NADFAS visit to Brewood Hall

Jan Ford talks about the history of Brewood Hall.

On the 13th October 2011, around 40 members of the local branch of the National Association of Decorative and Fine Arts Societies (NADFAS) visited Brewood Hall. The members gathered in the Lounge Hall at 11.30 a.m. and Jan talked about the history of the Hall and the conservation work which has been carried out. Members had been asked to bring at packed lunch so at 12.30 p.m. individual groups of members settled down for a snack, distributing themselves in the dining room, lounge hall and (since the weather was mild) the kitchen yard and the front steps.

A group of NADFAS members taking lunch.

For the tour of the principal rooms on the ground and first floors, the visitors were divided into two groups. Whilst Jan conducted the first group on a 30-minute tour around the building, the second group were invited to explore the 1 acre of gardens and see the inside of the restored Small Barn. Jan then took the second group around the Hall allowing the first group to visit the garden and Small Barn.

Jan taking the visitors around the building, accompanied by Marion's dog Harry.

NADFAS are a substantial organisation in both education and conservation in connection with our heritage in decorative and fine arts. They are active at around 340 locations in the U.K. and Europe. For more information, go to their website.

Jan and visitors chatting in the Victorian Sitting Room.

All the visitors appeared to enjoy the opportunity to see a little more of Brewood Hall. Once again, thanks are due to Marion Reeves for her help with this visit. There are more photographs of this visit here.

Tai 1996 - 2011

On the 8th October 2011 I lost my dog Tai to the inoperable tumour that had been growing for the last four years.

There's an earlier piece on Tai here and pictures in the set Tai and Friends. He was a very gregarious dog so he also pops up in the set Friends and Family at Brewood (and a few other places). He was a loyal and loving companion and, even at the end as his mobility became compromised, his spirit was undiminished.

He was a very special dog and will be greatly missed by me and all his many friends.

The Stour Valley Line

In the early 1960s, I was a regular visitor to a number of signal boxes in the West Midlands and there's a series of posts about my experiences. At the time, I lived in Wolverhampton but most of the signal boxes I visited were in the Tipton and Dudley Port area. I was working for a local company as an Electronics Engineer, so most of my visits were on a Saturday. Going through the Notebook I've recently found for Sedgeley Jn., I'm surprised at what a regular visitor I was. It seems that most Saturdays saw me leaving home early to visit one of my friends in a Signal Box.

My home was about 30 minutes walk from Wolverhampton High Level Station and I must have set off somewhere between 6.0 a.m. and 6.30 a.m. Occasionally, I'd get a trolleybus to town (yes, Wolverhampton had trolleybuses until 1967) but they were a bit thin on the ground at that time of day so I'd usually walk.

On arrival at the station, I'd get a return ticket to either Tipton or Dudley Port (according to where I was headed and what trains were running).

The Sedgeley Jn. Notebook includes brief details of some of these journeys, so I thought we'd take a look. Original notes are in italics with recent comments in square brackets.

Visit to Sedgeley Jn. Mon 24th December 1962

From Wolverhampton platform 2 with two ‘Type 4’ in multiple – D268 and D229. [Clearly, a London service].

Visit to Sedgeley Jn. Sat 12th January 1963

I travel on 1B03 departing Wolverhampton at about 7.15 a.m. The 6.55 a.m. Up Local is still stuck in the Down Bay, boxed in by a 2-car DMU. 1M16 arrives just before we leave.

Visit to Sedgeley Jn. Sat 26th January 1963

I travelled on an Up DMU which arrived Dudleyport at 8.59, departed 9.0 a.m. I later discovered that the Guard arrived back on foot at 9.08 to report the DMU failed in the section. With a Wrong Line Order, the Parcels Engine went onto the DMU at 9.23, dragged it back and cleared the main line at 9.36. It was arranged that the passengers off the stranded DMU would be taken forward by 1B08. There was one passenger for Oldbury so a Special Stop Order was issued to 1B08 so that the Oldbury passenger could be set down. The failed DMU was left at Dudleyport until an engine could be found to drag it back to the Depot. [The Wrong Line Order would be issued by the Dudley Port Signalman to the driver of the Parcels Engine, allowing him to return to Dudley Port, dragging the failed DMU. An impressive example of an operational problem swiftly dealt with].

Visit to Sedgeley Jn. Sat 9th February 1963

To Dudleyport from Wolverhampton behind 46228, "sounding like an engine!". [Presumably a London service and a welcome change from diesel haulage]. Noted that 61018 is ‘Gnu’ [?]

Evening Visit to Sedgeley Jn. February 1963

50460 is Dudley end of local. 6.30 p.m. Wolverhampton – Burton is a 2-6-0 tender first with a British Rail 1st/2nd Composite and an ER Brake/2nd Composite! [Rather cryptic, I'm afraid].

The London and North Western Railway

The London and North Western Railway called itself 'The Premier Line' for some years. The railway could not be accused of false modesty! It was run for many years by Captain Mark Huish (1808 - 1867). Later, with Sir Richard Moon (1814 - 1899) as Chairman and with the towering, if controversial, figure of Francis William Webb (1836 - 1906) as the Chief Mechanical Engineer ruling his empire at Crewe with a rod of iron, the railway was bound to have a high opinion of itself. But in many ways, that opinion was justified. The railway was a joint stock company, owned by its shareholders, so the first measure of success was did its shareholders receive a good dividend? Yes, they did - consistently.

The railway boasted some of the finest permanent way in the country, made possible by the steelworks using the Bessemer process set up at Crewe so that the railway could manufacture its own rails, in longer lengths than otherwise available, reducing the number of rail joints and improving ride quality.

Webb believed that manufacturing in-house led to highest quality and lowest cost to the railway so Webb is also responsible, amongst other things, for the distinctive L.& N.W.R. signals and signal boxes. There's a little on L.& N.W.R. signalling here and on the 'Crewe' All Electric signalling system here. Steam Index has a wonderful Webb collection here.

1054 at the Battlefield Line in 1997 (Photo: John Fairclough).

But, of course, Webb is best known as a locomotive designer. The only Webb locomotive I've had an opportunity to drive is the preserved 'Coal Tank' number 1054, when she visited the Battlefield Line in 1997.

Slideshow at Brewood

Clockwise from left front: Phil, Mick, Ian, Dave, John, Keith.

My friend Phil arranged for Keith to give a slideshow on 18th March 2011 to a small group of interested people. Keith talked about his involvement in the partial restoration of the main station building at Wolverhampton Low Level. Needless to say, there was also animated discussion during the evening of other historical railway subjects. Present were Phil, Mick, Ian, Dave, John, Keith and Jan.

Clockwise from left front: Dave, John, Keith, Phil, Mick, Ian.

World Travel

Jan at the summit of Hyana Picchu, Machu Picchu in 2005.

In applying for a Russian visa for my trip in 2011, I had to list the countries I'd visited in the last ten years. I was quite surprised at the list:-

2002 Thailand, Fiji, USA, China.

2003 Poland, Germany.

2004 Canada, China, Macau, Hong Kong.

2005 Thailand, Taiwan, Vietnam, Cambodia, Singapore, Ukraine, New Zealand, Brazil, USA, Peru, Egypt.

2006 Australia, India, Equador, Chile, Hong Kong, Mexico, Tahiti.

2007 Australia, Japan, Argentina

2008 Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Mexico, Panama, USA, Cuba, Dubai.

2009 Myanmar, Thailand, Jordan, Egypt, India, Bhutan.

2010 Malaysia, Indonesia, Myanmar, Thailand, Norway.

2011 South Africa, St. Helena BOT, Ascension BOT.

At the top of the blog, you can click an entry in the list 'Labels to select a blog topic' to find the posts on a particular location. Some of these labels are still in code - for instance, 'RTW5' means my fifth trip round the world. Alternately, 'Search' in the header at the top of the blog will find posts including a particular word or phrase.

Following the collapse of the 'Fotopic' photo hosting site, most of my travel photographs have now been moved to various 'Collections' on my 'Flickr' site here.

I'm sorry that many of the picture links in the blog still point to the dead 'Fotopic' site but I'll update them as soon as I can.

I've been very fortunate to be able to see all these exotic places for myself.

'Thomas' visits MOSI

Thomas waits patiently as passengers board the train.

The Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester (MOSI) first ran 'A Day Out with Thomas' event in 2010. On that occasion, I was overseas so was unable to participate. However, when the event was repeated in 2011, I managed a day driving 'Thomas' on 1st September 2011, the first day of the four-day event.

