Trekking To Seydozero, Murmansk (part 1)

midnight in Murmanks, sun still loved shining

I had been in city of Murmansk for 3 days 2 nights, but I wasn’t ready enough to leave the artic city. I still wanted to enjoy the polar day, a phenomenon happens only in the northernmost and southernmost area of the earth where the Sun forgets to set. The idea was to visit Lovozero, a small town in the Kola Peninsula where is famous for its Sami culture and some impressive lakes.. After some research, I found the budget way to reach there from Murmansk, by bus. I ventured to the Murmansk Train Station, which acts also as the bus terminal, to catch minibus to Lovozero. The information I obtained didn’t tell me the schedule of the bus, so I had to figure it out myself.

The place that I stayed was a little bit far from the train station, about 50 minutes away by trolley bus or minibus (Murmansk isn’t BIG, but it is very long city). I left at around 11 am to aim reaching there at midday. The bus was excellent and cheap, about 20 RUB. To reach train station was easy because the train station is located in the heart of the city and most of the buses will pass through, so catching the right bus wasn’t a problem at all.

daytime at Arctic circle during the day

As expected, I arrived before the midday, and started wandering around to find the bus stall. After asking several people, with my broken Russian when it was enough to ask basic questions but wasn’t enough to receive the overwhelming answer, I finally found my bus to Lovozero. It was actually a minibus. It was written “REVDA LOVOZERO “with cellular number. And it was the only bus with lovozero sign. The doors were perfectly closed; it seemed that the bus would not be leaving anytime soon. I asked around about they told me the bus would leave at 3 pm. I had to wait about 3 hours and I was anxious about the schedule, I reluctantly called the number and surprisingly a lady picked up the phone. 

(The actual conversation was conducted in Russian)

“Hello! I want to ask you about the departure time for lovozero-bound bus?”

“sacbwugciwvcye 3pm bcuvcuw uwvcu” (she spoke very fast Russian, I didn’t get anything, just something at 3 pm)

“Excuse me, I do not speak Russian, can you text me instead about the time?”

Then the call dropped.

In few seconds after the call I got a confirmation schedule and no reservation needed for the minibus.

Since I got 3 hours of waiting, somebody told me that to go to Seydozero (another lake) was much more worth it. I, moreover, had a set of a tent to camp. I listened to him with great intention. I began researching the place and it was beautiful and I only needed to go to Revda and continue by trekking. That’s brilliant idea as I really wanted to do trekking. 

Murmansk Train Station

In order to realize the new plan, I armed myself with some foods as I was food hands-free. I went to the nearest supermarket to get some waters, fruits, snacks, and biscuits. I was thinking to cook something, so I decided to buy matches, beers (that the can I can use to cook or heat), and a canned tuna. All was set. Then I entered the McDonald’s store to get BigMac for arming myself with fast food in case I felt hunger and need a quick food.

I returned to the bus stall at 2.30 pm and get my seat confirmed. It cost me 220 RUB (June 2015). I took the front seat together with the driver. The bus was full because only 2 buses per day to Revda at weekdays, at 8am and 3 pm. The journey took about 2 hours. The road was so empty, no traffic jams at all. The long road with wetlands, rivers, and lakes were the unmissed views for me. It was the real serenity for me. I imagined how people travelled during the winter days here. I, however, felt asleep because I was a sit-sleep person. 

Then I arrived in Revda and the minibus continued to Lovozero. I checked the maps (yes the internet was still working in Revda) to get the right direction to the lake. But the maps couldn’t work that time because the internet was too slow to work. I was in trouble as seems there was nobody at the street. It was 5 pm, but the sun still shined brightly as if it was 1 pm, that one the one pro for me as I didn’t to worry about the dark. I followed my intuition to walk to one direction, and then I met an old guy.

“is this the correct direction to Seydozero?” I asked

“yes! Just go straight, do not turn! You will reach the registration office.” He replied

After the thanks to him, I felt so relieved. It seemed nobody walked there, as I heard there was an iron mining factory up there. I assumed because it wasn’t weekend so there was no trekkers going or if they did so, they should have done it earlier, not at 5 pm like me. Based the information, I needed to walk 8 km to reach the registration office before I started the real trekking. 

Revda-Iron Factory road

The 8-kilometers walking was easy because it was plain and the weather was cool enough. The sweat was almost unheard during my walk. There was no car passing the same direction as I did. I just met some mining workers who just returned to Revda from the factory. They looked at me suspiciously, maybe. I was walking alone with big backpack. A dark Asian man walking to this road probably wasn’t normal in this area, and I knew that. I kept going. After about 1 hour, I saw the factory few meters away and it was one of the happiest moments that time. I stopped for a while to get my throat wet with my mineral water. Then a bus, apparently the bus from Revda to the factory, just passed me with some passengers. I was angry to myself why I didn’t take bus instead of 1 hour walking so I could save up the energy for another 12-kilometer trekking to reach the lake. I walked aimlessly to reach the registration office.

Halfway, when i wasn't tired enough

I had to call the officer to get myself registered. As always, he talked to me in Russian (well, I am I Russia anyway) and I hardly responded him. I just wrote my details with the duration to stay there, I just wrote 2 days (as I planned to return the next day). There was no money involved in my registration. The pro thing was the sun still forgot to set even though it was almost 6.30 pm. Then the real trek happened.

gloomy sky when I arrived the factory

 

Tips to reach Revda from Murmansk (June 2015):

Walk or take any bus to Train Station  20RUB
Take a minibus to Revda (220 RUB)
Take A bus (10 minutes drives) to factory if you do not want to walk 20 RUB
Entrance free 0 RUB

    
To be continued