The edge of the earth is a fishing peninsula. Travel to the Rybachiy Peninsula: how to get there? Murmansk Rybachy Peninsula

The Rybachiy Peninsula, which is located in the Murmansk region, is a very interesting place. The Rybachy Peninsula will certainly appeal to those who love travel, nature trips and sea fishing. Photos from trips and travels to this unique place can be found on the Internet, as well as in travel magazines. There you can also find reviews of experienced tourists-lovers of outdoor activities and interesting photos of amateur fishermen.

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You can get to the Rybachy Peninsula from Murmansk... The main thing is to think over the route of the trip in advance, because due to difficult weather conditions, the trip to Rybachy can be frustrated. To get to the Rybachy Peninsula from Murmansk, you must definitely have a map with you. The Rybachiy Peninsula in the Murmansk Region is one of the most interesting places on the map of northern Russia.

Travel to the Rybachy Peninsula in the Murmansk region: why it is worth going there

Those who love outdoor activities do not have to leave Russia for this. There are also very interesting routes in our country. In the north of Russia, beyond the Arctic Circle, there is the city of Murmansk. This is one of the northernmost cities in Russia. From Murmansk you can easily get to the Rybachiy Peninsula.

There are several reasons where you should definitely visit Rybachy... These are the following reasons:

Those who are interested in Russian history and military glory of Russia will certainly want to return to Rybachy again and again. Here you can still find shells and other artifacts that have survived since the Great Patriotic War. The heroic past of the Rybachy Peninsula is even sung in the famous Soviet song dedicated to parting with the Rocky Mountains. There are industrial enterprises, fisheries and reindeer farms.

Murmansk region Rybachy peninsula: fishing for outdoor enthusiasts

This place has a “self-explanatory name”: Rybachy. It is no coincidence that the locals christened this peninsula is just like that. The Rybachiy Peninsula provides everyone with a unique opportunity to have a great time on a real sea fishing. You can fish both with a fishing rod and with a more modern spinning rod, equipped with a variety of additional devices. They go out to sea, as a rule, by boat or by boat. You can get on sea fishing in the following ways:

While fishing, you can easily catch a wide variety of sea fish, which a resident of the Russian central strip usually sees only in stores. It is good to catch both large cod and small capelin here. If you are very lucky, you can see real fur seals basking on the seashore.

On the territory of the peninsula there are a large number of private fishing farms and tourist centers designed for fishing enthusiasts. Transport and fishing equipment can be rented at the hostel. Those who are afraid to go out to sea for the first time without an accompanying person can take with them a competent instructor - a seasoned fisherman who will help to organize fishing correctly and get a good catch.

For fishing, you should choose calm, windless weather. It is dangerous to fish in a storm, therefore, if a tourist plans to go to Rybachy for the purpose of fishing, it is advisable to check the weather in advance.

You can take unique photos while fishing. The northern sea waters are rich in fish, so even a novice amateur angler will not be left without a solid catch. Everything you need for fishing (bait, clothing, accessories) can be purchased at local fishing shops... The best time for fishing is the short northern summer. Locals from time immemorial have been engaged in fishing, hence the "telling" name of the peninsula. A fish like this cannot be caught anywhere else. Sea fishing in one of the coldest and most northern places in our country is an activity for real men and passionate fishing enthusiasts.

Rybachy is located in the north of Russia, so the climate there is very specific. So, when going on a trip, you should definitely take warm clothes with you: a jacket, boots, a warm hat, waterproof clothing for sea fishing.

The Rybachy Peninsula is rich in mushrooms and berries. Passionate mushroom pickers should be aware that blood-sucking insects are rampant in the local forests during the mushroom season, so you should definitely take protective equipment with you - insecticides and repellents. Those who go to the forest to “quietly hunt” should wear long-sleeved clothing so that arms and legs are reliably protected from bites.

Those, who go to Rybachy in summer, in the midst of the local tourist season, must make a reservation in advance in a hotel or a tourist center, otherwise there may simply not be vacancies.

It is imperative to take your camera and video camera with you on your trip. On the territory of the peninsula, there are big problems with cellular communications. In order to talk on the phone with relatives or friends, you have to specifically look for a place where you can catch a mobile connection.

There are several nature reserves and national parks on the territory of the peninsula. During your stay in these places, you must strictly follow the rules of conduct, which are mandatory for all visitors. : do not make fires, do not leave trash behind, do not pick flowers or break tree branches. In case of violations of generally accepted rules, the offender risks paying a substantial fine.

On the territory of the peninsula there are places where any hunting and fishing is completely prohibited. Therefore, before planning these events, it is necessary to check with local residents if the chosen place is not forbidden.

Those, who loves animals and is interested in agriculture, can visit the numerous reindeer farms scattered across the peninsula in abundance.

The Rybachiy Peninsula is a unique place in the north of Russia. This place has an ancient history and a heroic military past. Those who have visited the Rybachy Peninsula at least once usually return there several times. The majestic northern nature makes people's hearts swoon with admiration. However, it is not recommended to travel to Rybachy with small children, because the weather on Rybachy is very harsh. - an ideal option for those who are interested in the nature of their native land and love extreme tourism. Rest here is inexpensive, but will be remembered for a long time.