The locomotive was the East Lancashire Railway's 'Gothenburg' in disguise. I'd driven this 'Thomas' at Shackerstone back in 2007 (see article) and, before that, I'd known the locomotive on the East Lancashire Railway in its handsome dark green livery over twenty years ago.

'Gothenburg' was numbered '32' by the Manchester Ship Canal. She was built by Hudswell Clarke (works number 680) in Leeds back in 1903 - I hope I'm as lively at the age of 108! It's one of a batch of 0-6-0 side tank locomotives with 15.5 x 20 inch inside cylinders and 3 foot 1 inch coupled wheels built for the Manchester Ship Canal which operated an extensive railway system. To facilitate operation on the tight curves of the dock railway, the centre pair of wheels are flangeless and the coupling rods have articulated joints.

Don Thorpe's book 'The Railways of the Manchester Ship Canal' (ISBN 0 86093 288 5) is an interesting history of Manchester's dock railway system.

My pictures of Thomas at MOSI are here.

Summer Saturday with a '2884'

Mike and 3803 ready to come 'off shed' at Shackerstone.

Former Great Western 2-8-0 locomotive number 3803 has been a popular performer at the Battlefield Line this summer. My first rostered turn was on Saturday 27th August 2011 when the locomotive was required to make five round trips to Shenton with a 5-coach service train. Mike was 'marked' as fireman, Danny (who'd recently passed out as a fireman) was also on hand and Danny's sister had the cleaner's 'spot'.

The locomotive had been left with a warming fire on Friday night so it was possible to clean the grate and resuscitate the fire with wood and coal. It's a big boiler so we were anxious to bring it into steam gently to avoid the rapid expansion which can increase maintenance costs through the increased stress on rivets, stays and smoke tibes. In the meantime, I got on with oiling round and the driver's daily examination of the locomotive. Outside cylinders mean that quite a few oiling points are accessible from outside but the link motion between the frames (see 'Layout of Valve Gear' below) requires you to lean in (or climb in) from the footframing to attend to some of the oiling points.

We were ready in good time, came 'Off Shed' and coupled up to the 5-coach train in Platform 2 on a nice, sunny morning. We set off, tender first, and I was at once impressed by the power and smoothness of the locomotive. Although running tender first, the low Great Western tender gives reasonable visibility to the rear, provided the coal isn't too heaped-up in the tender. I was obviously comparing this Swindon product with the Stanier '8F', about which I'd commented "The standard Stanier tender is not ideal running tender-first as far as visibility is concerned, so it's particularly important that the driver and fireman work together as a team." (see full article).

On my first trip with '3803', I drove fairly cautiously whilst I got the feel of the unfamiliar locomotive. As is my usual practice, as soon as we were moving, I linked well up on the 'pole' reverser to a position sutiable for drifting. The effort required to adjust the reverser was very moderate, as you'd expect with Piston Valves (which are 'Balanced' valves, unlike standard Slide Valves). With our featherweight train, acceleration was still good linked-up and, when we reached line speed, I could simply slam the regulator shut, re-open it on the 'Jockey Valve' (to make sure there was still a steam supply to the Sight Feed Lubricator - see below for further information) and coast. However, I was disappointed to find I was losing time. I'd been warned that I'd have to run fairly hard to keep to time now that trains are making a stop at Market Bosworth station. In addition, there are still a number of 'slacks' (speed restrictions) of 5 m.p.h. and 10 m.p.h. to be observed. We arrived at Shenton, ran round our train and set off back to Shackerstone, chimney leading.

On the approach to Shackerstone, the engine crew are always on the lookout for the Outer Home signal. The road bridge in front of this signal means that the sighting distance is reasonably short. If the arm is horizontal (nine o'clock clockface), the signal is 'On' and the train has to stop at the signal. If the arm is raised through 45 degrees (ten thirty clockface) the signal is 'Off' and the train can proceed to the Inner Home signal near the signal box. During the hot weather, it's been common for the signalman to struggle to give the correct 'Off' indication but on this day, I'd commented to Mike that we were getting a good 'Off' indication.

Shackerstone's Outer Home (lever 2) 'On'.

Back at Shackerstone, we ran round, and started our second trip of the day. Now the temperature dropped and it started to rain quite heavily. I'd taken the precaution of bringing a waxed jacket but the rain seemed to be coming horizontally across the low tender as we made our way to Shenton. As I squinted into the rain to 'watch the road', I remembered my own saying "Anybody can work on engines in good weather - it takes railwaymen to do it in bad weather". Many locomotives had 'Storm Sheets' which could be rigged between the cab and the tender to give some protection. I gather one had been ordered for '3803' but had not yet arrived. We used to keep storm sheets on the Great Western tender engines at Tyseley Railway Museum, but I was never too keen on using them myself because they do inevitably somewhat restrict your lookout running tender first.

One the second trip, I ran a little harder and just about managed 'even time'. Approaching Shackerstone's Outer Home on the return journey, the drop in temperature had tightened the signal wire and this time, the arm was almost pointing straight up. "If it gets any colder, the arm will be over the top" I joked, telling Mike about the time that happened to me on the 'Big Railway' (one of the 'Recollections' in the article on Tipton Curve Junction).

It was agreed that Mike would have a break for lunch and Danny would fire the third trip. Once again, we made the run to Shenton, ran round and returned chimney leading. The rain was still pretty bad. The Great Western did have large, sensible hinged spectacles at the front of the cab (visible in the heading photograph). Stanier lost no time in using a similar spectacle on his designs for the L.M.S. after he moved to Derby. I'd been running with the driver's spectacle open but an awful lot of stinging rain was being thrown into my face so I slammed the spectacle shut. Within seconds, there was so much rain streaming down the outside of the glass that I could see nothing ahead, so I reverted to running with the spectacle open.

I made the usual cautious approach to the Outer Home at Shackerstone and, to our surprise, the arm was at about one o'clock clockface. My prediction had come true, the arm had gone 'over the top'! This counted as a signal aspect "imperfectly displayed" which should be treated as a danger signal, so I brought the train to a stand. It was still raining quite hard but Danny made no complaint at the prospect of walking to the signal box to advise the signalman and obtain his instructions. Danny returned with permission to pass the signal and we made our way into the platform. I'm sorry I didn't get a photograph of the arm in the odd position.

Mike came back on the footplate and we completed our last two runs in rather better weather. Danny attended to the Outer Home so, when we returned to Shackerstone on the fourth trip, we received a proper 'off' indication. We enjoyed a pleasant fifth trip and disposed of the locomotive after an excellent day.

Background to the '2884' class

One of Churchward's original designs for the Great Western was a 2-8-0 for heavy goods work. The first locomotive '2800' was introduced in 1903 and the build totalled 84 locomotives. The '28XX' class was a great success and so when Collett, Churchward's successor as Chief Mechanical Engineer at Swindon, needed more heavy freight locomotives in the run-up to the second World War, he continued to build the Churchward design with very little change. The standard Collett cab, with glazed side windows, was the most obvious improvement. The numbering carried on from 2884 to 2899, then continued from 3800 to 3866. The Collett engines are often called the '2884' class.

The Great Western had published the first of its 'Engine Books' in 1911 and periodically this was updated. The 1946 edition (priced at two shillings and sixpence) included the page reproduced below describing the 2-8-0 tender engines (this is taken from the David and Charles composite edition of 1971, ISBN 0 7153 5367 5). Note that the official works photograph of 2840 shows the original Churchward cab but the lower line drawing depicts the Collett cab.

Click on the above image to enlarge.

Layout of Valve Gear

All the 2-cylinder Great Western designs feature Stephenson Link motion with four eccentrics mounted on the driving axle between the frames to provide the necessary valve events. With inside cylinder designs, the valves are usually between the frames and can be readily driven from the expansion links via the dieblocks and valve rods. However, where outside cylinders and valves are required, a means must be provided to translate the movement of the dieblocks from inside the frames to outside the frames. Swindon devised a typically rugged arrangement using rocking shafts which is illustrated below.

Click on the above diagram to enlarge.

