N. IVANOV, Senior Researcher, Academician M. V. Keldysh Research Center (Moscow)
Where would it go, where would it go, so that there would be enough capital and that it would not be a Petersburg dacha, but a real one?
From a conversation between artist B. M. Kustodiev and writer E. I. Zamyatin
After the Big Otar, the Usta again begins to flow with its "crooked" lines.
How pleasant it is to relax on the coastal meadow after a long walk. And then a cute puppy came running to visit from a neighboring village.
Science and Life // Illustrations
Science and Life // Illustrations
Science and Life // Illustrations
So this time we are going to go to the "present". We invite water tourists to make a kayak trip in the northeastern region of Nizhny Novgorod Rus. The places here are beautiful, dear, close nature. And moreover - generous: fish, mushrooms, strawberries, blueberries, cloudberries, raspberries, lingonberries, fresh milk, potatoes ... The journey itself is a continuous holiday.
The Nizhny Novgorod Territory, located at the intersection of trade routes from the European to the Asian part of the Russian Federation, is one of the largest intellectual, industrial, transport, historical, cultural and tourist centers in Russia. Its population is 3726.4 thousand people (1996 data).
The proposed route will cover a relatively small part of this richest region in all respects. The Usta River, along which tourists will go down, is a left tributary of the Vetluga River, which in turn flows into the Volga as a left tributary. The geographical length of Usta is 253 kilometers, the length of the proposed route is about 115-120 kilometers, the travel time is about five to six walking days. The route begins in the city of Uren, the regional center of the Nizhny Novgorod region, and ends in the village of Voskresenskoye, located on the right bank of the Vetluga river. You can go on such a trip from late April to mid-September; there are no obstacles on the river, only the wind sometimes catches oncoming waves. Children should not be taken on a spring hike along the Usta: at this time, many kilometers of the river floods in many parts of the route.
Near the town of Uren, three of its tributaries flow into Usta - the small rivers Temta, Arya and Vaya, flowing among the southern taiga coniferous forests of the Volga region. In the spring flood, Nizhny Novgorod tourists like to kayak along the last two rivers.
Getting to Uren is very easy. Having plunged into a train at the Kazansky railway station in Moscow in the evening, for example, Moscow-Barnaul, tourists arrive at the desired station early the next morning. (By the way, other long-distance trains pass through Uren: Moscow-Perm, Moscow-Nizhny Tagil, Moscow-Kirov.)
Arriving at Uren station, you must quickly unload your backpacks and kayaks on a convenient station platform (according to the schedule, the train stops here for only two minutes). Then you easily negotiate with local car owners, who are engaged in "taxi", and in 10-15 minutes the group will be on "1st Street", from where it is not far to the river bank (in the spring the flooded Usta approaches almost the houses of this street).
While the men on the banks of the river are busy with their main business - collecting kayaks and packing them camping equipment, women can go to the nearby city center and make the necessary pre-travel purchases.
The small Russian city of Uren, located 183 kilometers from Nizhny Novgorod, is the regional center of the eponymous district of the Nizhny Novgorod region with a population of 13.4 thousand people. In the 18th century, a settlement of Old Believers was located in its place (let me remind you that the local Krasnoyarsk skete is mentioned in the novel by PI Melnikov-Pechersky "In the Woods"). Only in 1973 did the Uren settlement receive city status.
The city is comfortably stretched out on the high right bank of the Usta, stretching for 5-6 kilometers. In its center, near the church, most of the shops are concentrated, and there is also a market here. In the center - all the administrative buildings, among them one cannot fail to highlight the mansion of the Uren customs house. A pleasant impression is made by shops - bright, clean, smart, with well-thought-out advertising, with a large assortment of meat, dairy, grocery and grain products, vegetables and fruits. There are many useful and inexpensive goods in hardware stores that are necessary for a person who is used to doing everything in the house with his own hands.
I would especially like to advise. Listen to the dialect of local Uren residents. He is some kind of primordially Russian, euphonious, melodious. For example: "Young, how much milk?" Sounds beautiful to me.