My summer car trip was supposed to be a trip to the Caucasus, the main event of which was to climb Elbrus. But in July, about a month before the start, a friend from St. Petersburg called and spoke with enthusiasm about the Rybachy Peninsula in the Murmansk region, in the north of the European part of Russia: “The ocean, views of extraordinary beauty, fields of mushrooms and berries, abandoned military units, strategic objects since the Second World War - the lost world ... ". His story aroused considerable interest, and I began to think about the possibility of going there. But of course not this time. And if in this, then a good reason was needed.

And such a reason appeared. She began to rain, which, according to the forecast, was expected in the Elbrus region at the end of summer. I don’t know how the forecast turned out to be correct, but .., in general, I easily changed the direction from south to north. Circumstances developed in such a way that at the same time with me a good acquaintance of my St. Petersburg friend was going to go to Rybachy from St. Petersburg with the company. They agreed that we can join him.

According to the navigator's calculations, there are two routes that are approximately the same in time of passage, leading from Moscow to Rybachy. One goes through Peter, the other through Vologda. The length of the first is about 2100 km, the second is about 2000 km. But the first one is slightly faster than the second one, since the Moscow - St. Petersburg highway has a number of toll high-speed sections. The routes go around Lake Onega from different sides and converge in its northern part. Then there is one road - to Murmansk.

I needed to go to Peter. The road to it from Moscow is well known to many. In recent years, it has been getting better: there is more good asphalt and fewer areas with strong speed limits. The way to St. Petersburg, which is 700 km, takes almost a day, if you do not rush. Night in St. Petersburg. In the morning to Murmansk. The road to it is generally not bad. There are places with repairs. Cameras, both stationary and mobile, are more likely than few. Occasionally there are traffic police patrols lurking on the sidelines. The route is notable for the surrounding rocky Karelian nature, an abundance of mirrors of lakes and marshes of swamps, in some places extending beyond the horizon. Closer to Murmansk, there are fewer forests, and the landscape begins to turn into tundra.

On the way to Murmansk we spent the night with a friend in Kirovsk. The city stands on the sidelines, about 30 km from the track, in the massif of the Khibiny mountains, well known to skiers. Returning from Kirovsk to the highway, about 200 km remained to Murmansk.

It is necessary to go to the peninsula, as they say, taking everything. There are no shops there. The Murmansk supermarket is not much different from the Moscow one - the assortment and prices are about the same. At gas stations, the price of diesel fuel is about 3 rubles more than in the capital.

When we were still on our way to Murmansk, 160 km from St. Petersburg, we stopped at a store at the plant in Potanino, which produces canned meat. They bought stew there. I can say with confidence that I have never eaten any other stew more delicious than this one. Slava pointed at the store. The very one, a good acquaintance of my friend, with whom we were going to travel around Rybachy. By the way, Slava knows the peninsula and its history well. Once there was a military unit in which he served in the army. During his service, he was imbued with Rybachy so much that for many years he has been coming there every summer. At the same time, Slava has extensive experience in the operation of off-road vehicles. Now he drives the Sobol off-road camper, which he has reconstructed with his own hands. Slava became, in fact, our guide, and his car was at the head of the column, the first to explore the off-road. But about the off-road Rybachy later. I'll tell you a story connected with it. My St. Petersburg friend, seeing the new Mitsubishi Pajero Sport in which I arrived, was seriously puzzled about how to avoid or at least minimize the damage that he believed the car was waiting for on our upcoming journey. He walked around the car and said: “We must at least remove the bumper. Well, I don’t know at all, are you ready to leave it there? Or let's leave it here and ride my pickup. " His veteran American pickup truck was standing nearby. I can’t say that it didn’t alarm me, but I only said that I wasn’t going to rush into the embrasure. “Well, that's right, if we turn around and go home,” he summed up bleakly.

Rybachy is not connected with the mainland, it is connected by a narrow isthmus with another peninsula, called the Middle, which is already turning into the mainland. Therefore, to get to Rybachye, you need to drive through Sredny. As you know, during the Soviet era, the peninsulas were located in a closed area, where a whole cluster of military bases was created. In the "zero" entry for civilians was opened, but with special passes. From 2009 to this day, at the checkpoint (checkpoint) Titovka, they only require a passport, and they can see what is transported in the car. The checkpoint is located on the Kola highway going through Pechenga, about 160 km from Murmansk. The point is in front of the bridge over the river. Almost immediately after it there is a right exit onto a dirt road. Turning onto it, you are not yet on Srednee, to go to it about 25 km, and then about the same to Rybachy. But you can consider that your journey begins at this point.