In this arrangement, the dieblock is attached to an Intermediate Valve Rod, the lower end of which is supported by a swing link. The upper end of the intermediate Valve Rod is attached to the inner of two valve arms attached to the rocking shaft mounted on the framing. The upper end of the intermediate valve rod describes an arc when driving the rocking shaft, necessitating the swing link at the lower end to accommodate this non-linear movement. The outer valve arm drives the short valve rod which connects to the valve spindle. The set of pictures of 3803 (link below) has a number of pictures of the valve gear illustrating how the layout in the diagram above is implemented in practice.

Sight Feed Lubricator

Moving parts in contact with steam (such as the valves, pistons and regulator valve) require lubrication with a special, compound mineral oil, formulated to retain its properties at high temperature. Sight feed (or hydrostatic) lubricators are often used for this purpose and Swindon developed a range of suitable lubricators. Whereas many railways left the management of these lubricators to the fireman, the Great Western placed the Sight Feed Lubricator in front of the driver. Through training and the issue of circulars, Swindon ensured that drivers understood the method of operation and the importance of the Sight Feed Lubricator. A copy of Great Western Circular 5801 issued in November 1937 by C.B. Collet can be accessed (and downloaded) here.

My pictures of 3803 are here.

Lionsmeet 2011

The Steaming Bays at Chelmsford

The 2011 'Lionsmeet' was held on Saturday, 30th July at the Chelmsford Society of Model Engineers' track at Chelmsford.

We were using their elevated multi-gauge railway which has provision for 3.5-inch, 5-inch and 7.25-inch gauge vehicles in the form of a dumb-bell. There's a Sector Switch Unit (traverser) giving access to the steaming bays which are served by a traverser and a station area with a substantial umbrella roof, clubroom and refreshment facilities. A footbridge links the station area with an exhibition area where a marquee contained a display of various 'Lion' and other early locomotive models and gave access to the steaming bays.

Around the elevated track, a dual-gauge ground level oval track supports 5-inch and 7.25-inch models. This line had some very impressive dual-gauge pointwork.

Alan Bibby was on hand to make sure everything ran smoothly and OLCO President E.F. Clark, OLCO Chairman John Brandrick and OLCO 'Lionsheart' magazine editor John Hawley were in attendance. The morning was spent in preparing locomotives and earnest discussions. After lunch provided by the host club, the competition started at 1 p.m.

Once again this year, there were four competitors on three 5-inch gauge 'Lion' models. By convention, the previous year's winner (Andrew Neish) ran first, followed by his father, David Neish on the same locomotive. Then Jon Swindlehurst performed his run and, finally, Adrian Banks with his newly-built 'Lion'.

Each competitor was allowed an untimed lap or two to determine what load he wished to carry behind the Chelmsford dynamometer car, followed by ten minutes to try to produce the maximum work done. David Neish has recently designed and built a 'LIONsPOWER' measuring unit which replaces the drawlink between locomotive and train and displays work done on a small electronic unit. This unit was used to collect comparitive readings, but the contest was awarded based on the results from the Chelmsford dynamometer car.

The performances are summarised below:-

Name	Work done (ft./lb.)	Position
Andrew Neish	51081	3
David Neish	53843	2
Jon Swindlehurst	74605	1
Adrian Banks	6775	4 (retired)

Adrian had only recently completed his model - indeed, there is still more work required - but he very sportingly agreed to compete. Unfortunately, he was forced to retire after a piston gland worked loose during the run. Andrew and David put up their usual strong performance but it was Jon, taking a much heavier load, who produced the winning result.

E. F. Clark presenting the Mike Parrot Memorial Cup to Jon Swindlehurst.

Jan's pictures of the event are here.

Leaving Russia

Tuesday 26th July 2011

The ship had made arrangements for transport at appropriate times to ferry the departing passengers to St. Petersburg airport to go our various ways. My departure time was 11.30 a.m. and I was determined to squeeze the most experience out of the remaining time by making a 'whistle-stop' visit to the city centre.

I established that the first shuttle bus to the Metro station was at 9.00 a.m. so I was waiting for it in good time. The bus made good time across the river to the Metro station and purchasing a ticket was no problem. When I got to the platform level, I realised that the station lacked any signage in 'Romanised' characters but the Metro map I was carrying only had the place names in 'Romanised' form, so I struggled to determine in which direction I should be heading. A train came in on what I thought was the right direction so I caught it. After a fair bit of worrying and trying to guess the meaning of words in Cyrillic characters each time we stopped, I arrived at Gostiny Dvor in the centre of the city.

St. Petersburg street scene.

It was another sunny morning with plenty of people about and I happily wandered around for a while until fear of getting back to the ship late overcame me so I entered Nevsky Prospekt Metro station, purchased a ticket and made my way through the underground passages to get to the Gostiny Dvor platforms, aided by at least some of the signs using 'Romanised' as well as Cyrillic characters.

With some relief, I boarded a train going in the right direction and counted off the stops. When we arrived at the stop before mine, I realised my carriage was now empty. A minute later, the driver walked through the train 'shooing' any remaining passengers off the train. The platform edge doors closed and I heard my train rumble away. I'd no idea why the train was being taken out of service. After a few minutes, the following train arrived and I was able to continue my journey. By now I was worried that I would miss the shuttle bus back to the ship so I sprinted up the long escalator until I was panting heavily, emerged into the sunlight and impatiently waited for the traffic lights to stop the traffic and allow me to cross the road. By now, I could see the shuttle bus but my watch suggested that the bus should be about to leave. Two passengers were still on the pavement - 'Plenty of time' they assured me and, indeed, it was about a minute before the bus moved off with one relieved passenger still breathing heavily.

After this adventure, I was back at the ship with time to spare before saying my final goodbyes, identifying my luggage and joining the coach to the airport. The coach initially took the route we'd used the previous day going to the Catherine Palace at Pushkin before taking the airport road, passing a large retail park and pulling up at a surprisingly small airport terminal building. This was Pulkovo II which appeared to be for international flights. As we'd arrived, I'd seen another terminal in the distance crowned with what looked like five cooling towers and I assumed this was Pulkovo I for domestic flights. The terminal was fairly crowded with a number of queues snaking towards check-in desks placed around the outside of the space. According to the passenger displays, I had at least an hour to wait before I could check in so I found a relatively quiet corner of the terminal, sat down on my large case and took out my notebook computer to pass the time preparing text for the blog. To my amazement, the computer immediately connected itself to a free, fast 'Wi-Fi' so I dashed off a couple of e-mails. I was quite happily typing away and didn't at first notice that check in had started at two desks for my flight to Zurich.

One desk for Economy had a very long queue but the other desk for Business had a short queue which I joined. There seemed to be a group of French ladies at the head of the queue attempting to check-in (in English) but the check-in girl was repeatedly directing them, with extreme politeness, to the other queue. I assumed they didn't have Business Class tickets. Next, the French contingent tried to book in by speaking French. Once again, the check-in girl declined with great courtesy, responding in French. One of the French ladies then insisted on remaining directly in front of the check-in desk, glowering at everyone in sight. The check-in girl then processed the Business class passengers very efficiently and I commented on her patience. Check-in complete, I made my way through security and immigration, with the French ladies still attempting to picket the Check-in desk.

I found the nice, quiet Polkovo business lounge which had extremely friendly staff and a reasonable range of snacks. Once again, the 'Wi-Fi' worked well and it was soon time to make my way to the Departure Gate for my flight. The advantage of the small terminal was that it only took a couple of minutes to get from the lounge to the gate. There are plenty of airports where they warn you to allow 20 minutes!

Taxiing away from Pulkovo II terminal at St. Petersburg.

Once on the aircraft, I was able to relax and catch my last views of Russia as we made our way to Switzerland. It was sunny and hot when we arrived in Zurich. The terminal seemed very crowded but, to my relief, my flight was called quite soon and I boarded the bus taking us onto the apron where the aircraft for the Birmingham flight was waiting. The flight was uneventful and we arrived at Birmingham on time - a satisfactory conclusion to what had proved a stimulating and fascinating tour.

More pictures.

Last full day in St. Petersburg

Monday 25th July 2011

Various optional tours (chargeable) were offered on the Monday. I'd elected for the Catherine Palace in Pushkin during the morning and the Yusopov Palace in the afternoon. The bus to the Catherine Palace didn't leave until 9.15 a.m. so, after an early breakfast, there was time for a walk along the four-lane highway which followed the river into the city centre. I explored one or two side roads but the mainly residential area was fairly nondescript - it could have been a million miles from the grandeur of the civic buildings and palaces in the city centre.

The four-lane highway passing the River Station leads to the centre of Saint Petersburg.

