COGH: next up: Srednekolymsk

[GailXrunning]

This relay team sure is bombing along the iced tracks! It’s impossible to keep up. Keep on running-walking!! For those interested, here are some more pictures. We’re now heading south from the village of Argakhtakh, through more of the tundra and lakes of the Kolyma Lowlands, to the district capital, Srednekolmynsk. At this small settlement we leave the lowland landscape and rejoin the Kolyma River. Srednekolmynsk also gets us ‘back on the map’ with internet searches, being a key stop for adventurers, journalists and others who post pics. The adventurers, I noticed, tend to follow the Kolyma to Cherskiy, so our last two days in the lowlands have been in some of the remotest areas.

LINK 1: New York Times article: more about the impact of melting permafrost and some very interesting photos. nytimes.com/2019/08/04/worl...

LINK 2: Blog entry by Swiss traveller, Syril Eberhart, with his insights into daily life, hospitality, and photos of Srednekolmynsk involving snow and ice (so this is what we’ll see at this time of year.) footprintless.org/2018/03/1...

LINK 3: Blog entries by Swedish photographer-explorer, Mikael Strandberg. mikaelstrandberg.com/tag/sr...

LINK 4: No photos, but for those who read French, a fascinating account of the way the prison camps - both from the 19th and 20th centuries - are memorialised (or not). The account starts in the regional capital Yakutsk (further along our route) but then heads to Srednekolmynsk: memoires-en-jeu.com/varia/m...

LINK 5: Just a reminder of how dangerous our journey is. This incident took place to the east of Srednekolmynsk in 2018, when it was only minus 18 (we’re in minus 23-30). Note especially the comments by the pilot: siberiantimes.com/other/oth...

[AlMorr Ambassador Graduate10]

I have completed 40 kilometers on the first week of COGH, that consisted of 10Ks of running and 30 K's of walking.

[GailXrunning in reply to AlMorr]

Brilliant effort there! I’m in the lesser-to-middling ranks, depending on when I check. 😁 I was very pleased to be making a contribution. But then, having developed shin splints (from walking to a vaccination centre, can you credit it?), I’m compensating with vicarious use of my energies.

[JaySeeSkinny Graduate10]

I wonder what the helicopter pilot would think if he saw 170 runners miles away from the nearest town/village! Good job we’re sticking together!

[JaySeeSkinny Graduate10 in reply to JaySeeSkinny]

I meant 70+ runners

[GailXrunning in reply to JaySeeSkinny]

😂 The team sure is running-walking like it’s made up of 170 members!!!

And the helicopter pilot couldn’t fit 70 of us into his ship, although it looked fairly spacious as they climb in (in the video). 🚁❄️

[AlMorr Ambassador Graduate10 in reply to JaySeeSkinny]

He would ask them why are you running in such a very cold place like Siberia, we would reply that this is a rely run to The Cape of Good Hope in South Africa, I am not sure what he would say about that. 😀

[GailXrunning in reply to AlMorr]

😂 So true!

[GigglyBFC Graduate10]

Hope the support team has some working snow mobiles 😳

[GailXrunning in reply to GigglyBFC]

Yep. Now we’re thinking it all through (on the hoof, as it were), we definitely need a serious support team on hand. With snowmobiles that can stand up to the conditions.❄️❄️❄️

🏂⛷☃️ (That’s all the emoji library has. My money’s on the third.)

[Irish-John Graduate10 in reply to GailXrunning]

We are safe enough. I asked Liam Neeson to come along with us to keep us all safe.

Bonus is, he doesn't need a Snowmobile! He told me he has a " very specific set of Skis..."

( Sorry - couldn't resist lol)

[GailXrunning]

And now - just a couple of hours later - we’ve raced through Srednekolmynsk!!!🏃🏼‍♀️🏃🏻‍♂️🏃🏼‍♀️🏃🏾‍♀️🏃🏻‍♀️🏃🏿‍♂️ Go, go, COGH Ultra Relay team!!!👏👏👏 On our way to get ourselves on the south side of the Arctic circle.

[Granspeed Graduate10]

These are fabulous GailXrunning. You’re a super-researcher. 👏🏼

I specially liked the bit about how there are so many lakes every Siberian could have one. But all that melting permafrost- something to worry about as we trundle along....

[GailXrunning in reply to Granspeed]

Haha! Thank you. I just wanted to find a few more photos, and it took over my life! 🙄😂

A lake per person - entirely believable when you see all those watery splodges across the maps.

[Oldgirlruns Graduate10]

Argaktakh? I’m likely to have one of those, trying to keep up with everyone !

