Leg 56 - Baku, Azerbaijan (UBBB, Heydar Aliyev Airport) to Samara, Russia (UWWW Kurumoch Airport)
This leg: 1,065Nm, 4:17 flying time
Total so far: 61,715Nm, 236:32 flying time
Remember I said we might head to Moscow? Well, not just yet!
Reminded of my journey of discovery along the Amazon, and spotting Volgograd on the map, I noticed that the Volga River is quite long and winds through a fair bit of Russia. So, why not take a trip along the Volga River? So today is stage one of our “Follow the Volga to it’s source” journey. Here’s a high level map of the river:
It is long though, and we are fair bit South of the mouth of the river, which comes into the Northern end of the Caspian Sea. So we start by heading pretty much North to find the river mouth, then begin our winding journey. Today we’ll aim to cover about 1,000Nm - the first 300 or so is straight across the Caspian Sea - so we should cover about 700Nm of the Volga today. That should get us to a city called Samara, with Volgograd being the other major city we will be passing through. I’m intrigued to see what the landscape is like in Southern and Central Russia as we head further North. Might be able to complete the length of the river in our next trip, which will take us close to Moscow - probably for a fly by - but I’m getting ahead of ourselves.
Some quick facts about the Volga from the internet (obviously always accurate):
The Volga River is the longest river in Europe and the eighteenth longest river on the planet traversing a total distance of 2,294 miles with a drainage basin of about 532,821 square miles. The river flows predominantly in the expansive Russian territory and drains its waters into the Caspian Sea.
We need some provisions for this expedition, and what better than some Plov (yeah, I know, doesn’t sound the most appetising…). This is an Azerbaijan delicacy consisting of saffron-flavoured rice, cooked using meat, onions, prunes, dry fruits, eggs, and fresh herbs
It looks better than it sounds!
So let’s get going - a nice weather in Baku here today, much better than when we arrived
After take off, we do a quick 180 degree turn and head North, out over the Caspian Sea
Finally, here we are at the mouth of the Volga - a little underwhelming - just a number of small rivers reaching the Caspian Sea at this point
It’s little wonder the river is so windy given how flat the landscape is here
One of the main branches of f the Volga splits here - the Reka Gandurino
Another large tributory the Reka Bakhtemir
And we see our first major built up area - Astrakhan, Leniniskiy and Sovetskiy
This is a big, meandering, wide river - and so flat here too
The Buzan River on our right
Winding on and on - one giant flood plain
Passing through Volgograd
North of Volgograd, the river widens into what is effectively a large lake, and although the river narrows again, it is still very wide indeed - and clouding over, making things a bit gloomier
The sun starting to get a little lower in the sky and suddenly the clouds getting a bit thicker
Starting to see a little snow on the ground and also some sloping sides to the river as we maybe start to move away from the incredibly flat landscape
But as we keep heading North, the sky seems to be lightening a bit, although still lots of snow
Starting to get dark as we approach Samara
Starting our circle around to approach the runway - and a lovely moonrise in the background, with the sunset behind us
Lined up now for the runway
On final approach - and a snowy runway ahead - and down
And parked - very picturesque
Next, we continue our journey up the Volga towards Moscow