Just after 9.00 a.m., the usual coaches were lined up to take us to the Catherine Palace and, once everybody had been sorted onto the appropriate coach, we set off in convoy, this time negotiating the complex of slip-roads leading to the cable-stayed road bridge next to the River Terminal for our journey in a new direction to Pushkin.

The palaces and parks we were to see were developed by Empress Elizabeth and later re-developed to the taste of Empress Catherine in the late 18th century. The centrepiece is the massive baroque palace called the Catherine Palace after Peter the Great's second wife who was the Empress Elizabeth's mother. The architects Rastrelli, Rinaldi, Cameron and Quarenghi were all involved in the creation of the 'Russian Versailles'. The area has, once again, started to be known as 'Tsarskoye Selo' (the Tsar's Village) but that name fell out of favour following the revolution so the area is also known as 'Pushkin' after the revered Russian poet.

Our coaches dropped us off on the approach road to the Catherine Palace and we joined the throng of visitors walking towards the Palace. We eventually joined a large queue awaiting admission to the palace where we were entertained by a group of uniformed musicians. As I listened to the music, I realised they were not mere 'buskers'. I was so impressed, I purchased the CD their leader was selling (stopping playing his trumpet to serve customers and then picking up the tune again). The sleeve notes told me that they were the 'Catherine Palace Orchestra', now established 20 years and having played at numerous official functions during that time. I was quite sorry when the queue finally shuffled forward and we moved into the Palace itself.

The Catherine Palace Orchestra performing for the queue.

The Catherine Palace is certainly impressive, if somewhat 'over the top' for me. The Germans got as far as St. Petersburg during the second World War and during their occupation of the Palace, it suffered considerable damage. Considerable resources have been expended (some from War Reparations) to bring the palaces and parks to their present state of renovation. Our tour was necessarily brief but we saw the Main Staircase, the amazing gilt and mirrored Great Hall (which was used for balls), a number of Anterooms, the Arabesque Room, the Chevalier, Minor White and Green Dining Rooms, the White, Crimson and Green Pilaster rooms, the Portrait Room, the Picture Room, the Drawing Room of Alexander I and a rather grand Waiters' Room. The Amber Room is perhaps the most famous room, completely inlaid with pieces of ambers in various shades of toffee colour. It's definitely baroque and cleverly executed, but a little sickly for my taste.

The Catherine Palace, viewed from the Catherine Park.

Once outside, at our Guide's suggestion we gave the Alexander Park (with the large Alexander Palace) a miss and spent the rest of our time exploring the Catherine Park. All too soon, we were hurrying back to our coaches which took us back to the ship for lunch at 1.00 p.m.

Pictures of the trip to the Catherine Palace in Pushkin are here.

At 2.30 p.m. I departed by coach with the group visiting the Yusupov Palace, situated on a bend of the Moika River near the city centre. Our guide had arranged to purchase photographic permits for those who wanted to take pictures but, when we arrived at reception, we were told that the people who dealt with the permits were on break so photography would not be possible. Mindless bureaucracy is still alive and well in the Russian Federation!

The entrance to the Yusupov Palace at 94 Moika.

A little background ... Apparently Tsar Peter the Great never liked Moscow, his original capital. He built a new capital at what is now called Saint Petersburg where the River Neva flows into the Gulf of Finland. The area was originally swampland so construction was no easy task. The city is still penetrated by numerous minor rivers and canals, giving rise to its description as "The Venice of the North", although I was more reminded of Amsterdam. Numerous grand residences were built to accommodate members of the Royal court and the city delighted in its sophistication. Even today, Saint Petersburg regards itself as the cultural capital of Russia. There was a wooden palace on the site of the Yusopov Palace at the beginning of the 18th century and ownership changed hands many times. The 'golden age' for the Palace was initiated by its purchase by Prince Nikolai Yusupov in 1830. Nikolai Yusopv was from an ancient family of Russian nobility, educated in Europe. His immense wealth allowed him to indulge his taste for collecting. On the death of Prince Nikolai in 1831, the Yusupov Palace passed to Nikolai's only son, Boris. The palace received the attentions of the finest architects and artists to create a suitable home for the Prince's collections. The rebuilt Palace included a private theatre! In the 1860s, there was a further major reconstruction of the Palace carried out by Nikolai Yusupov the Younger, followed by yet further improvements in the 1890s. The last Yusupov to own the Palace was Prince Felix Yusupov the Younger who commissioned the final changes to the Palace between 1911 and 1916.

The relationship of the Royal court with the Tsar's familiy had become threatened by the power gained by Grigory Rasputin - a peasant from Siberia who had become close to Tsar Nicholas II and his wife Alexandra through his apparent ability to help the Tsar's haemophiliac son Alexis. Rasputin was lured to the Yusupov Palace in December 1916 and murdered in the basement. In the following year, the Russian Revolution swept away the previous hierarchy and the Yusupov Palace was seized by the State. The custodians of the Palace realised the importance of the Palace and its collections and it remained more or less intact until the Second World War when aerial bombing and a serious fire caused major damage. At the end of the war, the State carried out meticulous restoration so that visitors can once again view the Palace as it was at the end of the 19th century. The building is now the 'Palace of Culture of Education Workers' but it is referred to as the 'Yusupov Palace' without embarrassment.

There were quite a few parties touring the Palace but the lady attendants in each room were diligent in closing the doors to each room as parties entered and left so it wasn't the 'scrum' we'd experienced elsewhere. I found the private rooms quite atmospheric. As you might expect, there were drawing rooms of various colours, dining rooms of various colours and grander rooms for balls and banquets. There was a series of Picture Gallery rooms for the display of various types of art. Much of the art had been removed for display elsewhere, but impressive displays remain. There was a rather gloomy Oak Dining Room and an equally gloomy smaller dining room in Prince Yusupov's Apartments improbably sporting embossed, coloured leather 'wallpaper'. Equally improbably, this room is now used as one of the souvenir shops. I did rather like Prince Yusupov's Study, filled with bookcases. The Moorish Drawing Room with mosaic floor, elaborate wall decorations and marble columns was rather over-the-top. I was perhaps most impressed by the threatre with its elaborate gold leaf and painted ceiling. Monighetti was the architect in 1860 but it was then 'modernised' to accord with the then-current taste by Stepanov in 1899. The guide book refers to the theatre as "a precious casket, created with intricate virtuosity". We descended to the basement and a re-creation of the events surrounding the demise of Rasputin. I couldn't help thinking that, having despatched Rasputin in violent fashion, less than a year later the whole of the aristocracy was either killed or exiled in the shattering events of the Revolution.

We returned to our coaches but, to our surprise, we were delivered to the landing stage by the Hermitage, to complete our journey back to our ship by hydrofoil. This made a pleasant conclusion to a busy day.

Pictures on the journey to and from the Yusupov Palace are here. I took no pictures inside the Palace, as explained above.

An Evening at the Ballet

Sunday 24th July 2011

The Auditorium of the Hermitage Theatre, just before the performance.

Sunday had already been quite busy (Peterhof in the rain in the morning, exploring the Metro and Moscow Station in the afternoon) but we were not done yet. Dinner was at 6.00 p.m., comprising soup and a man course only to ensure that we'd be ready to leave the ship by 7.00 p.m. The dessert was to be offered to us on our return! We'd been offered two choices for the evening's entertainment - The Menshikov Hall Folk Show or Ballet at the Hermitage Theatre. Well, the Ballet Company might not be the famous Mariinsky (formerly the Kirov) but the performance was at the Hermitage Theatre so it was no contest. I joined one of the buses for the ballet and we drove downtown.

We entered the Winter Palace through a modest doorway and climbed stairs to the first floor. We passed through a large salon which formed a bridge over a canal. The salon had been renovated and was quite grand, if bare. Large windows on either side gave views of the canal on one side and the Neva River on the other. A small souvenir and programme stall looked rather out-of-place in the grand salon. We passed into the theatre itself which had also had extensive renovation. The theatre seats around 250 and is quite intimate. Steeply raked semicircular seating rows ensure good views. A few rows of chairs, very close to the orchestra, filled in the semicircle. Guides from the ship acted as usherettes to find seating for us all. Most of the audience appeared to be tourists, but I did spot one old Russian lady who looked as if she might be a regular.

The performance started on time. I'd not seen 'Giselle' so I was quite glad of the programme notes. I'm not a fan of the ballet but I enjoyed the two-acts of 'Giselle'. After the performance, the audience were generous in their appreciation of both the dancers and the orchestra.

