Tomsk, one of the oldest cities in Siberia
N 56°28'21.2'' E 084°57'28.2''
Day: 115-116
Sunrise:
06:47 – 06:49
Sunset:
19:44 – 19:41
As the crow flies:
84.57 Km
Daily kilometers:
109.18 Km
Total kilometers:
10677.67 Km
Soil condition:
Asphalt
Temperature – Day (maximum):
15 °C
Temperature – day (minimum):
9 °C
Temperature – Night:
7 °C
Latitude:
56°28’21.2”
Longitude:
084°57’28.2”
Maximum height:
111 m above sea level
Maximum depth:
24 m above the sea
Time of departure:
10.10 a.m.
Arrival time:
6.30 p.m.
Average speed:
14.99 Km/h
To leave Jurga, we use the bypass road that runs around many of the villages and towns. This time we pass massive walls topped with barbed wire. Every 50 meters a watchtower rises into the air on which heavily armed soldiers stand. The bleak labor camps in which millions of people died must have looked like this and even worse. The sight of these inhuman-looking facilities makes the hairs on the back of our necks stand on end. “It looks like a prison,” says Tanja. “Could be. Or maybe it’s a military industrial plant. Who knows?” I guess and raise my hand to greet one of the guards. He laughs and returns my wave. After 10 kilometers, the visually terrible place with its chimneys and bad air is behind us.
Again, many of the gentle hills lie in our path, rising out of the land like regular waves. To our delight, the sun pushes through the clouds and temporarily raises the thermometer to 15 degrees. Nevertheless, the master’s breath is surprisingly cool. To the left and right of the road, bare, broken birch trees reach their stumps into the sky. “Probably the result of a hurricane or tornado,” I suspect. “Just glad I wasn’t camping here at this time,” Tanja replies. The autumn colors of the trees, wide meadows and large forests characterize the peaceful and soon lovely looking landscape. Bridges lead over babbling brooks and rivers. Apart from the cars, which have to use the roadway like us, there are no houses or people. The small villages are currently 50 to 100 kilometers apart. Although the distances are relatively long for a cyclist, I would have imagined the loneliness of Siberia to be more extreme. However, I am aware that I am still in southern Siberia, where the population of the otherwise very sparsely populated region is concentrated. There is hardly any human civilization further east or north. Apart from that, we are forced to use the main road because of our bikes. All the smaller roads are mostly unpaved and sink into dark, damp mud, especially at this time of year.
Once again the speedometer shows over 100 kilometers per day as we cross the mighty Ob River to reach the center of the river port city of Tomsk. This important intermediate trade center is also connected to the Trans-Siberian Single Line rail network, which we will now follow for the next 1700 kilometers to Irkutsk. A freshly paved and wide road runs up a hill to the center. New paved sidewalks, parks, beautiful old houses built from round tree trunks, ornate churches, pedestrian zones and a well-regulated traffic flow surprise us. We soon relax and cycle into the city, which was founded in 1604 as a fortress and outpost, one of the oldest in Siberia and undoubtedly the most beautiful Russian metropolis on our route so far.