Descending Usta, the group passes the following settlements: Uren, Krasny Yar, Zavod, Zubovo, Kirillovo, Dranichnoye, Staroustye, Bolshiye Otary, Ignatievo, Krasnoyar, Belousovo, Krasny Khutor, Elkino, and along the Vetluga river - Ploschanikha, Bakharikhu and, finally , the village of Voskresenskoe.
At first, the Usta flows near the city among flooded meadows. On the left, in the course of the kayaks, there are many garden plots and summer houses, which in the spring are flooded with Ustinskaya water, which rises a meter or even more. Therefore, it is not easy to navigate in late April - early May on the first 10-15 kilometers of the route, you should carefully monitor the river bed, otherwise you can swim into the flooded meadows and wander there for a long, long time.
As the distance from Uren 'is, a small forest approaches the river in several places, but there is no good place to rest and sleep here. You should sail further to the village of Krasny Yar (by the way, there is a local recreation center in it), pass the road bridge and 2-3 kilometers below this bridge on the left bank of the river, stop for the night or day.
Fishing enthusiasts at this stop can already try out their tackle and all sorts of theories described in countless fishing guides. Many species of fish live in the water column of Usta, among them - bream, silver bream, ide, pike perch, asp, rudd, pike, roach, perch, catfish, burbot, and there are crayfish. Sterlet is not found in Usta, but in the lower reaches of the Vetluga this fish comes from the Volga.
In local forests moose and wild boars live and breed freely, there are many hares and squirrels, there are predators - martens, lynxes, wolves, bears. There is enough food for wood grouses, black grouses, hazel grouses. On the river and the lakes and marshes closest to it, you often see flocks of ducks, which, unlike the Moscow beggar ducks, do not allow a person close to them.
Almost along the entire river route, tourists are accompanied by the singing of cuckoos, which, with their "cuckoo, cuckoo", distributed from morning to evening from different sides, so remind the irrevocable past, childhood and the world of Russian folk tales. There are many nightingales and nightingales on the banks of the Usta. It is known that before the revolution a lot of money could be paid for the Kursk nightingale, who performed 40-42 tribes. Unfortunately, in our time, nightingales are performed no more than ten tribes. But this is such a delight to listen to the nightingale!
After resting, the group continues their journey, not meeting a single coastal village during the thirty-kilometer trek down the forest river. This time, kayakers can spend the night on the vast left-bank meadow - its local name is Luchinova Polyana. To it, winding among birches, pines and firs, there is an abandoned forest road - a cart, after walking 5-6 kilometers, you can go to the village of Podguzkovo. Downstream, not far from Luchinovaya Polyana, its left tributary, the Chernaya River, flows into the Usta.
The next day, having had a good rest and tasted rich fish soup from the perches caught the day before, the kayakers continue their journey along the Usta.
The river in these places, making incredible bends and beautifully playing in the sun, flows in a wide forest valley, there are no coastal villages, as before, here. There is complete peace on the river. Each kilometer of the path traveled on this day seems to penetrate and brighten the soul. You can often observe funny pictures from the life of local forest dwellers, for example, how frogs and snakes swim from one side of the river to another: frogs swim in an almost classical breaststroke, and snakes - elegantly curving along their entire longitudinal axis. Sometimes you can see an air battle between a feathered predator and a flock of crows.
In the area of the village of Zharensky, located 1.5-2 kilometers from Usta and from the invisible river, wires of two power transmission lines are stretched over the water. These wires serve as a guide for tourists. 5-6 kilometers below them, on the left bank of the river near the forest road, along which huntsmen bring food for wild ungulates in winter, there is a convenient place for spending the night and spending the day.
Another hiking day passes imperceptibly in the forest by the river, and again the group goes down the Usta in kayaks. In the morning, shortly after starting the route, the group will pass the village of Zavod, and beyond the village - a road bridge and the supports of another, already destroyed bridge (these structures are not an obstacle for kayaks). Note that from the village of Zavod, if necessary, by a passing car, you can go to the Shemanikha railway station. Below the Zavod, the river winds less, and somehow unnoticed tourists swim through the small village of Zubovo, and after sailing through it, they see the right-bank village of Kirillovo. There are several shops where you can buy products that tourists need. The industry in Kirillov is represented by two private sawmills, which employ 20 people. From this village, a bus runs to the Vetluzhskaya railway station.
