the city of Cheboksary the sand river beaches are packed with sun bathers.\u00a0 Families, children, girls in bikinis, young toughs cruising in cars, old men deep in conversation with one another.\u00a0 More jet skis and fast boats zip this way and that.\u00a0 I stop at a concrete marina.\u00a0 Once more my friends at EmerCom lend a hand.\u00a0 I trudge up a steep hill to the shop for resupply.\u00a0 Dimitri, who works for the emergency services offers their quarters for me to stay.\u00a0 I am just a few miles from the dam and even though late in the day I would like to portage it.\u00a0 I thank him for the offer and put back in.<\/p>\n
All my journeys suffer from a personality disorder.\u00a0 With 2 goals on every descent, source to sea and the gathering of images and stories from the river – it is supremely difficult to find a balance.\u00a0 Ensure the success of one and jeopardise the other.\u00a0 Turning down an invitation to stay the night, to talk, to drink in order to paddle some more always grates.\u00a0 But failing to reach the river\u2019s mouth and the sea is finite.\u00a0 A difficult decision to make.<\/p>\n
I am buoyed by the knowledge that approaching the huge city of Kazan I have a few days at least to reenergise, resupply and explore.\u00a0 I have friends in the city and eventually spend 4 days in hastily arranged press conferences, television appearances and sight seeing.\u00a0 I make new friends and find a city that captures my heart.<\/p>\n
![\"7\"](\"http:\/\/phpaddlers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/7.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Some of the weather I have encountered on the river so far has been brutal.\u00a0 Storms which creep up from behind the low mountains which line the Volga and then unleash rain, wind, lightning and thunder have been both exciting and un-nerving.\u00a0 Multiple times i have completed big open water crossings with minutes to spare before the water is whipped up into a white foaming mass, waves breaking in every direction.\u00a0 Good assessment of conditions on my part or just luck?<\/p>\n
Beyond Kazan, I spend 5 days battling this inclement weather.\u00a0 A couple of times, people stopped me and established that they had seen me on television.\u00a0 I was famous on this little part of river.<\/p>\n
The river twisted and turned, the left bank disappeared from view as another might river, the Kama joined it.\u00a0 Wind blew hard from the west.\u00a0 The sheltered bank was almost entirely stark and steep cliffs.\u00a0 Hardy vegetation filled any small break in the rock.\u00a0 Finding a camp site as night rapidly approached became an unsettling task.\u00a0 I crossed to the other side, exposed to wind and waves but with more camping options.<\/p>\n
Now the right bank vanished.\u00a0 The water stretched for almost 30 kilometres from side to side.\u00a0 As I high braced into overhead crashing waves and surfed sometimes down their open faces I wondered if perhaps I had erred in judgement.\u00a0 Too late now I pushed on.<\/p>\n
At the city of Ulyanovsk as darkness set in I had resigned myself to a camp beside an old factory.\u00a0 Before I had a chance to make landfall a voice called out.\u00a0 A man waved to me from the bank.\u00a0 That night was not spent in a tent beside an old factory.\u00a0 I slept inside a Dacha or summer house.\u00a0 I also experienced my first Banya or Russian sauna complete with being flogged with birch branches and running naked into the Volga.\u00a0 Dinner was a huge event with new friends, talking about the Volga and the similarities between Russian and the West.\u00a0 The river, as usual, provided for me.<\/p>\n
![\"8\"](\"http:\/\/phpaddlers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/8.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
I left early in the morning after a bacon and egg breakfast and straight into a day of the hardest paddling of the entire descent so far.\u00a0 Weather reports suggested that the day was about to get pretty windy.\u00a0 From the edge of the city to the next point was 25 kilometres in a straight line of open water.\u00a0 Following the river bank would add another 10 kilometres on top.\u00a0 I had been through some difficult paddling in the week previous and felt up to most things the river could throw at me.\u00a0 The crossing turned into a 7 hour affair.\u00a0 Not once could I dare to miss a stroke or a brace.\u00a0 I fumbled when I could with a chocolate bar for energy.\u00a0 For 6.5 hours I needed to pee.\u00a0 No chance.\u00a0 Relieving myself in my boat was a serious consideration.\u00a0 As I collapsed on shore in mid-afternoon under a grey sky I swore never to make myself as vulnerable again.\u00a0 Then I took a pee.<\/p>\n
![\"9\"](\"http:\/\/phpaddlers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/9.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
The gods of the river must have decided that more than a week of rubbish weather was my penance paid.\u00a0 On an afternoon a few days after my less than fun crossing I nudged my boat onto a wide and long rocky beach, the water crystal clear below me.\u00a0 The entire day had been almost without a breath of wind, the scenery out of this world.\u00a0 Low rolling hills, dotted with groves of trees, small villages here and there.\u00a0 Now a dry camp with the huge expanse of the Volga in front of me.\u00a0 These moments more than outweighed the days of rain and wind.<\/p>\n
