Tuesday 19th July 2011
We left Yaroslavl around 2.0 p.m. Our trip to Yaroslavl had been a ‘side trip’ so we had make our way upstream on the Volga to return to Rybinsk Reservoir
As we left Yaroslavl, we passed a huge engineering works with a derelict-looking slipway. I couldn’t decide whether any work was still carried out on the site. Once clear of Yaroslavl, the river banks were lined with the usual forests, with occasional sandy beaches with swimmers or fishermen.
Approaching the city of Rybinsk, we passed huge grain silos on our left, connected to a jetty with a grain elevator. But it all looked very derelict, apart from a collection of cellular radio antenna mounted on top of the grain silos. Then we passed an oil terminal with a tanker berthed. A diesel locomotive was shunting a long line of bogie tank wagons. Next came a long quay with ten electric grab cranes and large mounds of sand and gravel, similar to the one we’d seen in Moscow. Another massive collection of grain silos also appeared out of use. Extensive conveyors linked the silos to the quay which again appeared to be equipped with grain elevators. The quay was empty, apart from a moored floating crane.
As we drew level with Rybinsk, I noticed a single moored hydrofoil, similar in design to the ones I’d seen on the Yangtze River in China (mentioned in my article 'China'). We then passed under a reinforced concrete road bridge of fairly early design with two main spans and two approach spans. It appeared that some problems had been encountered because the central pier had elaborate steel scaffolding to support the roadway. We passed a large church with a separate belltower and an impressive building facing the river which looked as if it could be city administration.
A large passenger ship was moored nearby and the city stretched out on the landward side. There's more details in Wikipedia here. Then we passed a number of modern, multi-storey apartment blocks and another shipyard with a deserted slipway before reaching the Rybinsk Locks.
Rybinsk has two identical, parallel locks and we used one to be lifted 4 metres back to the level of the Rybinsk Reservoir. There's also a 346 MW Hydroelectric Generating Station adjacent to the locks (see Wikipedia article here).
The reservoir is a huge inland sea – we spent the night crossing this huge mass of water on a North-Westerly heading to reach the Lower Sheksna River.
My pictures are here.