After Kirillov Ust, as before, there is a calm, quiet forest river with lush spruces along the banks, there are no coastal villages, but there are many secluded coves and beautiful deserted white sandy beaches. I would like to moor to each of them, swim, sunbathe.
the forest will delight with mushrooms - white and young boletus. In the same forests, you can see an interesting wooden sculpture made by nature, and find beautiful elk antlers.
On the same day, the group swims past the left tributaries of the Usta, small forest rivers Vozhni and Wolverine, large fish constantly lurk in their mouths. Not far from the banks of the Usta, in the local forests, there are small forest fish lakes, which few people know about.
Tourists can organize another overnight stay on the right bank of the Usta, between the mouth of the Wolomakhi River (left tributary) and the right-bank village of Dranichnoye, visible from the water. In these places in the river there are "fish" pits, where it is a sin not to fish for bream. Once not far from Dranichny there was another village, Pochinok, now it is not, it died, like thousands of other Russian villages. Throughout Russia today, there are up to 10 percent of completely abandoned villages of their total number.
Below Dranichny, in one and a half or two hours of walking, the group swims past the large village of Staroustye and then the small village of Elizavetino - only one house is visible from the water. During this passage, both on the right and on the left banks of the Usta, there are often coniferous-green cozy copses, suitable for camping and overnight stays. Illuminated by the sun, these copses are surprisingly reminiscent of the sketches by I. Shishkin and I. Levitan.
Below the village of Elizavetino, its large left tributary, the Izhma River, flows into Usta, soon beyond which tourists see a road bridge and behind it the village of Bolshiye Otary. The latter, like the villages of Kirillovo and Staroustye, has a bus connection with the Vetluzhskaya railway station. A few hundred meters below the road bridge in Bolshoye Otar, concrete blocks from the once destroyed dam lie in the river. This obstacle should be pre-inspected; at one time the author of the article with his comrades passed these blocks at the right bank of the river.
After the Big Otar, the Usta again begins to flow in large "crooks"; passing them, tourists see the houses of the village of Ignatievo, and downstream - the village of Krasnoyar, standing on a steep cliff, constantly eroded by the river. Soon after these villages, tourists pass the left-bank village of Belousovo, behind which flood meadows with fragrant herbs begin, the proximity of Vetluga is felt. This herb is like a bright scarf on the shoulders of a beloved woman.
In its lower reaches, the Usta made two channels for itself - the northern and the southern. It is better for the group to continue along the southern channel and stop for the night in front of Krasniy Khutor on the high left bank, in a vast meadow.
After a day of rest, tourists make the last trek along the Usta. Having passed Krasny Khutor and the neighboring village of Elkino, the group enters the leisurely Vetluga, focusing on the Vetluga village of Ploschanikha located on the opposite bank. Next to Ploschanikha is the village of Bakharikha, and slightly downstream - the village of Voskresenskoye.
Today the Vetluga is a calm, somewhat shallow river, passenger ships do not sail on it, although small cargo boats with barges can sometimes be seen. Having passed the road bridge across Vetluga, tourists will notice, two kilometers below the bridge, on the right bank of the river, in the village of Voznesenskoye, a television mast repeater, in front of which you should moor. This is the end of the journey.
The TV repeater is located near the center of the village of Voskresenskoye. In the center of it there is also a bus station, its ticket office is open until 17 o'clock. Buses of the PAZ type go to the city of Semyonov and to its railway station. During the trip to the city near the village of Vladimirskoye, tourists pass the Lunda River and the nearby Svetloyar Lake, into which, according to folk legend, the legendary city of Kitezh plunged.
In Semyonov, of course, you should visit the famous factory "Semenovskaya painting", where they make unique souvenirs from wood with beautiful paintings.