From the Tolyatti dam to the city of Samara, the river continues it\u2019s brilliance.\u00a0 In one day I saw hundreds of sail boats and catamarans, kite surfers, paragliders, mountain bikers, campers, fisherman and people just making the most of the resource they had on their doorstep, the wonderful Volga.\u00a0 It was amazing to witness.\u00a0 At Samara the city lines river left.\u00a0 On river right opposite hundreds upon hundreds of semi-permanent encampments exist.\u00a0 Come the weekend thousands of Samara citizens cross the river in taxi boats, bus boats or their own boats to spend a couple of days relaxing and often partying.\u00a0 I struggled to find an empty spot to erect my own little camp.\u00a0 I eventually did and set to work on my tent.\u00a0 As I finished it a couple of young Russians walked by and said hello.\u00a0 I replied in Russian and of course they immediately knew I wasn\u2019t one of their own.\u00a0 Upon hearing I was an Australian paddling the length of the Volga River they literally dragged me back to their party camp.\u00a0 The World Cup was showing on a tv, speakers blasted Russian electronica (all powered by a generator) and the vodka flowed.\u00a0 I spent the night dancing, singing, laughing and talking with yet more beautiful people of the Volga.\u00a0 By now the welcome I had received on my descent was becoming surreal.\u00a0 How could it always be so amazing?\u00a0 How could every single person I met be so friendly?\u00a0 On all my travels I had not experienced such a thing.<\/p>\n
I left Samara early the next morning trying to convince myself I had no hangover after the previous night\u2019s festivities.\u00a0 It kind of worked.<\/p>\n
At the city of Syzran the river makes a sharp turn to the south.\u00a0 It\u2019s inside bend a maze of wetlands and small islands.\u00a0 Rather than stay on the wide open river I paddled into this confusing paradise.\u00a0 Birds called and fisherman sat bobbing about in their boats. Signs indicated that at least part of this area was a protected zone for birdlife.\u00a0 The area was more wild than other parts I had paddled through.\u00a0 The trees, vines and bushes were reluctant to ever part in order to expose even a small place to camp.\u00a0 Fortunately I discovered a fishing camp on an island.\u00a0 Deserted but well maintained with even the grass mowed.<\/p>\n
![\"10\"](\"http:\/\/phpaddlers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/10.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Another dam at Balakovo.\u00a0 Portage takes 80 minutes with hauling over multiple railways tracks, through scrub and mud to pop up beside the dam\u2019s guard post.\u00a0 I drag my kayak up behind a security officer toting a machine pistol and his civilian buddy.\u00a0 They haven\u2019t spotted me and I have to announce my presence.\u00a0 I attempt to allay their confused looks with my by now pretty polished Russian language explanation of my journey.\u00a0 I also present my letter of introduction from the Russian Geographical Society.\u00a0 It has become my \u201cmagic letter\u201d.\u00a0 It\u2019s air of authority and liberal covering of government stamps works wonders.\u00a0 The guard steps out onto the busy road which crosses the dam and waves his baton.\u00a0 Cars speeding in both directions come to a halt and he motions me across.\u00a0 I thank him and wave somewhat embarrassed to the motorists who have stopped to let me cross.<\/p>\n
A couple of days later I am passing the city of Saratov.\u00a0 Again it\u2019s a weekend and the river is alive with people.\u00a0 Unfortunately the 2 windiest days of my entire journey so far are forecast.\u00a0 Even tracking down small side channels offers little respite.\u00a0 I just grind out the miles.\u00a0 A boardwalk in front of the city hosts a skate competition, small beaches are full with taxi boats ferrying people to and from small islands and camps away from the city.\u00a0 I resupply at a shop and chow down on crisps and fizzy drink.\u00a0 The wind continues to send the river into a fit.\u00a0 Waves push my boat from all directions.\u00a0 It\u2019s hard work to stay upright and all this with an audience of hundreds.<\/p>\n
On these days I paddle hard under a perfect blue sky, the river lined with houses perched on rocky cliffs.\u00a0 More invites accepted, more food offered and vodka consumed.\u00a0 This descent, hard at times really is a dream paddle.<\/p>\n
For the next few days the river is straight and wide.\u00a0 Hours and hours of paddling every day and at times it feels like I am on a treadmill.\u00a0 The high banks like cliffs change little.\u00a0 Stopping to resupply is a welcome change.\u00a0 I stop in an ancient village where 9 out of 10 crumbling wooden houses seem deserted.\u00a0 Searching for water, I occasionally spot a babushka (grandmother) down a side street.\u00a0 The village has a bunch of wells lining the main street.\u00a0 Most are not functioning.\u00a0 One thankfully, is.\u00a0 I arrive to the well at the same time as an old lady with her own water bucket to fill.\u00a0 I ask for her to go first but she won\u2019t have it.\u00a0 Embarrassingly, I need her help to control the water flow.\u00a0 We chat about the Volga in Russian and walk together back down the road.<\/p>\n