The road to Rybachy sometimes winds like a serpentine, waddling from hill to hill, then straightens. There are no sections that are difficult to pass. But this path cannot be called easy either. It will test your nerves, because a significant part of it is solid bumps. It is useless to go around them. I can give only one piece of advice: fix all the things lying in the car, because shaking, if you can call it shaking, will be strong. At first I tried to drive slowly and look for the shallowest holes. But at some point, I really wanted it to end as soon as possible, and the principle "more gas - fewer holes" was used. And I find it difficult to say which of these two methods will be better for a person. The second option, in addition to reducing the time, makes it possible to feel like a participant in a rally-raid. True, if you have a sturdy SUV that has not been tested by time, then the principle of "gas" is probably not worth applying.

They say that the bumps were formed due to heavy military equipment that comes here for military exercises. On the way back, we were almost participants in these events. The soldiers, as it seemed then, imitated the clearance of the road, they were covered by a tank, and then our Pajero Sport appeared because of the turn. We stopped about thirty meters from the tank, and its turret turned towards us with the barrel of its gun. Was it a joke or following an order-instruction, I don't know. The sensations were ambivalent.

The region where Rybachy is located has a rather rich history, but acquaintance with it often turned out to be connected precisely with its military past. Vivid impressions of the beauty of the local views are now and then cut off by memorials with stars - the memory of the fallen soldiers of the Soviet army in the Great Patriotic War.

On the isthmus connecting Sredniy with the mainland, lies the Mustatunturi granite ridge. The northern front line passed along it. The place is legendary, the only one where the Germans could not break through the front line. From one of the officers who defended him, the famous Soviet writer Konstantin Simonov took the image of a hero for his work "The Son of an Artilleryman".

Rybachy played an important strategic role, since it controlled the entrances to the Pechenga bays in the west and the Motovsky and Kola bays in the east. The protection of the entire Kola Peninsula with the city of Murmansk and its ice-free port largely depended on this. The capture of this Arctic territory was one of the most important tasks for the German command. It was to be carried out by the "Norway" army, formed from two German and Finnish corps. The capture of the peninsula by the Germans was expected from the sea. In this regard, on the eve of the war, a number of defensive structures were created on Rybachye and Sredny.

As you know, the western part of the peninsulas from 1920 to 1940 belonged to Finland. This was the result of two Soviet-Finnish wars. As a result of the first of them, in 1920, our country ceded part of its territories to Finland. The second war provided the USSR in 1940 with a significant expansion of its borders in the Finnish direction, including the return of previously given lands. The fortification of Srednee and Rybachy was carried out in a short time and was not completed before the German attack. But the Germans, having broken through the Soviet border, attacked the peninsula from the mainland. And they were stopped at Mustatunturi. A significant contribution to this was made by our Northern Fleet, which provided powerful fire support from the decks of ships. On Mustatunturi, the assault was carried out by the well-equipped and well-prepared huntsmen of the elite German unit "Edelweiss" for fighting in the northern mountainous conditions. The retention of the peninsulas lasted 3.5 years. Needless to say what it cost the Soviet army. This land is watered with blood.

The Mustatunturi area has stunning views. The so-called Swabian Road, which winds along lakes and hills, demonstrates them especially well. It was built during the war years to support the German army storming the peninsula and comes from Pechenga, which the Germans called Petsamo in Finnish. The turn to it is in front of the pass over the ridge on the way to the Middle. Driving along this road, it is difficult to combine the charm of the surrounding nature with heavy fire and bomb strikes.

The Swabian road is well preserved and surprises with its quality, but the passage on it is complicated by destroyed bridges. To bypass them, you need an SUV with a high ground clearance that allows you to drive through large stones. The Germans built a chain of various engineering structures along the road. From many of them only fragments of walls remain, but they are quite easily recognizable. But there are also buildings that have almost survived.

After the Second World War, many different kinds of artifacts remained on the peninsulas, and especially on the adjacent mainland, including Mustatunturi, from artillery pieces and ammunition to ordinary household items used by the military. In peacetime, the Soviet army ruled here, many expeditions, search parties and just tourists have visited, so there are significantly fewer artifacts. But, as knowledgeable people say, there are still a lot of them, it just becomes more difficult to search. However, mines, shell casings, and other similar items, heavily rusted, which were not at all spared by time, because of which they no longer represent almost any historical and material value, are often found.

The sights of the Sredny peninsula, like its history, are closely related to Rybachy. Therefore, the Medium is also interesting. But we don't dwell on it. Our goal is Rybachy. It is much larger, and beyond it is the ocean. Yes, the ocean never borders on land. On the maps, the Rybachy Peninsula washes the Barents Sea, which turns into the ocean. And, nevertheless, this is a convention, because there is water between the Fishing Pole and the North Pole.

It was not planned to reach Rybachy on the first day. We stopped for the night, setting up a kerchief camp not far from the road. On the second day, we separated from the Slava group and agreed to meet already on the peninsula. And this gave us one plus: the lack of a large company and support strengthened the impression of the first acquaintance with Rybachy. And it began with the abandoned military village of Ozerko, attracting a couple of five-story buildings.