The Company and the Orchestra take their bow after the performance.

We retraced our steps through the salon, down the stairs and out into the street, where our coaches were waiting to return us to the ship. Those with the appetite (and energy) were offered dessert to complete the evening meal. Altogether, a very satisfactory day.

Pictures of the trip to the ballet.

Saint Petersburg Metro

Sunday 24th July 2011

Route Map of the Saint Petersburg Metro. (Larger image).

After the morning organised visit to the Peterhof, in the afternoon I briefly explored the Saint Petersburg Metro on my own. Any journey costs 25 Roubles and all stations have one or more staffed ticket windows where you can purchase the necessary coin token. There were a few automatic ticket machines but I never worked out quite how they worked. Moscow Metro uses credit-card sized printed tickets but Saint Petersburg uses coin tokens similar to those I found in Kiev a few years ago. The automatic gates themselves which give access to the platforms are similar to Metro systems the world over.

Russian Metros seem to run quite deep - 70 metres below ground is typical. Descending to platform level usually involves one long escalator and steps or a short escalator. Each station is formed from three parallel tunnels - two outside tunnels for the tracks and a central concourse tunnel for passenger access which is sometimes highly decorated. At many stations there are platform edge doors so you can only hear the arriving trains. The row of heavy steel doors set in arches either side of the concourse tunnel rather gives the impression of a prison. At other stations, the arches allow you to walk through to a conventional platform which shares the tunnel bore with the track. Digital displays are often provided on the end walls of the concourse showing how long has elapsed since the previous train departed. Even on a Sunday, trains were running every two or three minutes.

There are now five separate Metro lines in St. Petersburg, all end-to-end, with seven interchange stations. The lines are known as M1 to M5, but always using a stylised 'M' looking like a letter 'V' in a tunnel - (V). All signage, of course, is in Russian using Cyrillic characters. In the city centre, many signs also carry station names or other clues in the 'Romanised' or 'Latinised' form but away from the city centre Cyrillic rules. To add to my confusion, interchange stations have a separate name on each line. I started my tour at Gostiny Dvor on Line 3: had I walked through the pedestrian tunnel to Line 2, I would have been at Nevsky Prospekt.

My first trip took me just one stop on Line 3 to the interchange station of Mayakovskaya/Ploshchad Vosstaniya where I emerged to look for 'Moscow Station' - the main line railway station for trains to Moscow. I spent a happy half hour wandering around this station before returning underground to continue my Metro tour. This time, I took Line 1 for two stations to reach the interchange station of Pushkinskaya/Zvenigorodskaya. The rolling stock on lines 1 and 3 had been the fairly basic Russian Metro design but, transferring to the later Line 5, more modern trains were in use and there was a lot of electronics in the driver's cab. I only travelled one stop to the three-way interchange of Sadovaya/Sennaya Ploshchad/Spasskaya. Wandering through the pedestrian tunnels, I was amused to find a pair of double doors labelled in Russian and in English 'Spasskaya Telecontrol Centre' which I assume was a signalling control room. This time, my journey took me three stops on Line 4 to my final interchange of Ploshchad Aleksandra Nevskogo. Oddly, the two stations here share the same name, with a suffix 'I' or 'II'. Three stops on Line 3 took me to Proletarskaya. Here I was to get the Shuttle Bus back to my ship at the river terminal. Worried that I would miss the bus, I panted up the long escalator, crossed the main road and panted along the street opposite which I hoped would lead to the bus stop. Fortunately, it did and the bus set off a few seconds after I boarded. A rather breathess end to an interesting tour.

My rather indifferent pictures of the Saint Petersburg Metro are here.

My equally indifferent pictures of Moscow's Metro are here.

More St. Petersburg

Sunday 24th July 2011

The day started dull, became very wet and then, in the afternoon, became warm and sunny. After my usual 7.0 a.m. breakfast, I decided to take a walk ashore.

We were tied-up on the outside of two other river cruise ships from the Vodohod group so, to get ashore, I had to go through the reception area of the 'L. Sobolev' (I presume this is named after Sobolev the mathemetician who died in 1989) and then the 'Konstantin Fedin' (the Russian author who died in 1977 - article here. We were at the newer river terminal of Utkina Zavod, situated on a busy dual carriageway with follows the north bank of the Neva.

I walked in a downstream direction past what is principally a residential area. I passed some modern apartments but most of the housing was 3- 4- and 5-story apartments, in pretty poor condition somewhat relieved by trees, grass and children's play areas. There was a small bus station with people commuting to work. I was amused by a queue of passengers formed up in the middle of the tarmac area, waiting where the bus would ultimately arrive. I couldn't help thinking that they were about to break into a spontaneous performance of Village People's hit 'Y.M.C.A'. In the forecourt of an old factory, there was a badly-wrecked saloon car. It looked as if the emergency services had cut the roof open to extract the unfortunate occupants. I wondered how long it had sat there, a grim reminder of the perils of road travel.

The adjacent factory had once been a large engineering complex but had clearly been abandoned for years. In places, there were holes in the walls and some of the windows and doors were missing. Inside, I could see partly-dismantled, rusting pipework. Thinking about what might have happened to all those who became unemployed when the factory closed, it made a sad sight. In the days of the Soviet directed economy, I'm sure the place buzzed with activity even if it was not profitable in the conventional sense. I wondered whether the Soviet system had ultimately collapsed under the weight of its own internal economic inconsistencies.

In places, pairs of large-diameter, heavily lagged district heating pipes emerged from the ground and wandered around, like large worms. Wisps of steam rose from the ground at one point where there was a manhole set in concrete and, presumably, some sort of valve underground. On the river side of the dual carriageway, a typical Russian floating crane had moored and its grab was unloading gravel from a river cargo ship, producing clouds of dust in the process.

An unexpected sight was a 5-story hexagonal brick tower, complete with battlemented turrets! It appeared to be used as apartments now and I could not guess at its origins, unless it was originally an impressive gatehouse to the adjacent works. I turned back towards the ship near a Soviet-era apartment block, opposite the older river terminal on the south bank of the river. The architecture of the apartment block was impressive but it now wore a tired and uncared-for appearance. At least the rainwater down pipes had been replaced not too long ago, with the Russian pattern of large diameter sectional pipes made from sheet sheel. But, inevitably, where a tall archway gave access for vehicles to the yard at the rear of the property, the down pipes had become battered by numerous impacts from the small lorries and vans which seemed to infest the place.

The epic architecture (and battered rainwater pipes!) of Stalin-era apartments.

When travelling to and from the city centre the previous day I'd spotted, at strategic locations, modern pontoons with a bright yellow awning connected to the river bank by steps. I passed one of these on my walk back to the ship. These are the landing stages for the 'Aquabus' system - a network of small motor cruisers which dash up and down the river.

Later in the morning, we set off from the ship for a visit to the Peterhof Gardens. We travelled by hydrofoil 'Meteor' class number 185 but to board this, we had to pass through the normal neighbouring ships to reach the embankment, walk along to the next pier and cross through two or three different moored cruise ships to reach the hydrofoil itself. We set of downstream, past the remarkable contrasts we'd seen previously but, this time, we carried on towards the sea, past navy ships, a number of floating docks and the tall cranes constructing a new arena. I was amazed to see six or seven ocean-going cruise ships in the new port area, presumably all disgorging thousands of tourists into the crowded city. The coast had dropped behind us and and we were surrounded by grey sea, so the passengers were surprising when the engines suddenly dropped to idling. The explanation became clear as a massive Spanish cruise ship crossed in front of us, heading for the port. As soon as he was clear, we set off again. Whilst we were drifting, another hydrofoil has almost caught up with us and I could see a third following us both! Perhaps it was my imagination, but our captain appeared to increase speed to prevent the following hydrofoil from overhauing us. A flag-bedecked jetty appeared and we quickly docked and disembarked. We had arrived by the 'Royal Route' because Peter the Great was accustomed to travelling by sea from the city to Peterhof.

View of the Great Palace at Peterhof from the Marine Canal, in the rain.