![\"11\"](\"http:\/\/phpaddlers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/11.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
In the meantime back down by my boat, a group of 6 men have landed in their fancy speedboat and commenced a mid-week BBQ.\u00a0 With 7 hours of the paddling day left, I was expecting some big mileage.\u00a0 Not to be.\u00a0 I ate my fill of meat, bread, vegetables and unfortunately drank my fill of vodka too.\u00a0 A highlight was all of us jumping in the boat and speeding out into the middle of the Volga, at this point 3 miles wide.\u00a0 Under a clear sky, I spent the next hour jumping from the boat into the cool waters of the river miles from land.\u00a0 An unforgettable experience.<\/p>\n
Late in the afternoon I was finally able to extract myself from my new friends.\u00a0 After an hour and a half of slow, vodka affected paddling I decided to call it a day.\u00a0 What a day.<\/p>\n
Volgograd in sight.\u00a0 The 9th and final dam separates me from this city where in WWII, the Battle of Stalingrad cost some 2 million lives.\u00a0 A difficult 1 hour and 15 minutes of lifting, dragging and pulling sees me put back in on the Volga.\u00a0 After failing to get any sense from a boat crew who are well past simply drunk I spend the night on a floating cafe with my new Armenian brothers.\u00a0 I am welcomed aboard with huge smiles and as usual stuffed full of food and vodka!\u00a0 We talk, dance, laugh and swim late into the night and some of the morning.<\/p>\n
A day or two below Volgograd the river is still moving.\u00a0 Not atypical for a river usually but on the Volga a pleasant surprise.<\/p>\n
Villages that touch the river become less frequent, as briefly do the number of fisherman and river users.\u00a0 For two consecutive days I am trapped in the open when huge electrical storms hit the river.\u00a0 I can see small towns in the distance high atop sheer cliffs.\u00a0 Creeping up behind then and headed my way, enormous black cloud mass, lit by lightning in quick succession.\u00a0 As the storms hit with a harsh mix of rain, wind and electricity it is hard not to duck lower in my cockpit.\u00a0 As if that might make me a less appealing target.\u00a0 Each time I push on and in between squalls find good camps on huge river islands.\u00a0 Sometimes with neighbours, often alone.<\/p>\n
I make camp above the city of Astrakhan one beautiful Saturday afternoon.\u00a0 The entire day I spend talking and waving with Russians playing by the river.\u00a0 Sometimes entire beaches are packed with swimmers and campers.\u00a0 A jet ski here and there, boats too.\u00a0 It is a real party atmosphere.<\/p>\n
![\"OLYMPUS](\"http:\/\/phpaddlers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/12.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
My final push to the Caspian sees me in a quandary.\u00a0 To enter the delta region all visitors must hold an authorisation from the FSB (the modern day KGB).\u00a0 I have the authorisation.\u00a0 Applied for 60 days earlier and granted a month ago.\u00a0 Unfortunately the FSB office is only open for business Monday to Friday, not the weekend.\u00a0 Should I wait till Monday, another day and a half to get a hold of my document or make a break for the prize?\u00a0 In the days above Astrakhan I had heard stories that taking the main channel to the sea was forbidden, permit or not.\u00a0 Heading down there without having my authorisation in hand seemed like asking for trouble.<\/p>\n
As the sun dipped below the horizon, the Volga was lit up in gold.\u00a0 I ate my dinner of pasta and sardines looking out over the river, trying to decide what to do.\u00a0 It would be a massive blow to get within a few miles of my goal and be picked up by the authorities for some sort of infringement.\u00a0 I looked over the paperwork I used the apply for my permit.\u00a0 I had listed the exact towns and villages through which I would pass on my way to the Caspian.\u00a0 The all lay on the main channel.\u00a0 How could there be a problem?\u00a0 I decided right then to go for it.<\/p>\n
Another city to clear.\u00a0 The wind was blowing hard, the river wide and boat traffic was everywhere.\u00a0 Just below Astrakhan, small beaches lined the banks.\u00a0 Once again it was a full party atmosphere on the river.\u00a0 Windsurfers whipped back and forth across the river dodging huge ships, water police were busy inspecting recreational boats for life jackets and registration.<\/p>\n
Invitations to join BBQs and parties came along steadily.\u00a0 I stopped over the day now and then to say hello before moving on, a smile permanently etched on my face.\u00a0 As I had done over the past couple of months of paddling I shook my head in wonder at the welcome I had received in Russia.\u00a0 It was almost too much.<\/p>\n