Electric trains running on the Nizhny Novgorod-Shakhunya route pass through the city, there are electric trains from the city of Semenov to Nizhny Novgorod (travel time 1 hour 10 minutes), which is very convenient for tourists. From Nizhny Novgorod, on one of the long-distance trains, tourists with a supply of natural products return home.
Each river is unique, comparing one with the other is a completely thankless occupation. As the poet said, “after all, rivers are like souls, all different ...” - one cannot but agree.
In the upper course of the Usta, it is only ten to twenty meters wide, and the depths are sometimes very decent. Large ide, bream, catfish, and, of course, good pike are found in these depths. According to rumors, there are real "crocodiles", but it is reliably known about pikes weighing up to six kilograms, which is very, very good even by today's Volga standards.
My friend and I managed to study Usta during a summer rafting on rubber boats in the 2005 season. This way of exploring a new river successfully combines relaxation, travel and fishing. We have conventionally divided the river into three parts: from the regional center Uren to Kirillovo, from Kirillovo to Bolshiye Otar and from the latter to the mouth, where the river flows into Vetluga. The entire route is a little more than a hundred kilometers: for a kayak, it takes three days. But for rafting on a rubber boat, you need to take a vacation: at least a week, because the speed of the inflatable is inferior to that of the kayak. In general, if there is no particular desire to wave the oars from dawn to dawn, you must either increase the route time, or limit yourself to half the distance: from Kirillovo to the mouth, for example. The sections into which we have divided the river differ from each other.
The upper one, from Uren, is generally shallow, abounding with rifts and poaching "stabs". The stabbing device forces the migrating fish to go to the wind of a strong knitted net, which is periodically checked by the fisherman. The structure is also called a "sit-down", since the poacher just sits on his "fence" all the time he is fishing, from lifting to lifting his tackle. We counted as many as 25 such "fences" in the upper section. Locals hardly catch nets, but they would not mind catching on screens supplied with foam floats signaling fish entanglement.
In addition to poaching fishing methods, locals also use amateur tackle. Spinning, for example. It is a meter-long stick with a tape coil "Nevskaya" tied to one end and a metal tulip to the other. Fishing line - monofilament 0.6-0.9 mm. Oscillating spoon, heavy. Such a tool is also caught from the shore, but more often - from a boat, throwing the bait under the bushes of the coastal urema hanging over the water. Long-distance casting with such a spinning rod is completely impossible, and not necessary: even when casting 5-7 m on such a tackle, pike is quite decently caught - the only object of hunting for local spinningists. But in the river there are ides up to two kilograms, and large chubs, and a good perch ...
Modern tackle
To catch these predators, more picky than pike, you will need a completely different tackle. Better - ultralight. Ultralight tackle gives aesthetic pleasure even when working idle, and if a decent fish is on the hook, fishing will be remembered for a long time.
The most versatile spinning lure will be a small spinning lure. “One” will be eagerly “eaten” by local perches weighing up to 400 grams, as well as by a chub, a roach, and a pike. The water of the river is often muddy during low-water periods - hello to its clay banks, so no special tackle is required. In any case, it is not at all necessary to fish the local chub and ide with a monofilament fishing line - rather thin, up to 0.1 mm of braid.
Along with the spinners, wobblers are also good for catching on Usta, sometimes you can catch it faster with a small wobbler than with a spoon. It gives a positive result when fishing with a wobbler and fashionable twitching - jerk wiring, but in my opinion, even wiring works just as well. And the slower the wiring, the better. Sometimes you have to drive the wobbler as slowly as possible - only then you can hope for a bite of a chub or ide. The best spinning and wobbler fishing method is “apsrim”. To implement the method, you need to go for a roll in waders or wading boots and make casts upstream. It is not worth staying in one place for a long time - a fan of casts from coast to coast and move upstream 5-10 m.
In addition to spinners and wobblers, it makes sense to take jig lures with you to Usta. First of all, small and medium twisters. They are suitable for catching perch and pike in pits that reach 7 m or more on the Usta.
