The way from Murmansk to the Belarusian district center of Dokshitsy is about 2000 km. In summer, with one driver, considering that the sun shines almost 24 hours a day in the northern part of Russia, it is possible to drive the whole way with one overnight stay in the St. Petersburg area. Traveling in winter is completely different.
The way to Belarus
I set off on January 20, 2022 at 07:30 AM. Weather conditions for January were quite favorable: -3 °C, no wind and still dark outside. I headed to the Kola highway and moved on. There was no snow on the road, but there was snow on the sides of the road, so overtaking was a little difficult, especially considering it was dark. The first part of the way had many turns, so the average speed was 75 km/h. It was snowing relatively heavily, I had the passing beam on because I could only see a wall of snow ahead with the driving beam on.
Dawn broke at 09:40 AM, it became much easier to drive and so I increased the speed. 153 km away from Murmansk I saw the first car in a ditch. I came up, checked if they needed help, but they had called the traffic police already. I couldn't be much of a help anyway, it was a truck. After driving about 30 km, I stopped at the traffic police station and informed the them.
At 12:15 AM I entered Karelia, the road is good, the temperature is -5 °C, sunny. It's a pleasure to drive. At 12:20 AM I crossed the Arctic Circle, it was impossible to approach the sign as everything was covered with snow. I decided to take a photo there on the way back. The road was uneventful, sometimes I stopped at gas stations to top up gasoline and drink coffee.
At 16:20 dusk began, I planed to get to Lodeynoye Pole, but at 17:00 it was already dark. I continued driving. At 6:00 PM it became clear that it was better to stop somewhere. According to the map, the nearest decent place was the city of Kondopoga. At 8:00 PM I checked into the Karelia Hotel in Kondopoga. I covered 880 km in one day, I think this is a good result for winter. I got a hotel room without any problems. The room was nice, with a double bed, a large TV, a refrigerator and, most importantly, a large bathtub.
I set off again on January 21 at 07:40 AM. I'm headed to Lodeynoye Pole to visit a friend there. Dawn broke at 09:00, the road was good, the average speed was 95 km/h. At 10:50 AM I turned to get to Lodeynoye Pole. At 12:00 AM I safely left Lodeynoye Pole having done everything I had planned. At 1:10 AM, I drove onto the bypass road of St. Petersburg and headed in the direction of Pskov. The snow fog has started, so I drove more slowly. From Luga to Pskov, the road was being repaired, alternating traffic in one lane, it was rather slow. It got dark at 5:00 PM, so I decided to stop when I felt too tired. I managed to get to Opochka at 8:00 PM, then chose a nicer place to stay and stopped for the night. I had managed to cover 1670 km.
On January 22 at 07:40 AM I set off again. The weather was favorable: -3°C. I was heading to the border of Russia and Belarus in Nevel. On the way, I stopped at one of the stands of insurance companies and purchased a "green card" for a period of 2 weeks for 970 rubles. I arrived at the Nevel-Yezerishche checkpoint at 10:40 AM.
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At the Belarusian customs, they checked the documents and certificates I had prepared in advance. I needed a birth certificate stating that I was born in Belarus, a scan of my mother's Belarusian passport, certificates from the village council stating that my mother lives in Belarus. The rest of the documents were not checked (QR code, license, vacation certificate, etc.). I forgot to ask if it was allowed to take my spouse with me if she was not born in Belarus.
So, I had covered 1872 km before I reached the border, then I continued the trip through the territory of a neighboring state. The final destination was the village of Begoml and it was still about 300 km away.
The way back to Murmansk
Before leaving Murmansk, I updated the maps in the Garmin navigator. After studying them and asking the local population, I came to the conclusion that if you go through the checkpoint “Dolostsy”, the way home to Murmansk can be reduced by a little over 100 kilometers.
On February 1, at 07:00, I started on the way back. The route has the following points: Lepel - Polotsk - the border. I drove 193 km to the checkpoint. At 10:00, I was already going through the inspection at the Russian border. There I was stunned by the news that it was forbidden to transport meat products and potatoes to the territory of Russia from Belarus. I told them that it was my mother who gave the products to me, and that I was not going to plant potatoes in the Arctic, and that I was obviously carrying sausages and lard for personal use. My arguments were no use. I will not elaborate on how I got out of the situation. To sum it up, with losses.
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As soon as I passed the checkpoint, I saw a new barrier. A toll road began. I had to drive for 220 km on the toll road before I reached Opochka. After passing it, I came to the conclusion that they were collecting money to repair the road that way, since I'd say this road was a district-scale road, not an interstate one.
There were 400 km left to Gatchina, where I had booked the Gatchina Hotel. At 17:00 I was already checking in. Probably I could have gone further, but I liked the hotel very much, so I decided to spend the night there. I set off again at 08:30 AM, all because the breakfast at the hotel was impossible to resist. Having learnt that I was going to Murmansk, they filled my thermos with coffee for me on the road and wished me a successful journey.
The return trip took place under favorable weather conditions, the average temperature was 3-6°C, almost no wind, no snow on the roads. I drove back to Lodeynoye Pole to spend an hour there, my friend and I exchanged gifts, had lunch and I continued on my way. At 18:00 I decided to stop at Pushnoy. A good motel for car travelers. I was a little worried because of my rolled-up three-liter cans left overnight in the car at a temperature of -9°C.
On February 3, at 07:00 AM, I opened the car and saw that the bottled drinking water left in the car has not even frozen, which meant that the cans were alright too.
I set off on the final part of the way to Murmansk. Nothing remarkable happened on this part of the way. I took a picture at the “Polar Circle" sign. I saw several cars in a ditch, I always stopped, but they didn't need any help. When I stopped, I examined my car, as well and came to the conclusion that I would not go home right away, but to the car wash, which I did.
I got home at 4 PM, my trip to Belarus and back was completed successfully. In a couple of days I had a flight to Kislovodsk planned, but that's another story.
I. Glazko