Gray, with blackening emptiness window sockets, they look gloomy. The sky, rain, cold gusty wind and complete desertion added sad colors. Once inside them, you begin to imagine how and who once lived here. These impressions are probably the only thing that visiting them can give. But, and the strength of these impressions depends on their own acuity of perception, awareness and maybe something else. Inside is not just desolation. Everything is plundered and destroyed there. Although the houses have never seen a war. They were built and abandoned by people in peacetime. What you see in these five-story buildings, then you meet all over the peninsula at all abandoned military facilities. Someone says that in them you can see a picture of the apocalypse. I would call the picture differently, something connected with the decline in morality, especially manifested in the nineties, after the collapse of the USSR.

The five-story buildings appeared in the early seventies in addition to other housing and utility infrastructure created for the military. By that time, a number of troops were stationed at Rybachye, including air defense, armed with an anti-aircraft missile system. The village of Ozerko was quite well equipped, there was even a hockey court near the five-story buildings. Closer to the nineties, arms reduction began on the peninsula, followed by demilitarization, which ended in the fall of 1994. After the departure of the military, in addition to an established system of infrastructure facilities, a lot of various equipment and equipment remained on the peninsulas, in particular, freight transport, all-terrain vehicles. The material base was mothballed, but this did not protect it during the post-Soviet collapse of the country. They say that a significant part of the technique was sawn into metal.

After getting to know Ozerko, we went to look for a place where Slava was supposed to stand, and got lost. We drove along a hard, rocky road, but then mud appeared, the ground became more and more fragile. The low gear and bridge locks were already engaged, and the car was getting harder and harder. And soon we were crawling in the middle of the muddy tundra there, which can hardly be called a road, and a swampy lowland was waiting ahead. As a result, we turned around.

The evening was beginning, we decided to postpone the search, and stopped for the night on the bank of Bolshaya Volokovaya Bay - in the western part of Rybachye. It didn't take long to look for beautiful parking spots, there are a lot of them. But such places are often not without wind. And it can blow out from the ocean so that the tent will not stand up. But we found a quiet place under the rock and did not even put up a tent, we just pulled up an awning against the rain. You won't freeze in a warm sleeping bag at night.

When we arrived at Rybachy, it was cloudy, it rained from time to time. This is the Arctic and in August one cannot count on warm days. At night, the temperature drops to seven degrees. But, as we were told, a few days before our arrival, it was hot, which, in general, is a rarity for this region. Although we also found several sunny days. The winds blow often, but sometimes they are barely perceptible. In the depths of the peninsula, there may be no wind at all, but then, if there is a lake nearby, there is not a small chance of being attacked by clouds of midges.

When they say that the ocean feeds, you can think of fish, some other seafood. But the ocean even provides firewood. On Rybachye there is tundra, water and stone. And the tree can be found by walking along the shore. There are boards and logs. Just choose those that have already lay down and dried up. In general, the ocean throws out everything - both garbage and a lot of all kinds of good. Later, on one of the beaches of the peninsula, we found a huge bay of a good rope. Perhaps it was washed away in the storm from the ship. The rope is such that it can serve as a reliable tow rope for a large SUV.

The next day there was a clear sky, the sun was shining, and we decided to take a walk inland. Its relief is hilly, covered with stones, with many rock formations.

The vegetation is not high due to strong winds, a significant part of it, like a carpet, covers the ground, in some places shrubs grow densely. It is damp in the lowlands - puddles, bumps. The peninsula is cut by streams and riverbeds, therefore, traveling along it, it will not be possible to bypass them.

In rivers, the flow can be turbulent. We meet such a river. We pass it through the pile of stones.

You might think that where the tundra is, everything looks monotonous. However, it is not. Here, the tundra, in combination with stones and rocks of various shapes, forms interesting and diverse landscapes.

Their zest is often the ocean or the tundra itself with its bright multi-colored vegetation.

The flora is quite rich. Among it there are many flowers and whole placers of berries.

The most common of these is crowberry. There are many blueberries, cloudberries, which are very popular in Scandinavia.

There are also many mushrooms on Rybachye. Of these, boletus mushrooms are often found. They can be very large.

Boletus mushrooms grow under birch trees. And they are here, only dwarf ones. They can travel along the ground and be very similar to the roots of a plant.

There are also very beautiful mosses here.

By noon, the sun was so warm that when the wind died down, it became warm in the south. At such moments, looking at the blue waters of the Great Volokovaya Bay, one could easily imagine that this was the south.

There was no need to search for Glory. He found us himself, on a motorcycle. Yes, our group had several motorcycles - cross and pit bikes. They were brought on a trailer.

With such transport, you can quickly get to where it will be difficult or even impossible to get there by car. The motorcycle allows you to see more. In addition, the peninsula will provide the motorcyclist with mud baths, water hazards, rocks, slopes, sands, in general, everything that is needed for an extreme drive on rough terrain. Moving by car, we did not look for extreme sports, but we could not do without it.