The Yamny section of the Usta begins in its middle reaches: from Kirillovo and below. So if, first of all, you are interested in jig fishing, you should head here. The holes on the Ust are mostly local, they can be thrown well from the shore, but it is still better to spin from a boat. The fact is that the bottom of the river in other places is heavily tied up, so when fishing from the shore, the loss of bait cannot be avoided, while when fishing from a boat there are fewer hooks, and the "rescue operation" can always be carried out. Pearl white, yellow and green colors of twisters are used on Usta. The most jigging section of the river is its lower course, from the village of the same name Usta to the mouth. Spinning players often come up here from Vetluga (the regional center of Voskresenskoe) on motor boats to fish for pike. The beauty of jig fishing on Usta lies in the "early start" of the pre-autumn pike bite. In the middle of August of the last season, one of my comrades in the middle of August caught three dozen pikes on Usta in a day; at that time on the Volga the real deafness reigned, with "water bloom", saltpeter bream on the surface and the complete absence of the bite of the bottom predator.
On the pits, another method of fishing is effective - sheer lure. The pike is caught on large vibrators and vibro-tails mounted on jig heads (sometimes bleak is planted on the jig head - the bite improves). The perch is caught in a plumb line with ordinary winter vertical spinners. Closer to winter, this way you can catch much more than the most modern spinning rigs.
Where there is a lot of perch, they also catch it with a float rod for fry, which is mined on the shallows and rifts by an ordinary scarecrow.
As elsewhere in the region, so-called half-boats are popular among local anglers. The float of the half-bottom rises to the very top, and the weight is selected in such a way that the bait is at the very bottom. As a rule, two or three half-hooks are used with different baits on the hooks. They are fed with mixed fodder, steamed wheat, barley, etc. They catch a variety of fish with half-dons: from medium-sized roach to weighty ides and catfish. You can also fish with a classic float rod almost along the entire length of the river. The value of bait and here it is very difficult to overestimate.
The classic flyer is also in use. And often zherlichniki catch spinningists - no one has canceled the advantages of live bait fishing on Usta. You can also use a live bait float rod, throwing live bait to snags and thickets of vegetation. Sometimes, instead of live bait, local fishermen use ... vibrotail. Cast up or downstream and slowly stretch along the coast. The wiring of such a tackle without a reel is only a few meters, and I would never have believed that it can be fished if I had not had the opportunity to see with my own eyes the catchiness of this invention of local fishermen.
After the Big Otar, the river has a "dual" character: there are holes, but at the same time, rifts again begin to come across. So it is on this lower section of the river that a variety of technical and tactical fishing options can be used.
The estuary section is one of the most interesting on the Usta. Here the river diverges into two branches that flow into the Vetluga one kilometer apart. The estuaries of any rivers are often the most interesting places for anglers at the same time, Usta is no exception. The point is that fish on Ust and Vetluga are “different”. It often happens that there is a very decent bite of a pike on Usta, and Vetluga is “silent”. Or vice versa. On one of the trips we tried in vain to catch fish on Usta, but as soon as we reached Vetluga, we encountered a short-term, but active bite from the local asp. The ability to maneuver is always a plus.
Culinary retreat
Finally, I will share a recipe for one signature dish that my friend and I traditionally cook on Usta. In the evening, a couple of pikes are caught from a kilogram to two. 
As far as you understood from the article, it is not at all difficult to do this on Usta. The fish is cleaned, gutted, cut into large pieces. The head and tail immediately go to the ear along with the perches. The rest of the pieces are thickly salted, sprinkled with red and black pepper and placed in a plastic bag. The bag is hung on some twig so that numerous forest animals and birds do not get there. The next morning a fire is made. The best burns are dry branches and trunks of willow, which is abundant along the banks of the Usta. We plant salted pieces of pike on willow, only fresh, branches. Salt squeezes out excess moisture from the pike, and the pieces become dense the next morning, so they stick well on improvised skewers. Further, even an inexperienced fisherman in cooking should be clear without comment. Quite right, on the coals of a burnt-out fire, we fry pike kebabs. Readiness is determined by eye. The taste, I can tell you, is specific! Do not believe someone who says that pike is not tasty fish, that person simply never ate pike “in the Ustinsk way”.
