On the road

My travel treasure story took place 200 km away from Moscow, Russia. There are mostly swamps and forests in that area with a number of small villages, nevertheless the main river of our capital – Moscow river – begins exactly there.

It was a sunny summer day when the idea to find the river source and canoe all the way down from there to the Kremlin stars stroke me. I invited my friends Ivan and Natasha to join me. From the deserted train-station we walked for an hour or two with our heavy canoe and huge rucksacks behind our backs. We were excited to see the very spot where Moscow river begins, but when we got there we saw nothing but a tiny stream in the reeds. There was no chance whatsoever for us to start the trip from that swamp. We had to move down the river until it was wide enough. The only problem was that it was around 30 km away from the spot we were standing and laughing with tears.

To help you understand the taste of our laugh I'll tell you that these 30 km were not a highway but a wild forest with only few narrow dirt roads. The day was coming to an end and god! - the sunset was stunning!

"Crap! We are stuck!" – Ivan said.

"Come on" - I replied - "let's catch a car".

"It's more easy to take a tour to the Moon than to catch a car here!" - Natasha cried.

How surprised we all were when at this very moment we saw a tiny car approaching us along the intricately curved road. We waved desperately and it actually stopped! Oh, Lord! It was a "Zaporozhets" - the old soviet vehicle from the 60’s that had collected so many jokes around its “personality” that it could as well be a folklore element. A pack of teenage girls jumped out of the "Zapor", and the driver was a boy around thirteen.

"Where are you guys heading?" - he asked us innocently.

"Somewhere we can start a canoe trip".

"Get in" – he exclaimed lighting a cigarette and snapped at the girls - "Get off!"

Wordlessly, we jumped into the "Zapor" just to realize that it had no seats. We squeezed ourselves on the floor and the crazy ride began. We were racing through the forest, crossing little streams, and diving into huge puddles. Little "Zapor" turned out to be the best off-road vehicle I've ever experienced. Finally, we reached the village where Moscow river was relatively wide. "Have a nice trip" - the boy said - "and never give up. Russian roads are for risky ones".