Every day our group moved to a new location on off-road vehicles and motorcycles. Time was limited, so the route ran along the western part of the peninsula, where there is less off-road, and there are many attractions. Rybachye has, in a way, its own main roads. They are well-rolled, with clear boundaries, and can be marked by barrels of poles along them.

Most tourists travel on them. And if it were not for the numerous waterways flowing into the ocean and puddles in the lowlands, then it would be possible to drive through them on the most ordinary crossover. Riverbeds are saturated with large rocks and can have steep slopes, and the water level can be above the knee. These are not the biggest obstacles on the peninsula, but to go around the entire western part, they will have to be overcome, and this may be enough to damage the car. Stones can hit the body, puncture the wheels and break parts located under the bottom. When crossing rivers without observing a number of precautions, the car can even be drowned. A torn transfer case protection, a punctured wheel, a broken anti-roll bar, a water-filled interior, scratches on the body - troubles that befell our group, by the way, which consisted of people not without off-road experience.

The interior of the car was flooded, however, not on the river, but on one of the roads that ran far from the coast through the tundra, where huge puddles stood in the lowlands. One of the SUVs pulling the trailer hooked a towbar onto a concrete slab lying at the bottom of one of these puddles and pulled over to the side of the pit. So the left side of the car was up to the glass in the water and mud. The pit may have been left behind by a stalled military truck. And the slab was probably once laid to cover the area with too shaky soil. Interestingly, the puddle did not look deep and we were not ready for such a nuisance. Another thing is when crossing rivers.

The Slavic camper has a significantly increased, high ground clearance, and in addition to it a low gear, two interwheel and inter-axle locks. He was the first to slide into the water and determine whether the others could pass. The water obstacles were not long, but they hid large stones and their depth with all kinds of holes. The presence of such a specially prepared car among the standard serial off-road vehicles, even good ones, on Rybachy, as I now think, is not desirable, but obligatory. If you, of course, do not want, as my friend said on the eve of the trip, leave the car there. Although, we also had one more help - motorcycles. They made it possible to quickly find out how passable the section ahead was.

The water level in the rivers of the peninsula depends on the ocean. For example, where the water can be below the knee during the day, in the evening, during the tide, the level can rise to two or more meters. This feature is also important to consider.

When driving across a river, you do not need to go too fast. It is necessary not to push the wave in front, but to follow it, as it were. If the wave is pushed, then the water will begin to penetrate under the hood, which may end in a known way. But when you enter the river, and the water is already at the level of the bumper, you really want to get out on land as soon as possible, and your nerves may not stand it, your leg will add gas. I made this mistake once. Water rolled onto the hood and… thanks to Mitsubishi engineers! Now I am not saying this for advertising, because this error can have a high cost. My Pajero Sport went wherever it was needed, forgiving mistakes, and never let me down.

Before going to Rybachy, having learned about the features of its relief, I was seriously puzzled by what tires to put on the car. I went from a simple one: I called a friend - at Nokian Tires. He recommended Nokian Rotiiva AT. It is a tire, as stated in its description, with reinforced sidewalls protected from side cuts, with a tread that works well off-road, quiet and economical on asphalt. I put it on and did not lose it. On the highway, the average fuel consumption was kept in the region of 5.5-7 liters.

Some of the people who come to Rybachy do not differ in their thrifty attitude to nature, leaving behind a lot of garbage and spoiling the vegetation layer. There are places where, instead of a multi-colored carpet of tundra plants, a huge muddy meadow rolled out by the wheels of SUVs turns black.

The desire of people to be surrounded by beautiful nature, not showing concern for it, is a real threat to the Rybachy Peninsula. How to protect him from such a threat is a question. We raised it more than once in our company in the evenings.

Scientists have established that people lived on Rybachy in the Stone Age. This discovery was made in 1979 thanks to a military man who was fishing in the Zubovskaya Bay, who noticed the rock carvings. After that, about thirty sites of ancient people were found on the peninsula. On Rybachye there are Viking graves, a place of sacrifice of the Lapps was discovered. The peninsula was inhabited by Norwegians, Finns and Russians.

Natural resources made it possible to actively engage in whaling, reindeer husbandry, livestock breeding, and, of course, fishing - what gave the peninsula its name. Traces of the activities of people who inhabited Rybachy at different times can be found today. But, frankly speaking, here nothing attracts to itself like nature. She is so attractive that you begin to strive to be alone with her.

It so happened that I was not able to go to Cape Nemetsky - the northernmost point of Rybachy and the entire European part of Russia. On one of the last days of our stay on the peninsula, when we had already traveled around its western part and were on the southern coast, near the Motovsky Bay, I separated from the group and went to Nemetsky alone. Most of the way was known. On the route I met a beautiful sandy beach formed by the low tide.