It was raining fairly hard and I was glad of my raincoat. Some of our group had been rather optimistically attired and must have been rather miserable by the time we got under cover. We walked alongside the Marine Canal which leads from the sea to the Great Palace and had our first views of the impressive architecture. We toured the Lower Gardens in the rain. Situated here are a number of smaller Palaces and Pavilions. After queueing in the rain, we were admitted to one of the elaborate Pavilions, where we discarded our wet coats and fitted plastic overshoes in a cloakroom before being allowed to walk on the original wooden floors. After the tour, we were back in the rain where a balustraded promenade gave us the view of the Gulf of Finland so beloved by Peter the Great (a bit grey when we were there). We looked through the windows of Peter the Great's favourite Pavilion - 'Monplaisir' built to give views of the sea.

The Park incorporates 176 fountains and four cascades, powered entirely by hydraulic pressure, the water being led in a pipeline from the inland hills. Some of the fountains are 'Trick' fountains, where the unwary are given a soaking either by treading on one of the stones that releases water or just by mistiming their movements passing through the target area. Apparently, when these were built, this was considered a capital joke. We passed an aviary for exotic birds and a hothouse for exotic plants. There were water features everywhere, none more famous than the huge Grand Cascade in front of the Great Palace. Adorned with dozens of gilded figures, this discharges into the Marine Canal.

By this time, the rain had abated and, near the Grand Cascade, a brass band was playing. All of the instruments were in the form of a straight horn of various lengths and diameters. Two large metal tables supported the larger instruments, so the instruments were not exactly portable! There was time to explore more of the Lower Gardens (and spot a couple of red squirrels scurrying between the mature trees) before we made our way to the coach park for the return journey. We were given a choice - a coach right back to the ship or, since the afternoon was free, a coach to the city centre. I was surprised at how few of my fellow passengers elected, like me, to go to the city centre. A lady guide was provided to describe some of the sights and I found it a fascinating journey.

The coach skirted the Upper Park if the Peterhof and followed the broad Peterhof Highway back to the city centre. We passed various buildings associated with the Peterhof before skirting the impressive Konstantinovsky Palace. In recent times, this has been restored to its original grandeur and was famously used as the venue for the Russia - European Union Summit in 2003. Like a number of grand buildings in St. Petersburg, the Palace is now available for hire. We passed a huge modern building that looked educational. I was puzzled by the marine radar scanner rotating on the roof, until our guide explained that the building was the Academy for Russian Merchant Seamen. Apparently, its completion had been delayed for years and it had become something of a local scandal. A double-track tram system ran parallel to the road on reserved tracks and I was surprised at just how many one- and two-car trams were in traffic and well-patronised for a Sunday afternoon. We passed tall, modern apartment blocks and 'retail parks'. Apart from all the signs being in Russian, we could have been anywhere in Europe.

Narva Triumphal Arch

Our route into the older part of the city took us past the Narva Triumphal Arch, brick-built with cladding and ornamentation in copper. This was completed in 1834 to celebrate Russia's triumph over Napoleon in the war of 1812. Badly damaged in World War II, it was restored in 1951. There's more here. The coach dropped us off near the monument to Catherine the Great and the guide gave us directions to our various destinations. I opted for the nearest Metro Station, Gostiny Dvor.

More later.

Pictures of my visit to the Peterhof Gardens are here.

Pictures of the trip back from the Peterhof to the city centre are included in the set 'Around St. Petersburg'.

St. Petersburg

Saturday 23rd July 2011

'Vodohod' berths for cruise ships and hyrofoils on the north bank of the River Neva at Utkina Zavod, St. Petersburg.

During the night, we completed our crossing of Lake Lagoda and entered the River Neva to complete the last 50 km of our marathon journey from Moscow. It was noticeable that, whilst the industrial sites we'd passed on our trip had been run-down, we passed some modern premises as we approached St. Petersburg. We came to an area bristling with new high-rise apartments of the type you can find in any major city and passed under a modern cable-stayed road bridge which I'd cross a number of times during our stay in St. Petersburg. On our right, there were a number of moored River Cruise ships, all flying the red 'Vodohod' pennant and a collection of hyrofoils. It appeared that we were at our destination. I'm afraid it was a while before I had grasped that we were at the newer river terminal of Utkina Zavod on the north bank (not shown on the map I had) rather than the older terminal a short distance downstream on the south bank. We manoevred together with another river cruise ship: it seemed to be a case of one out, one in.

We moored at the River Port on time at 8.0 a.m. and disembarked at 9.0 a.m. to visit the Hermitage Museum. Our passengers made the usual procession through other moored ships and the landing stage to reach a waiting 'Meteor' class hydrofoil. Once we were all distributed around the three cabins of the hydrofoil, we roared off downstream to the centre of the city. It certainly seemed a great way to reach the museum because we disembarked at a landing stage right opposite the main entrance to the museum, merely waiting for the pedestrian lights to turn green before crossing the busy road en masse to join the crowds already milling around.

Our entry had been timed for 10.0 a.m. (when the museum opened) to avoid the worst of the crowds. Although, unusually, photography is permitted in the museum, bags and bulky coats are not so we made use of the cloakroom before passing through the electronic turnstiles. The original Hermitage was built to house Catherine the Second's collection of artworks but the State Hermitage Museum now also incorporates the Winter Palace, the Small Hermitage, the New Hermitage and the Hermitage Theatre. About three million exhibits are displayed in over three hundred rooms - whatever you've read about this world-famous museum doesn't prepare you for the sensory overload of being there. The quality and breadth of the exhibits quite knocked me out.

The Armorial Hall, designed in 1839, was intended for formal receptions and balls.

Money has been lavishly expended in returning the buildings to their original grandeur, a breath-taking amalgam of baroque and classical. We made our way up the main staircase of the Winter Palace, originally used by Ambassadors being given audiences in various state rooms and toured a number of the main rooms with our guide, Dmitri. Dmitri's style in rushing us around the major exhibits so as to give us some free time to re-visit places of particular interest was not very popular with some members of the group I was with. Needless to say, the two and a half hours we spent here is nowhere near enough time - two and a half weeks might be more appropriate. My pictures taken in the State Museum are here. Be warned, some of these pictures are dreadful - the low light, the continual press of other visitors, the shortness of time and, yes, my sheer excitement conspired to produce rather disappointing results.

Around 12.30 p.m. we left the Hermitage and boarded a number of waiting coaches which drove all the ship’s passengers to the 'Academy' restaurant nearby. Here, we enjoyed a set 4-course lunch. There was a little time to walk in the gardens opposite the former Stock Exchange (now the Naval Museum), flanked by the two red-painted Rostrol Columns before boarding the coaches for a City Tour with various stops for visits or photographic opportunities. We spent some time in the Peter and Pault Fortress and marvelled at the restoration of the Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral. We stopped to wonder at the elaborate exterior of the Church on the Spilled Blood. The inside has the most intricate mosaics but there was insufficient time to queue to visit the interior. The church was built to mark the place where Alexander II was fatally injured by a bomb in 1881. Construction of the Church and its mosaics took from 1883 to 1907. Despite the church's rather gruesome origins, we saw two newly-wed couples being photographed in its precincts.

Many sights we were only able to take in from the coach, such as the Kazan Cathedral. This Church was built between 1801 and 1811 (during the Napoleonic Campaigns) and is now regarded as a monument to the valour of the Russian army. The church is flanked by two massive curved colonnades said to be inspired by the Vatican. The present Saint Isaac's Cathedral, the fourth to stand on the site, was built between 1818 and 1858. We saw the Admiralty building, made a brief photographic stop at the Mariinsky Palace (built between 1839 and 1844 and now occupied by the City Council) and saw a number of the city's many canals. Each of the canals seemed to have a procession of trip boats of various sizes but, to my surprise, some of them didn't seem very well patronised. Another stop was made at the Smolny Monastery. This was built between 1748 and 1769 in baroque style to the design of Bartholomeo Francesco Rastrelli. Here, we saw two young men with their friends, apparently having made (I presume) a civil partnership.

This was our last stop and the coaches took us directly back to our ship. The weather had been very hot and I think most of the passengers were exhausted by the time we arrived back at the ship at 6.0 p.m.

My pictures of our arrival at St. Petersburg and then of our City Tour in the afternoon are here.

Pictures of the River Terminal are here.

Sivirstroy

Friday 22nd July 2011

When I got up, the ship had already left Lake Onega and was sailing downstream on the Svir River. Near Podporozhye we entered the Upper Svir Lock adjacent to the Verkhne-Svirskaya Hydro-electric plant opened in 1951.

Verkhne-Svirskaya Hydro-electric plant.

