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First weekend on the Datscha
in South Karelia about 80 km north of St.Petersburg


How it all started: In 1992 a group of people bought a piece of land in the wilderness, developed it, build dirt roads, installed electrical power lines and drilled a fountain delivering absolute clean water. Then each one started to built his own toilet, garden and house (in that order). Some used second hand timber and nails due to lack of money. Each weekend they continued working on it. Evgeni got his house ready to live in it only in 1999. Until then he and his wife had to stay in a tent each weekend.




it is already 22:50



23:52 and still light !


Evgeni and I go in a dinghy trying to find better spots for fishing

Success!


There are books available that describe each sea in detail and what kind of fish it contains




Anna (daughter), Sashka & Dimka (Datscha-neighbours)


Neighbours Datschas
Sauna

Saturday evening we jointly have dinner. This time it is Evegni's turn to barbecue Shashlik. But during the first course there is already so much delicious to eat that you easily tend to forget that Shashlik follows.


Meanwhile we all wear a cap, not because it is cold, but because of the mosquitos that even find their way through our hair, very bothering as soon as the wind dies down.


Starving? Impossible !


We went to a sea to go fishing

Anna tries her luck


A bit further north at the river Vuoksa



A favourite spot for wild water rafting



Oh dear, only on Monday I noticed these red spots on my leg, but did not feel any itching at all. This was probably caused by craneflies that lurked in the grass.


The best skilled managed it to "sit" on a wave like surfers and then do not need to paddle.


The river Vuoksa flows with a strong current into this sea.
The region South Karelia, similar to Finland that is only 100km away, has many seas connected by rivers. I was amazed about the huge amount of the water flowing, but there are a lot of springs some of them are at the bottom of the seas itself.
25. Jul 2004   Jürgen Bartels