Five years later, I was still able to get here! The first attempt was a failure due to the attack of a huge number of elk fleas. I won't say that was easier now: a swarm of horseflies mixed with mosquitoes in the heat is still a hell pleasure!
The village of Davydovskaya is located on a horseshoe-shaped swampy old riverbed of the Yug River. The river bed is so old that it is unknown how many hundreds of years ago there was a river here and whether there was at all. Maybe the inhabitants settled on the formed lake, and it eventually turned into a swamp. But it is unlikely that they immediately chose a location with such a landscape.
These places have long attracted me with their inaccessibility. There are three abandoned villages here, two of which were visited. More precisely, even one village of Penye consists of one house hidden in trees, but the second – Davydovskaya – is located on the other side of the old river bed swamp.
The passage was found and even the roofs of the houses are visible, but the swamp did not inspire confidence. It was summer hot outside. In this weather, only in a T-shirt, shorts, and sneakers need to walk. But not in these area! Pants, jacket with hood and...preferably boots, but I was wearing sneakers.
But the swamp made it clear from the very first meters that boots would still be preferable: the water showed through the moss ankle-deep and even higher.
At first, I "gave a back" and began to look for ways around on the map, and even made an attempt, but the field road quickly ended, and the grass height to shoulders threw back all the motivation to overcome the alternative path.
Yes, there are so many emotions and descriptions just about the way to the place!
Thought: "if not now, then when?" – pushed me to another thought: "what if I'm barefoot?".
And I decided...get your sneakers wet, but walk through the swamp. I didn't dare barefoot – I felt sorry for my feet.
I armed myself with a pole, left by someone for support and probing the depths of the swamp, and went.
The swamp is like a living thing – like walking on a water mattress, swinging like jelly. But I didn't fall deeper than sneakers anywhere.
I walked strictly along a well-trodden path. If you have walked on it many times, then the place is proven. And if someone had failed, it would have been immediately visible.
Closer to the other shore there are several old half-rotted logs. Apparently, the passage was equipped earlier.
Later I found out that a guide was once on duty at the crossing so that children could safely go to school.
There are no roads to Davydovskaya.
How, you may ask, was furniture delivered here?
At Veliky Ustyug airport, local residents ordered a special flight with a helicopter, which delivered the necessary bulky items here with the help of a container.
Now you can drive a tractor to the village of Penye through the Oryol forest.
Perhaps they drove further to the village of Smolinskoye. And there is no way to Davydovskaya – this oldriver bed passes into another, and that connects with the river.
It turns out that all the meadows here are swampy.
There are no more than ten houses in Davydovskaya.
All stand on the same street with their facades facing the old town.
All the houses are abandoned and destroyed to varying degrees.
Some even have glass, and some have ruins...
I didn't find any architectural delights, only the twin houses came across.
This is when two ordinary huts stand wall to wall side by side. They also have a common entrance in the middle.
Most likely, this is how five-walls and double-walls were appeared: almost the same as twins, only under one roof.
Davydovskaya will be remembered by me for a long time.
This is the place that I would really like to see residential.
And I also wanted to know a more detailed story about these places.