Having negotiated this lock, we continued downstream. On our right, near Uslanka, we saw a massive stockyard with around twelve overhead cranes serving the various bays. As we passed, I counted only one bay being used for logs and one or two bays with coal. It must have been a very different sight in its heyday.

Large stockyard with Overhead Travelling Cranes.

Once more, the forests closed in on both sides of the river, pierced by the occasional small village. The landing stage of Mandrogy came up on our left. Four river cruise ships were berthed, two by two. There were some large wooden buildings, including one still under construction. A few people were boating or swimming in the river. A 'typical Russian Village' was re-created there in 1996, with hotels, restaurants, museums and craft workshops. Mandrogy forms a calling-point for the cruise boats, but we sailed past. Soon, the hydro-electric power station at the Lower Svir Lock came into view but we altered course to port to bring us alongside a large barge which had been modified for use as a landing stage. It appeared that we were to enjoy our own 'retail opportunities' before passing through the lock. The area between the river and a public road had been quite nicely prepared with a series of cafes and souvenir stalls. I'm told the gifts were of good quality and fairly reasonably prices but I'm afraid I react fairly badly to these contrived experiences and I quickly headed out of the 'craft village' for the public road.

The road to the left seemed to head inland so I turned right along a residential road parallel to the river bank, walking in the direction of the Lock and Power Station. The village of Sivirstroy has a population of around 1,000 and seemed to be a reasonably prosperous place. A fairly grand villa was under construction on the river side of the road. I passed the war memorial which was festooned with wreathes and came to a small picnic area looking towards the power station. A couple of small boats were presumably used by amateur fishermen.

A picnic area on the river bank at Sivirstory.

At the end of the village, a track lead off to the Power Station and what looked like the boiler room for a district heating system. A solitary lady was waiting at a bus shelter. Beyond, there was a vista of trees. I turned onto another residential road, running roughly parallel to the road I'd just taken. I passed two unidentified public buildings, the church and an infant school (quite deserted - Summer Holidays? I wondered). There were a few people about but it was very peaceful and the tree-lined road with neat brick and stucco houses, each with its own garden looked very pleasant.

Sivirstroy.

I passed what must have been a civilian air raid shelter. One of the doors was standing open but I didn't summon up the coutage to explore further. By this time, I was close to my starting point so I made a brief foray on the road heading inland. A picturesque lake lay on my left with a broad sandy beach, with lots of Russians enjoyed the sunny weather. On my right, partly hidden by trees, a small medical centre and a rather nondescript 5-story block of apartments. There were bus lay-bys on both sides of the road and then trees, as far as I could see.

On the way back to the ship, I passed an impressive statue to S.M. Kirov. Once again, I had to write down the Cyrillic characters and ask one of the shipboard guides to 'Latinise' it to 'Kirov'. She claimed not to know of the subject of the statue, but the dates on the statue suggest it commemorates Sergei Kirov, who rose to high rank but was assasinated in 1934. Like all Russian history, the tale is convoluted and bloody - see 'The Kirov Murder'.

I came back to the riverbank just upstream of the ship, where I found a few dwelling in a more traditional style, then I returned to the ship. At 4.0 p.m. we slipped our moorings and entered the Lower Svir Lock. This was the last lock on our journey. As we passed through the lock, I had closer views of the adjacent Nizhne-Svirskaya hydro-electric station which was completed in 1934. These Stalin-era engineering achievements are impressive, but it's sobering to remember that most (all?) were completed using forced labour.

We passed Lodeynoe Pole, with a passenger ferry at the landing stage and numerous apartment blocks and run-down engineering works. The peace was shattered for about ten minutes by a young man on a jet-ski who 'buzzed' our ship, showing off in a way common to young men the world over.

Later in the evening, we entered Lake Ladoga (which is Europe's biggest lake). During the night, we crossed Lake Ladoga and entered the Neva River which would take us to St. Petersburg.

My pictures around Sivirstroy are here.

My pictures taken from Sivirstroy to Lake Lagoda are here.

Kizhi Island

Thursday 21st July 2011

Lake Onega is the second largest lake in Europe and its shape is said to resemble a clawed lobster. The lake contains over 1300 islands, one of which is Kizhi. It took us some hours the cross this inland sea, passing various river cruise ships and two speeding hydrofoils.

Eventually, we spotted a small wooden church on a nearby island. We were approaching Kizhi! For the first time, two house pennants were flown from the flagstaff at the bow, representing the partners – the red Vodohod flag above the blue AMA Waterways flag. As we approached the landing stage the outline of the very improbable Transfiguration Cathedral came into view. And so did three river cruisers, all similar to our ship, moored three abreast at the single landing pontoon. Once again, I realised that this wasn’t likely to be a quiet, spiritual experience.

Getting ashore here proved more of an ordeal than anywhere else on the trip. A number of mooring lines were run across to the outermost ship of the three, but the captain was dissatisfied with one wire rope which had been run on a long diagonal between the ships and the two crews had to re-position it. Meanwhile, our passengers were waiting to get off. The reception area on the main deck was crammed, with overflows sitting on the stairs up to the next deck above and the one above that. Eventually people began to move out and at last I was able to descend to the main deck, exchange my credit card sized electronic Room Key for a Boarding Pass, and step across to the next ship.

The next ship to us was the ‘Mikhail Tanich’. I didn’t know that at the time, because the ship’s name only seemed to appear in Cyrillic characters. On my return to our ship, I asked our cruise staff to translate. They said he was a popular songwriter and musician, now fairly old (in fact, he died in 2008, according to the photograph of him displayed on the ship named after him). Having walked through their reception area, we crossed to the reception area of the ‘Ivan Bunin’ (a poet and writer, he was the first Russian to win the Nobel Prize for Literature - see Wikipedia), then the reception area of the ‘Leo Tolstoy’ (writer of novels such as 'War and Peace' and 'Anna Karenina' who, in later life became a moral thinker and social reformer - see Wikipedia). Finally, we reached the landing stage. Looking back, I was horrified to see a fifth ship approaching the landing stage, but I didn’t see what happened to that. Some of our guides were waiting on the landing stage but, because of the crush, some had moved further onto the island so there was reasonable chaos before we were sorted into groups and passed through the entrance gate to ‘Kizhi Federal Open Air Museum of Cultural History and Architecture’.

The improbable-looking Transubstantiation Cathedral on Kizhi.

I learned that “The Kizhi Architectural Ensemble is a UNESCO World-Heritage listed site”. The Transubstantiation Cathedral of wooden construction built here in 1714 is regarded as the star attraction. You can only view it from outside while restoration work is being carried out. Apparently this work has already been in progress for a number of years. An unsightly steel ‘corset’ has been erected around the outside to stop the building from collapsing – it wasn’t clear whether this was an interim stage or the permanent solution. But the 22 fairytale domes still give the building a remarkable appearance. In addition to this remarkable survivor, a number of wooden buildings typical of the region have been re-erected on Kizhi to form an open-air museum of wooden architecture. Materials used are mainly pine and, for roof shingles, aspen. Although these species were used for their long life, quite a lot of new material has been added during restoration. We only looked at the buildings at one end of the island adjacent to the landing stage but there are more buildings spread over the other end of the island which would require more time to explore.

Apart from the 190 of my ship’s visitors, we were sharing the island with all the visitors from the other ships, so it was quite hard to take a picture which didn’t include other people. In a not altogether successful attempt to avoid congestion, our guide changed the order in which we viewed the buildings but we still had to stand around waiting for previous parties to move on.

The house of the peasant Oshevney, re-erected on Kizhi.

The house of the peasant Oshevney dating from 1876 was re-erected on the island in the 1950s. Each room had been been furnished to illustrate the way of life of the people, but if our guide spent too long explaining, then one of the museum attendants would shoo us all into the next room. The house is complete with a separate barn and bathhouse. Many of the exhibits, like the tiny 18th century Chapel of the Archangel Michael (where a bellringer in the tiny belfry played a tune by pulling strings, as we’d seen demonstrated in Yaroslavl), the Church of the Intercession and an odd-looking wooden windmill could only be viewed from outside.

The rather odd-looking Windmill with the Chapel of the Archangel Michael on the right.

However, we went inside the 18th century Church of the Intercession, dwarfed by its near neighbour the Transubstantiation Cathedral. This building is also a ‘native’ of the island, being used for services until 1937 and, since 1994, functioning again as a church.