P. S. Only one thing can poison fishing on Usta - blood-sucking insects. Even in August, it is advisable to take aerosol repellents with you, and in June, when there is a massive flight of these insects, you simply cannot do without chemical protection! In the open air, ointments and aerosols are used, and in the tent before going to bed, a "raptor" plate is heated on a lighted match - and until the morning no one breaks the deep sleep of fishermen tired of the day.
Sergey Konoplev
The Usta River is located in the north of the Nizhny Novgorod region - it is the largest left tributary of the Vetluga, its length is 253 km, and originates in the Kirov region. A beautiful forest land with a beautiful mysterious river, which not everyone who has visited it is destined to discover and understand!
Previously, the river was navigable and floatable (timber was floated along it with rafts). The mouth flows through a mixed forest, although there are meadow banks, it is better to use the right bank for parking, beyond the river on the left bank -
solid taiga, where wild boar, elk, bear, wolf, lynx are found, and quite often these animals come ashore. The mouth is very beautiful, especially in the early morning and quiet evening dawns. Singing of nightingales, cuckoo crowing, splashes of fish, fragrant smell of herbs and forest and incomparable smell of the river - this is Usta in all its glory!
Along the river, often hidden by trees, lakes and oxbows stretch, each of which has its own name, its own history. It is not for nothing that Usta has such names as "Devil's Pit", "Shchuchya Eldress".
The mouth is very attractive in terms of fishing, it contains: bream, silver bream, ide, pike perch, catfish, asp, pike, rudd, roach, perch, burbot, chub, dace, bleak, gudgeon, blue bream, there are tench, loach and crucian carp. The width of the river is on average 30 meters, the bottom topography is very interesting, the depths vary from 0.3 to 12 meters. Both rifts and pits are well readable. In straight sections of the river, the depth ranges from 1 to 2 meters.
Fishing methods can be varied, but the best methods are spinning, line fishing, a float rod, donks, side fishing rods, "telephone", fly fishing. Those who understand the structure of the river can understand the feeding and resting places of fish, including by species.
The river is forest, meandering, hence the depths and features of the bottom relief. A straight section of the river with a depth of 1 to 2 meters turns into a snag (roll) up to 0.3 m deep, chub, ide, dace, roach feed here. Fishing on the shallows is especially effective during the hay season (end of June).
Immediately after the spit, a pit begins, which is easily determined by the turn of the river. The pits reach depths of up to 12 meters, but the average depth of the pits is 6-7 meters. Here you can catch bream, pike, silver bream, ide, catfish. Since the pits are local, the concentration of fish in them is quite high, and when using pre-feeding, the fish responds very well. Good results are obtained by fishing from a boat with harness, also using bait. The places where water lilies grow are very interesting - the potential location of predators.
Usta is a beautiful quiet river. Now you rarely see a fisherman on the river, so if you want to retire, to merge with nature, then Usta is a great option!
I was going for a long time - but most importantly I was going)) And so:
For starters, an excerpt from Wikipedia:
At this point, I will close the household section and go directly to the rafting.
And so - the first overnight stay and the slipway were organized not far from the settlement. Kirillovo. There is a field road passing through Kirillovo, but there are two gorgeous puddles just outside the village. We jumped one, and in the second our PAZik got stuck and the rest of the way about 600 meters we walked on foot. The banks in that place are mostly steep. The evening passed as expected - people burst out of the office for nature! But no loss!)))
It should be noted that due to the cold summer, the mosquito season has shifted in time to August and it would be difficult without repellents. A short digression - personal feelings suggest that mosquitoes have begun to adapt to chemistry. We used redox, taiga, etc. - the effect is the same with minor deviations - in an hour the mosquito begins to ignore them! And then the anti-mosquito suit showed itself well.