I often stopped and photographed a lot, which was difficult to do, moving in a group, as time went on, and the tide began. Because of this, I faced the difficulty of crossing the river. Popped in two places. In both cases, after the bumper was hidden under the water, fearing to take risks, he switched on the reverse gear. Interestingly, there was no typical tundra vegetation in that place. Around grew tall grass, like reeds, as high as a car, which made it difficult to navigate. These thickets were entangled with a whole network of roads. I returned to the same place several times, but then I discovered a waterfall, found a road that goes above it, and drove through a shallow ford. With the understanding that there were not many bright hours left, my triumph was not strong. Another circumstance prevented me from being happy - there was little fuel left in the tank, and there was no spare canister with me. To go fast, without things jumping in the cabin, the day before he unloaded almost everything from the car, leaving only a sleeping bag, an ax and some food for the evening and the next morning. Not far from Nemetskoye, on the banks of the Waida Bay, there is a small military detection unit (aerial targets). My hopes of getting some diesel fuel from the military did not materialize. Their refusal was so categorical that ... it seems that the tourists are fed up with them.

But once on the shore of the cape, the problem was forgotten. I was alone. By the way, later it turned out that Cape Nemetsky is perhaps the most popular place among tourists who come to Rybachy. Therefore, I was lucky. In German it is beautiful in its own way: the color-saturated tundra creeps into a soft carpet among very unusual rocky formations with a layered structure.

In the sea, to the left in the distance, the coast of Norway is visible.

It consists of two parts, the Rybachy Peninsula proper and the Middle Peninsula. They are connected by an isthmus, which is about 1 km long. These peninsulas are connected to the mainland by another isthmus, which is about 2 km long. The length of the Rybachy Peninsula from Cape Gordeev to Cape Nemetskiy is about 60 km, the width at the north-western end reaches up to 10 km, and in the southeastern end up to 25 km.

The shores of the peninsula are composed of black shale rocks, over which, inside the peninsula, there are low hills and mountains covered, and partly with grass. On the banks of the rivers and in the valleys between the hills are partly, partly dry with good grass. There are also small copses of birch, willow and other shrubs.

There are many lakes in the northern part of the peninsula. Of the latter, the most significant lake, Bezymyannoe, is up to 10 kilometers long and up to 1 kilometer wide. The Mainvolok River flows out of it, the length of which is up to 10 km. Other rivers on the Rybachiy Peninsula include the rivers Zubova (about 13 km long), Olenka (about 12 km), the source of Lake Olenka and other water bodies.

The peninsula has a large number of different bays and bays. Although few of them can serve as reliable shelters for ships. Starting from the south-west, there are bays: Malaya Volokovaya, Bolshaya Volokovaya, on the north-western coast - Vaida Bay. In the northeastern part of the peninsula there are bays: Skarbeeva, Zubova, Mainavolotskaya, on the east coast of the bay: Tsyp-Navolok, Korabelnaya, Anikieva and Sergeeva.

On the southern coast of the Rybachy Peninsula is the vast Mitavsky Bay with the lips of Eina, Mocha, Motka and Novozemelskaya harbor; on the south-western coast there is Kutovaya Bay. The most famous of the capes are: Cape Gordeev, located on the southeastern tip of the peninsula, capes Sharapov, Bashenka and Sergeev, located on the eastern coast. In the northeastern part of the peninsula there are capes Tsyp-Navolok and Lavysh, Lok, Lazar, Mainvolok, Skorbeev; in the north-western region - Kekur and Nemetsky capes; on the western part of the peninsula there is Zemlyanoy Cape and some others.

The highest points of the peninsula are located on the capes: Gordeev, Kekur and Gremyashchinskaya buttermilk (its height reaches about 1450 m above sea level). Other capes have a height of 900 to 1800 m. The northeastern coast of the peninsula is low-lying. The northwestern coast is elevated and in some places reaches 6000 m. Beyond the Bolshaya Volokovaya Bay, the shores again become sloping. The middle peninsula approaches the fiord with tundra shoals.

The fishing peninsula was formerly inhabited by the Lapps (the population of the Finnish tribe). Since 1865, colonies of free migrants began to settle here, mainly Finns and from the western coast of Varangerfjord and the Norwegian Finnmarken. These peoples passed into Russian citizenship, but economically they gravitated towards their former homeland. Rybatsky and Sredny peninsulas made up the Rybachye rural society. Lopari almost all migrated from the peninsula to the mainland. Russians (up to 600 people) came here only in summer, for fishing, in some fishing camps, for example: Vaida-gubu, Zubovo and Tsyp-Navolok.

Then both the Norwegian and Finnish colonies settled well. Many of them flourished thanks to fishing, cattle breeding, trade and other industries. There were about 9 colonies on the Rybachy Peninsula in total. They had about 500 inhabitants. On the Rybachiy Peninsula in the colony of Vaida-Guba, which is considered one of the main places in Murmansk for the abundance of cod fishing, from 400 to 500 thousand kg were caught per year. The colonists had up to 100 fishing vessels, on which they catch up to 1130 thousand kg of sea fish and up to 80 thousand kg of fish oil. On the same ships, they carried out trade with the Norwegian towns of Varangerfjord.

