Volga Don Canal

Volga Don Canal
Work started on the canal in the 1930s but work was interrupted by the Second World War. Some 900,000 people worked on creating this vital link to allow shipping to move from the Caspian Sea, up the Volga, across the canal to the Don and out via the Sea of Aziz to the Black Sea, the Mediterrean and beyond.

The autumn colours of trees that lined the bank were beautiful.

 As the river flows south the trees thin and some of the banks are quite steep. Fishing is a favourite past time.

 Fishermen's shacks set back from the water's edge.

 Bulk carriers delivering their last cargoes before the river freezes for the winter. A cargo of sawn timber.

 A grain carrier.

 A beautiful sunset.

 I had yet more time to kill in Volgograd, and on my wanders, I passed the fire station, with its tall look out tower, a vital piece of infrastructure when the whole city was built of wood and subject to devastating urban fires.

 The rebuilt theatre.

 The passenger terminal as I left to head along the Volga Don Canal.

 A huge statue of Lenin overlooking the canal.

 The first of 15 locks that lift vessels fro the Volga to reach the Don.

 A lock gate at dusk.

 There aren't many trees in this area as the soil is well drained sand so these trees near the lock attract birds to roost from a huge area and it was like a  scene from Alfred Hitchcock's 'The Birds'.

 More birds.

 A monument erected near one of the locks. It commemorates a Second World War battle nearby but grand monuments is one thing the the Soviets got right.

 A road and rail bridge across the canal with a ship moving  along the navigation channel to go under the bridge.

 The penultimate lock on the canal and said to be one of the most beautiful.

 Another monument.

 We arrived in Rostov on Don four hours early so we moored int he river and watched several trains go by.

 A long train hauled by five locomotives and 89 wagons...a long way short of my all time longest train. Note the lone fisherman in a dinghy trying to catch something for lunch.

 A passenger train, a locomotive, 15 carriages and a baggage car.