Near the Transubstantiation Cathedral, I noticed a second small landing stage with an awful modern roof which I guessed was for arriving VIPs. When I visited, a Fire Boat was moored there. Fire is a particular hazard for a wooden museum: the Transubstantiation Cathedral has a Fire Main run around the outside.

By this time, the island was noticeably quieter as some of the ships had departed. We returned to our ship and enjoyed dinner as we re-traced our route and sailed south-east back across Lake Onega.

Kizhi has its own website. The English homepage is here.

My pictures of Kizhi Island are here.

The Volga – Baltic Canal

Thursday 21st July 2011

On Thursday morning, I woke around 5.0 a.m. as we were entering the second lock on the Volga – Baltic Canal (Lock 5). The lock is built on an embankment, above the level of the surrounding land, so it must look odd from outside. It looked pretty odd from my standpoint. The lock chamber is 270 metres long, allowing a second river cruiser to follow us into the lock. Lock width is 17.8 metres.

A second cruise ship follows us into Lock 5.

Once both ships had securely moored to ‘floating mooring hooks’ set in vertical guidance recesses in the wall of the lock chamber, the upper lock gate was closed and the sluices opened, discharging water into the lower pound and lowering the ships 14 metres. The double lower lock gates were then opened and the ‘traffic lights’ changed from red to green.

The ship did not immediately move and I soon worked out why. The next lock (lock 4) was only a few hundred yards ahead and a cargo ship was emerging from this lock and sailing towards us. Our ship waited until the freighter was clearing the lock before slowly moving ahead. A second, similar freighter followed the first out of the long number 4 lock.

Passing the first of two freighters between Lock 5 and Lock 4.

We passed both ships ‘port-to-port’, that is to say, we kept to the right. Both ships were riding low in the water so were presumably loaded but I’ve no idea what the cargo was as all the sliding hatch covers were closed. We entered the lock, followed by the other river cruiser. The lock entrance was flanked by the usual two equipment /control towers. They are of brick construction with a concrete facing and major repairs were in hand on the left hand building. All the concrete facing had been removed and was in course of being replaced. It looked as if the right hand tower had already received this restoration. There was a small village on our left, half hidden by trees. Otherwise, the view was densely forested rolling hills. The lock was emptied, the lower gates opened and we moved into the pound connecting locks 4 and 3.

The bank on our left had been recently improved by piling and providing space for waiting vessels to tie-up. A decent gravel surface had been provided and electric lighting fitted throughout. Some of the lighting standards also carried closed-circuit television cameras. We moved into the lock, followed by our ‘shadow’ cruise ship and, once again, the chamber was emptied and the lower gates opened. As we left the lock, we passed a moored freight vessel, waiting for its turn the enter the lock. At this point, the river broadened and we passed a number of ships waiting at anchor, loaded timber carriers and oil tankers.

Just before Lock 2, more construction work was in progress with two floating cranes involved in piling a new wing wall. A swing bridge took a small road across the lock entrance. The bridge had been swung aside to allow us to pass and a single car was waiting to cross. Only a half lifting barrier and flashing lights prevented the car from a watery fate. The original construction on this series of locks seems inferior to some of the earlier work. Yet some builder had seen fit to place an inscription on rather battered tie-plate, built up in weld metal with the date ‘1960’ and the name (in Cyrillic characters) 'Pilikin'. There were also three letters 'b B B' arranged in a triangle. I wondered if this was the equivalent to the old "Mason's Mark" - the "Welder's Mark".

After the locking operation, we entered a very broad stretch of river. I was intrigued as we passed a tug propelling a single barge. The barge was loaded with a huge steel fabrication and a fabrication comprising a large cylinder with various pipe connections. Both items were painted green and I guessed that they were for the oil and gas industry, but I really had no idea. We passed more ships at anchor, pointing upstream, cargo carriers and oil tankers. A river cruiser and two patrol launches going upstream passed us. As I looked behind, I saw that we’d still got our ‘shadow’.

Our ship and its ‘shadow’ gently moved into Lock 1. A security guard was patrolling with a gun. I think it was the first gun I’d seen since arriving in Russia (apart from those in museums). The lock operated without incident and I noticed that the left bank of the pound had also received the modernisation I’d seen between Locks 4 and 3. Two ocean-going oil tankers were moored here.

On the right bank we passed firstly a small tank farm with its own quay (occupied only by a yacht), then a large pile of logs. A floating crane and a cargo ship were moored by the timber. Beyond the logs there was a gravel dump attended by two floating cranes and another cargo ship. One hatch cover was open and I could see gravel in the hold. A member of the crew was hosing down the deck. Next, on the left, we passed another large pile of logs with a tracked bulldozer fussing around the logs. A bucket dredger was moored here. On the right a small cargo boat had pushed its bow against a recess in the bank so that the hull was perpendicular to the river. It looked very odd. A large tank was mounted on the foredeck and I could see a tangle of pipes and hoses but there was no activity to give a clue as to the purpose. I’d seen them seeding a lawn in the Transfiguration Monastery in Yaroslavl by spraying water apparently mixed with grass and I could only suppose that the cargo boat was engaged in some similar process, stabilising the river bank perhaps, but I don’t know.

Passing another cruise ship on the vast expanse of Lake Onega.

We’d passed through the last lock on this section and soon we were into Lake Onega en route to our next stopping point, Kizhi Island.

My pictures of the Volga-Baltic Canal are here.

Goritsy, Russian Republic

Wednesday 20th July 2011

The Sheksna Lock being filled to raise our ship.

We left the Rybinsk Reservoir and entered the winding Lower Sheksna River. At the double parallel lock at Sheksna, our ship was raised 13 metres to enter the Upper Sheksna River, leading to Beloe Lake (White Lake). As we approached land, we could see the Goritsky Convent of the Resurrection, a complex of white-painted buildings variously dated between the 16th and 19th centuries. Wooden scaffolding was visible around the main church as years of neglect were slowly being reversed. Two river cruise ships were already moored - 'Leo Tolsty' against the landing pontoon and 'Ivan Bunin' "doubled-up" against the 'Leo Tolsty'. We moored on top of the 'Ivan Bunin' so, to reach the shore, we had to pass through the reception areas of the other two ships.

With five or six hundred vistors in the area as we arrived, I knew it wasn't going to be peaceful. But I still wasn't quite expecting the long row of souvenir stalls the footpath took us past, together with a number of permanent, wooden buildings forming Craft Centres and Cafes. At the end of the footpath, there was a 4- or 5-bay bus station with more souvenir stalls. It was fairly chaotic for a few minutes as large coaches (mostly German) came and went and our guides sorted us onto the correct coach. We drove through the village of Goritsky (mainly traditional Russian wooden houses) for the 4 kilometer drive to the town of Kirillov. The town was named after Saint Kirill. In English, that's Saint Cyril which, as one of the passengers commented, sounds straight out of Monty Python.

The imposing defenses of the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery.

Kirill founded what's now called the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery at the end of the 14th century. Over the next 200 years, the buildings were greatly expanded. The 2 kilometre long defensive wall encloses around 12 hectares of land, making it the largest monastery in Russia. Although it is now preserved as a museum, receiving around 250,000 visitors a year, a small community of monks has been re-established. The buildings are genuinely old (unlike many churches in Russia which have been re-created) and, had it not been quite so busy, I think I'd have found it a spiritual place. We spent some time in the museum, looking at more icons and other religious artefacts. We spent some time in the souvenir shop which extended over a number of rooms. In one of these rooms, we were treated to another display of a capella singing but I resisted the temptation to buy their CD.

Lake Siverskoye.

The monastery complex is adjacent to Lake Siverskoye and the most peaceful part of the tour was the walk we took along the lake edge. Of course, there was the usual group of Russians relaxing, swimming and diving. All-in-all, I was sorry to get back on the coach and return to the ship.

The 'Leo Tolstoy' and the 'Ivan Bunin' had departed and our ship was now moored directly to the landing pontoon. Another ship, apparently travelling south rather than north had arrived and tied up to a second landing stage I hadn't spotted before. For once, everybody returned to the ship on time so that, at 4.0 p.m., we were able to cast off and continue north. We passed extensive swamp land and the pathetic-looking remains of a church abandoned when the area was intentionally flooded.

Eventually, Beloe Lake gave way to the river leading to the locks of the Volga-Baltic canal. I went to sleep expecting to wake up when we entered the first lock but, in fact, we were approaching the second lock before I woke.

My pictures of Goritsy and the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery are here.