In the second half of the 19th century, the famous thinker Nikolai Fedorovich (he was the teacher of Tsiolkovsky) proposed to establish the capitals of Russia on the territory of the Rybachy Peninsula. After the revolution at the beginning of the 20th century, the territories of the western zone of the Rybachy Peninsula and the Middle Peninsula began to belong. In 1940, after the Soviet-Finnish war, these territories were returned to our country again.

On the territory of the Rybachy Peninsula there are deposits of hydrocarbon, oil, etc. In the 70s of the last century, searches were carried out here, but as a result of insufficient research, these searches were unsuccessful. In 1994, seismic surveys were made on the peninsula, which revealed oil deposits. Oil deposits are located from the peninsula to the sea. The open spaces of Rybachy and Srednee are used for grazing reindeer.

A feature of the waters washed by the coast of the Rybachy Peninsula is that they do not freeze even in winter. The rise in water here is influenced by the North Cape. At present, following the results of the expedition of scientists to the territory of the Rybachy Peninsula, it was decided to establish protected areas here in order to preserve the fauna of these places.

The Rybachiy Peninsula is located in the very north of the Murmansk region. He meets tourists with a depressing sight of the abandoned village of Bolshiye Ozerki. Abandoned destroyed houses immediately make you want to move on. There are only two residential settlements on the peninsula, and less than 150 people permanently live there.

Rybachy Peninsula. Coast.

The peninsula itself is a low plateau, indented by small rivers, streams and lakes. The highest point is 334 m.

During the Second World War, fierce battles were fought for the peninsula, and you can still see the remains of guns and military fortifications throughout its territory. In the post-war years, there were military bases, a large port, a collective farm, several settlements, but gradually all this was abandoned and fell into disrepair. All over the peninsula there were only dilapidated houses, Soviet and German pillboxes, abandoned and rusting equipment. Until 2009, the peninsula was a border zone, and to visit it it was necessary to issue a pass, now you can freely travel here.

There is only one active military base left, in the village of Vaida-Guba, near the bay of the same name. Not far from the village there is a lighthouse and a monument to the soldiers who fell in the battles of the Great Patriotic War. One of the first meteorological stations in Russia is also located here; it was built here more than a century ago.

The most popular route is to the northernmost point the Rybachy Peninsula- Cape German.

Formally, the peninsula is washed by the Barents Sea, but when you look at the huge turquoise waves, you get the feeling that you are standing on the shore of the harsh and boundless northern ocean. By the way, you can almost always admire these waves here, regardless of the season. Even in summer, the wind blows very often on the coast, and in winter the sea does not freeze. Although it is not a good idea to go here in winter just to admire the views. In summer, the temperature rarely rises above 20 degrees. Summer is very short, relatively warm here only in July-August, night frosts begin in September.

Rybachy Peninsula - how to get there?

Abandoned village on the peninsula

You can get to the Rybachiy Peninsula only by car. The border zone has been canceled, a Russian passport is enough to travel. Since the peninsula is a natural park, formally, you need to fill out an electronic approval for visiting it, but in fact, there is no one on the peninsula who could check whether a visit was agreed or not.

The easiest option is to book an excursion with some travel company that deals with this. I can recommend the company Nordextream, they carry them to the Rybachiy and Sredny peninsulas and do it well. There is a detailed report with photos of the trip with them.

But if you decide to risk your car, know that you need a well-prepared SUV, and preferably more than one. The second SUV will be very useful in order to pull the first one.

From Murmansk you need to go along the A-138 highway, after about 100 km. there will be the Titovka river. We move through it and turn right. We drive about 50 km to the village of Bolshoye Ozerko, located already on the peninsula.

Here the road ends, it is very difficult to name what goes on the road. But along the rivers and stones, you can try to get to the northernmost part of the European territory of Russia - the German Peninsula.

Video trip to the Rybachy Peninsula

In mid-July, out of business, my colleagues and I found ourselves on a two-week business trip to Murmansk. Since they arrived in Murmansk in my car, they tried to spend their free time actively: we saw the city, repeatedly fished in the Kola Bay, twice went to Teriberka, and I also managed to visit the Rybachy Peninsula ...

One weekend I was lying on the couch of a rented apartment and decided to read information about the Rybachiy Peninsula and reviews of automobile travelers on my smartphone. The more I read, the more I got the idea of ​​going there. Taking into account the bad roads and the lack of preparation for the trip, I planned to get only to the Musta-Tunturi pass, walk there along the rocks, to the places of battles and return back. It took no more than half an hour to get ready, in fact there were no fees, I just drank coffee, smoked a cigarette and drove off. I planned to refuel on the way, go to the store for some food and water, but somehow I slipped through all the stores and, having refueled, went with a bottle with about 50 ml of water in the back seat. This attitude towards food was a big mistake, I realized that quickly. All two weeks of our business trip there was a heat of about 30C, which, coupled with high humidity, created a terrible stuffiness. The day of the trip was no exception and I wanted to drink already 50 kilometers from Murmansk.

