It's not just Ladas and tower blocks: The many faces of Russia
The next day I continued on the main road, but a couple of times there was a secondary road which ran relatively parallel that I took. This road had no traffic at all, although I'm not sure why. I saw one or two people out picking the blueberries which I guessed would be sold alongside the main road that afternoon but otherwise it was all very quiet.
The secondary road was in an interesting condition, I wonder why no one was using it
I had to take a main road south into the city of Vyborg, but there was still a shoulder so I wasn't too bothered about the increasing traffic. I was just fascinated to be in a Russian city. One of the first things I saw, coming from the north, was the fortress. It was built in the thirteenth century by the Swedes, actually as a defence against the Russians (so that worked well then)
Cycling through the rest of Vyborg was fascinating. There were quite a few nice buildings, but also an awful lot of things which were falling apart. There were ladas and tower blocks, and people with dour faces, plenty of Russian stereotypes. I still hadn't seen a Russian smile yet. Probably the most depressed looking nation I have ever seen (and I've lived in Scotland.) I did pass by a military school, saw groups of uniformed young Russians marching and chanting, which was a little unnerving.
I had a choice about which way to leave Vyborg, as there were essentially three roads going south. The main one went direct to Saint Petersburg but I ruled that out because it was the main one. Another went close to it and I assumed would be quiet and mostly through the forest again, but to get to it I would have to first go on the main road for a few kilometres. The third option was to follow the coast. I decided this would be the nicest route. I found the right road out of town (not that easy due to lack of signs and ridiculousness of alphabet) and started going that way. But just out of the town the shoulder stopped completely. It was quite a busy road and I really didn't want to have to cycle in it. So I decided to double back and try the second option, the road through the woods. So I went back through town and took the main main road towards it. At first this road had a shoulder so it was okay despite the intense air pollution from the heavy traffic, but then the road went up over a railway line and the shoulder stopped. There was, however, a dirt path next to the road which I was just about able to push the bike along. It was very difficult because it was narrow and there was a steep verge dropping off to the side. Eventually I made it across and the shoulder started again. Then, just as suddenly, it ended. Now I had no choice except to join the road. But there was no way I was doing that because the traffic was very heavy and going very fast and those youtube videos were still in the back of mind. This was essentially the main motorway towards Saint Petersburg, and I did not fancy it. It was only three kilometres until the turn off on the quiet road, but I had to give up and turn back. So back I went, across the bridge again and all the way back across town.
The dirt path came with many obstacles. I call this one 'the Slalom' - Imagine squeezing a fully loaded bike through here.
I made my way back to the original coast road, but this time I took another road which went through some suburbs and then joined the coast road further south. This was really interesting, because this neighbourhood was completely different from what I had seen before. It was one road lined with many houses. Most of the houses were bright colours and looked like they came out of a fairy tale. Many of the gardens looked more like allotments with lots of things being grown. It was really a big contrast from the tower blocks of the city.
This was pretty typical of the houses in this neighbourhood
Fortunately when this road joined up with it the coast road had regained something of a shoulder. It was gravel and sand and very narrow in places but it mostly kept me out of harms way as I continued south. The road at this stage was still inland a bit so was just more and more forest. Towards the end of the day I decided to make a detour into the town of Sovetsky, only to see what it was like. It was a tremendous decision. It was away from the road a few kilometres and was a town composed almost entirely of tower blocks, but it was really so much more than that. The town was really buzzing with people. There were children playing, teenagers on bikes and skateboards, women pushing prams, old men on benches, old women standing talking. It was really a community. I hadn't seen anything like this in Europe, where most people were inside. These people didn't seem to have much but they had each other. It also felt incredibly safe here. I even saw people laughing for the first time in Russia! I was so glad that I had come here, it was a different side to the country and I thought it was a wonderful place.
I wish I could have taken a better picture of all the people but you'll have to make do with this one I took sneakily as I sat and had something to eat on a bench. This wasn't the busiest part of town but you get the idea
Almost all of the tower blocks in Russia that I saw are like this. They were obviously built with open balconies (someone forgot to take into account the Russian winters) and many of them have had windows installed but of course all looking different and giving it quite an chaotic appearance
