Going up the Svir
Minka of Southampton - Cruising Log
Edmund Wigan
Sun 17 Jul 2011 12:41
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Position N60 53.96 E033 43,07
We left our anchorage when we saw the bridge begin
to open at 0900.
 The chaps operating the bridge seemed
cheerful.
 Most commercial shipping will go under this
bridge so it was the first time it had opened for 6 months. As you can see
there was quite a crowd.
 Just beyond the bridge there was a dredger working.
It seemed to be lifting sludge from the middle of the river and putting it to
the side. It sounds a bit like a job creation scheme..
 The land here is mostly sand because at some stage
this was a sea. This is rather nice as there are a lot of small sandy beaches
where children swim.
 We came to our first lock and tied up to this big
floating hook.
 When this ship came out we all trooped
in.
 Inside the lock.
 The lock filled very quickly and up we
went.
 The lift was about 20 feet. We came out into a very
wide river which soon narrowed down again.
 At about 1800 we anchored at a tourist
centre.
 The centre is a collection of old wooden buildings
and has been created to take money from tourists off the cruise liners which go
up and down. Some buildings are a bit Walt Disney.
 but others had some charm.
 I liked this swing made completely of wood. I tried
it and it works very well.
 There is a vodka museum here but it was closed. We
went to a Russian Restaurant and tried some different Russian food under the
guidance of Sophia who is the cook on the lead boat. The evening ended up
listening to the crew of the Czech boat playing music on guitar and accordion. A
great day,
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