The route from Murmansk to the Titovka checkpoint is excellent, everyone checks the documents at the checkpoint. As I understand it, the main requirement for free travel is the citizenship of the Russian Federation. After the checkpoint, turn right onto the dirt road, in fact, from this moment the adventures begin. The road along the Titovka River is all in pits and bumps, like the rest of the way, there is probably no point in describing the quality of the “coverage”, because there is no such coverage, there are a lot of reviews on the Internet, I can only say that it is quite possible to drive if carefully.

The road along the river is replete with scenic views and I have repeatedly stopped to admire and take a picture. Unfortunately, the photo does not convey the height.

After some time, the road goes to the left of the river and, meandering, rises higher and higher to the pass. Not the Caucasus, of course, but the rocky northern hills have their own, special beauty, it's not just that people who have visited these places once come here again and again.

While driving along Titovka, I was very thirsty, there was a feeling that the palate was stuck together and cracked, I definitely decided that I would reach the pass and turn back. At some point, when bypassing the next pit, it seemed to me that a bottle was lying in the road dust, I drove it, looked in the mirror - it seemed like a bottle really. He stopped, approached and was stunned, in the road dust lay a one and a half liter sealed bottle of “Holy Spring” water. At that moment it was a sign for me, a sign that I had to go further, beyond the pass. And indeed, it was worth getting drunk as the mood immediately lifted and the strength and desire to go further appeared. After that I quickly reached the Musta-Tunturi pass.

Unfortunately, I was not prepared for this trip and did not have a plan, any points of interest, therefore, stopping at the pass, I just walked along the surrounding rocks. Climbed to the top in search of traces of war. Found.

Echo of war

After the pass, the road began to descend, also replete with views worthy of the artist's brush. I have repeatedly stopped and admired. Thus I got to the Sredny peninsula. I didn’t like the way through the Sredny peninsula: a dead road, shaking the car from side to side of the pit, a speed of 10 km / h, a monotonous landscape on the left and Bolshaya Motka lip on the right. From time to time on the coast of the bay there were camps of visiting fishermen and tourists. Sights of the Middle - monuments to Soviet soldiers who fell in battle. In my opinion, you need to go to the Srednyaya in order to touch the history of the Great Patriotic War, not passing through like me, but thoughtfully, knowing specific points. It was in these places and about the events that took place in these places that Konstantin Simonov wrote the poem "The Son of an Artilleryman".

Reminded by "Son of an artilleryman" K. Simonov

The Middle Peninsula is a war

I drove the middle one along the eastern bank and got to the isthmus with Rybachy. I set myself the task of getting to Cape Nemetsky, to the northernmost point of the peninsula, which is also the northernmost point of the European part of continental Russia. In one of the reviews I read that it is better to get there along the western coast of Rybachy, and I did just that. Having passed the isthmus, I immediately turned left onto the road leading to Cape Nemetsky, leaving the abandoned village of Bolshoye Ozerko on the right. The Rybachy Peninsula is no longer as monotonous as the Sredniy Peninsula, at least it seemed to me so. I drove towards the sun, sometimes it made it difficult to go around stones and pits, but the views were simply fantastic.

The road on the western side of Rybachye is better than on the eastern side of the Srednee, the speed is also 10-15 km / h, but somehow more varied than chtoli. The car chatters less from side to side, but there are many large stones and fords. If you do not rush, then completely passing through almost any car.

Perhaps, the beach left the strongest impression on me, not reaching about one kilometer to the Worm Creek. Dark gray sand, as transparent as an angel's tear, seawater in the rays of the setting sun, calm and warm evening ... I didn't swim right away, I decided to cheer up on the way back, but, looking ahead, I will say that I did not succeed, since the ebb had pushed back by that time water about 150 meters and the view of the beach was no longer so fabulous. The photo cannot convey, it must be seen personally, it is worth it!

It was only a stone's throw from this place to Cape Nemetsky. Having strayed a little along the roads of the tundra in unsuccessful attempts to bypass the military unit standing on the way, I got to my destination.

Below is a short video sketch that I blinded from videos shot on a mobile phone. I shot with one hand, the other held the steering wheel, respectively, the areas that I had to overcome while holding the steering wheel with both hands were left behind the scenes.

At the final point, I stayed no more than an hour, walked, admired the sea and drove back. The return trip followed the same route. Left the house at about 14-30, came back about 9-30.

While driving along Rybachy, I met a car of French travelers. I didn't notice the people nearby, so I just drove by. Having already returned to St. Petersburg, I went to the site indicated on the board of their car and read information about them, about the car and their travels. Read, it is interesting to look at our country through the eyes of foreigners who have seen it not only at football stadiums and bars in big cities.

P.S. I consider it my duty to ask you, friends, do not litter, please. The tundra will not take anything, everything that you left will lie for decades, if not centuries. The soil layer is very small, do not tear it with tire treads, it will heal for a very long time, there are roads.

P.P.S. A week ago I was sure that I no longer traveled by car to Rybachy, but now I have thoughts about proper preparation and how to plan a route. I will go, I will definitely go, but not in a hurry, with fishing and spending the night in a tent ...