With the river still flowing reasonably strong, channels began branching off on river left.\u00a0 The delta was growing wider and wider.\u00a0 Thousands of small channels now snaked their way to the sea.\u00a0 My route left me on the main channel heading south west.\u00a0 At times less than 100m across I shared the waterway with petrol tankers and the like.<\/p>\n
My final evening on the Volga was low key.\u00a0 I pulled out at a small boatyard and jetty.\u00a0 Two rustic houses amongst recently mown grass.\u00a0 Still in PFD and paddling gear I wandered up to the smaller of the two.\u00a0 Inside was Alek, a big bear of a man who oversaw the place.\u00a0 Gruff at first, once I explained my presence he was pleased to have me camp by the river on his place.\u00a0 Another glorious sunset came and went.\u00a0 How many of these have I been fortunate to witness on my big river descents?\u00a0 Hundreds, surely.<\/p>\n
![\"13\"](\"http:\/\/phpaddlers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/13.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
On the water by 7am the next day I couldn\u2019t help but wonder when around the corner would come a navy patrol boat to end my journey.\u00a0 I continued to pass small villages on huge delta islands, connected to the mainland by a short ferry ride.\u00a0 In a couple sat massive navy ships at anchor, sailors working on board.\u00a0 Did they see me?\u00a0 I was getting more paranoid the closer I go to reaching the Caspian Sea.<\/p>\n
Now the main channel I was on became ram rod straight, at it\u2019s end lay the sea.\u00a0 Indeed now on either side of this man made stretch lay the Caspian, reached by even narrower channels.\u00a0 On my maps the area should have been deserted but still I would see old abandoned fish processing factories, crumbling houses and light poles.<\/p>\n
One house, half fallen into the water already looked empty.\u00a0 A large dog appeared, then an old man, followed by one younger.\u00a0 I paddled over to them and chatted a while.\u00a0 They were living deep in the delta, miles from any town in a house only barely there.\u00a0 They seemed to be among the happiest people one could ever meet and pointed out the next turn I should make to reach the small town of Vyshka where my journey would end.<\/p>\n
After a confusing maze of tiny waterways and thick jungle like vegetation all of a sudden I paddled out into open water.\u00a0 Was this the sea?\u00a0 There was some islands a mile south of me but excepting them it was indeed the Caspian.\u00a0 A half mile to my right I could make out the town of Vyshka.\u00a0 A name and spot on a map of which I had dreamt for many months.\u00a0 I slowly paddled toward it.<\/p>\n
![\"14\"](\"http:\/\/phpaddlers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/14.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
After some 2300 miles and 71 days I had kayaked the Volga River, Europe\u2019s longest river from source to sea. I had paddled a river so beautiful that it was almost unreal.\u00a0 Picturesque lakes, pine forest, rolling hills, rocky cliffs, open dusty steppes, huge cities and small villages.\u00a0 It was stunning.\u00a0 But what really had made my descent one so special were the people of the Volga.\u00a0 From beginning to end the Russian people had welcomed me, cared for me and extended a hospitality I had never expected as a stranger.\u00a0 As I neared my final takeout I was genuinely sad to be finished.\u00a0 My time on the Volga River was over, it was time to go home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Distance: \u00a02300 miles\/3702 kilometres Duration: \u00a071 days Kayak: \u00a0P & H Scorpio 170 The 7 rivers 7 continents project is a multi-year undertaking to make paddling descents of the longest river on each continent. 22 000 miles in total: Amazon River (South America) \u2013 4125 miles \u2013 completed 2007\/2008 Missouri- Mississippi River (North America) […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8895,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,1],"tags":[74,19,73,31,75,72],"class_list":["post-1593","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-expeditions","category-trip-reports","tag-descent","tag-mark-kalch","tag-russia","tag-scorpio","tag-trip-report","tag-volga-river"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.phseakayaks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1593","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.phseakayaks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.phseakayaks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.phseakayaks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8895"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.phseakayaks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1593"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.phseakayaks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1593\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1608,"href":"https:\/\/www.phseakayaks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1593\/revisions\/1608"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.phseakayaks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.phseakayaks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1593"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.phseakayaks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}