[GailXrunning in reply to Oldgirlruns]

😂

[Rennur Graduate10]

Argatakh. Wasn't that Neil Buchanan's Kids Show?

[GailXrunning in reply to Rennur]

I’m now thankful for predictive text auto-fill.

[LottieMW Ambassador]

I can’t believe that they didn’t have phones! I don’t leave the house without mine!

[GailXrunning in reply to LottieMW]

Amazing to think. But I read in one of the blogs that mobile signals are not what we’ve become accustomed to. And the tariffs are eye-watering.

[LottieMW Ambassador in reply to GailXrunning]

What we take for granted I guess!

[GailXrunning in reply to LottieMW]

Still, the locals seemed surprised that phones had been left behind, so they must have uses for locating lost people.

[Hareshaw-Granny Graduate10]

Brilliant job and really interesting, thank you so much for doing this. 👍✅

[GailXrunning in reply to Hareshaw-Granny]

Thank you . Having fun! Even when I can’t run.

[Juliet202 Graduate10]

This is such fun ! I’ve decided to try and brush up on some of the Russian literature i once studied, and make it geography related. First rediscovery is the Kolyma tales by Varlam Shalamov - a survivor of the prisoner/labour camps in Kolyma. One of his tales is about ‘Typhoid quarantine’ which I thought was slightly topical 😷 in which he relates how being put into quarantine barracks during a typhoid outbreak was a period of respite from hard labour. I guess reading about prison camps makes one appreciate being quarantined in the comfort of ones own home....

[GailXrunning in reply to Juliet202]

Isn’t it?! I’m new to all this running and running culture. Took me an age to figure out what folks were talking about with LEJOG and JOGLE. What I really like about this COGH is the team relay approach.

Great reading suggestion, and for more than one reason. Taking a sneak preview, I think you might have opportunity to revist Tolstoy and Lermantov in the Caucasus too.

[Granspeed Graduate10 in reply to GailXrunning]

👍

[Juliet202 Graduate10 in reply to GailXrunning]

Hmmm I think I might give Tolstoy a miss, but Lermontov is on the list 😀 I’m a bit disappointed that we won’t be going through Doctor Zhivago land though - maybe I’ll double check that one ! Siberia really is huge !!!

[GailXrunning in reply to Juliet202]

😂Tolstoy always divides opinions! We get to read Orhan Pamuk’s Snow once we get to Kars in Turkey.

Btw I’ve found some extracts from Shamalov, which I’ll post later.

[CBDB Graduate10]

Woohoo 🙌 we’re running 🏃🏽‍♀️ 🏃🏼‍♂️🏃🏻‍♀️🏃🏿‍♂️🏃🏾‍♀️🏃‍♂️ Thank you so much for doing all this research! It makes it even more fun than it would be! Am sitting here in bed (before heading out for a run.... yes, really! Really! I promise! 😁) telling my husband all about the regions we’re running through!

Go COGH team! 👏🙌🙌

[Cantstopmenow Graduate10 in reply to CBDB]

Coffee, dog walk and run for me too. I only need to get dressed 😀 see you on the tracks!

[linda9389 Graduate10]

Thses are brilliant posts, thank you so much 🙏

[GailXrunning in reply to linda9389]

Glad they’re of interest!😁

[Cantstopmenow Graduate10]

Thanks for this, it's so interesting. I will be heading out to the frozen wastes this morning (or possibly the local canal) as part of my half marathon training. This really does add interest and enthusiasm. 😀

[GailXrunning in reply to Cantstopmenow]

😁That’s great to hear. Hope the run went well and that you survived (thinking about) the Arctic. 🥶

[Cantstopmenow Graduate10 in reply to GailXrunning]

Thank you. It felt like the arctic this morning. I'm so glad it's a virtual relay 😀

[Blackberrypie Graduate10]

I managed 28k last week (eventually managed to log in km rather than miles like LeJog) but hoping to pick up the kilometrage now that I am no longer homeschooling.

I guess it can only get warmer from here on...

[GailXrunning in reply to Blackberrypie]

Fantastic kilometre-age already (compared to me, especially!) You’d imagine it would get warmer, but we’ve still a way off from the coldest place!!

[Blackberrypie Graduate10 in reply to GailXrunning]

Brrrrr!

[Neverhare]

I had my first Covid jab on Saturday which has knocked me sideways! Hope to be back out for a run tomorrow, fingers crossed

[GailXrunning in reply to Neverhare]

🤞It sent my partner to sleep... and then more sleep.

[Charlies1 Graduate10]

Brilliant Post, thank-you.I really liked the honest, warts-and-all descriptions from the explorers. The locals are very friendly and generous, but there is lots of scope for mis-communication & mis-understanding!