The morning turned out to be foggy, but the weather quickly improved and at about 4 am I was lucky to observe the farewell circle of a pair of cranes before flying south - beautiful and sad! (Alas, it was not possible to photograph)
The places are generally similar to Kerzhenets, but the river is wider, deeper and the banks are flatter. Despite the fact that the coast is mostly sandy, the coastal beaches are covered with a thin 1.5-2 cm layer of clay and are overgrown with burdock and burdock. But the closer the Usta comes to its place of confluence with the Vetluga, the cleaner the sand becomes.
Lunch on the second day of the rafting was organized opposite a cliff, which is stunning in comparison with the rest of the flat landscape.
It certainly cannot be missed!)
The river banks are far from deserted. This is evidenced by the "comfortable" beaches 
Often there were fishermen on boats and without 
In some areas, the river was gaining considerable width. 
About 3.5 kilometers to Vetluga, we almost got into a big mess! At this point, the Usta is divided into two sleeves, and if it were not for the good fishermen, they would have flown in a straight line, instead of turning into the right sleeve. In principle, it would also lead to Vetluga, but instead of 3.5 km, it would result in 5.5 km. The difference seems to be not great, but taking into account the accumulated fatigue and acute time pressure - we were already rushed by phone three times from the finish line, so buses have already arrived there, it would be very inappropriate) Maybe someone will use the coordinates of this tricky intersection on the google map - 56.899391, 45.451304 - if someone takes a short path to the Shroud, then HERE to the right))) The funny thing is that both places of confluence with Vetluga are at a distance of 473 m from each other!
And finally, a little romance
The largest left tributary of the Vetluga. In the middle and lower reaches of the villages along the banks there are few, the banks are predominantly wooded, with a predominance of conifers. It was this section from Krasny Yar to Krasnoyar that we passed. Such is the funny place names. The distance between the consonant villages is about 90 km. First, we reached the city of Uren by rail, and there, right at the bus station, we agreed with the bus driver about a transfer to the bridge across Usta (12 km). Of course, you can start in Ureni, where the river is about two kilometers away, but the section before this bridge is not interesting. The slipway on the left bank above the bridge is a comfortable clearing with a good slope to the river and a pine forest (there is no problem with firewood).
Soon after leaving, an excellent place to stay on the left bank is a gorgeous pine forest and, if it is already getting dark, it makes sense to spend the night, since the next suitable place will not be very soon, at least in spring, when the floodplain is flooded with water. It was difficult to find a place to just get out of the kayak and stretch your legs. In our case, in addition, it was raining, so we spent more than 4 hours in the boats, and it turned out that we did not reach the best anchorage (left bank) for half an hour. The only consolation was the high speed of the current, therefore, super-efforts were not required to move forward. Further, the shores rise slightly and there are no problems with parking.
Near the first settlement along the course - the village of Zavod (on the right) - the bridge of the Uren - Krasnye Baki highway. If necessary, you can leave here. Then, on the high right bank, the village of Zubovo, which turns into the larger village of Kirillovo. Moving 4-6 km away from it, you can get up for the night - the places are suitable.
The following settlements Dranichnoye and Staroustye are also on the right and close to each other. Near the village of Bol. Otary road bridge, on the left flows into a large tributary Izhma. From Bol. Otar reached the village of Krasnoyar (on the right) in 45 minutes - hurrying to the car that met us from the equestrian club "Gray Horse", where vouchers for one day had been purchased in advance. (Those who wish, of course, can live in it longer).
The place where our route ends - the village of Krasnoyar - fully corresponds to its name (pictured). Those who do not plan to visit the "Gray Horse" should go to Vetluga and walk 6 km along it to the large village of Voskresenskoye. And we went on a UAZ to the village of Troitskoye (~ 7 km), where part of the mentioned club is located (the other is large - from the village of Blagoveshchenskoye on the Vetluga bank).
We settled comfortably in a large hut with all the conveniences, went to the bathhouse, looked at two old wooden churches, recovered strength thanks to excellent, almost homemade food and received basic riding skills. In the evening of another day, we reached the Vetluzhskaya railway station in 45 minutes by the club's car.