#12: [04-Feb-21]

#11: [27-Jun-19]

#10: [24-Mar-18]

#8: [14-May-16]

#6: [30-Jun-12]

#5: [03-Feb-09]

#4: [14-Sep-08]

#3: [04-Jun-04]

#2: [23-Jul-03]

#1: [02-May-02] (incomplete)

21-Jun-2013 – Northern Expedition

This is the most northern confluence point that I ever reached. The trip started rather south in Zimbabwe. An invitation to the St. Petersburg Forum brought me within striking distance from this point which is located at the very end of Bay of Finland or Baltic Sea on the mid-summer day.

From my hotel, the GPS distance to this confluence point was 13.2 km, but getting there was a bit round about. The first part of the journey was rather complicated. The street car which I took did not end up at subway line 4, and I had to take another one to reach a station of Subway line 5, and one stop transfer on line 3 before reaching line 4. At least I got to appreciate the efficient and the deepest subway system of the world.

I got off the line at Staraya Derevnya station, and found the bus station for bus 101 nearby. From this point on, the trip became straight forward. The bus station was a about 12 km from Liysi Nos, the village where the confluence point is at. Getting off the bus, I had just a little over 2 km from the confluence point. It was a pleasant walk through a quiet neighborhood of summer cottages. This was a nice exposure to the suburban part of St. Petersburg.

I reached the beach with the confluence point still 230 meters to go in the bay. The water also was very still and there were only a dozen sun bathers on the beach. Wadding to the point was easy and the water was shallow only up to my thigh and as warm as bath water.

I retraced the route back to St. Petersburg, and spend the evening under bright sun enjoying the major sights on foot.

Degree of Challenge:

2 – a classic urban hunt reached by subway, bus, and a nice walk with the last stretch wadding the shallow water in Bay of Finland (1 = very easy – drive to the point; to 5 = a death march – glad it is over)

Scenery:

3– Suburban community of St. Petersburg and getting there provided a much greater appreciation of the diversity of this ancient city (Scale: 1 = not interesting at all; 5 = take your breath away)

Culture-social factors:

3 - The mixture of Russian and northern European feel was a nice break for me. (Scale: 1 = dull; 5 = most stimulating)  

In the Neva Bay, just 320 m from land.