Active Rest In Monrepo Park

As I already wrote, Monrepo park, located right nearby Viborg town, is a nice place for active rest.

I have been there only once — walking with my wife. It was a remarkable day, but I was always dreaming about visiting Viborg and the park by bicycle. And finally me and my co-worker Volodya decided to go there with bicycles. With bicycles — because Viborg is 120km (80miles) from Saint-Petersburg, and we had only one day for this trip, so we took bicycles and rode to Viborg by suburban train (2.5 hours) on October 2, 2004.

The train from the city departured at 9am, and at noon we were already riding in Viborg town. When riding a bike you can watch much more then while walking. So, we found old defense facilities in the part of Viborg town that is never visited by walking tourists.

Part of old defense facilities

We also found several stone plateau in the town surroundings.

Stone plateau near Viborg

Our impressions were amplified by the different colors of Autumn trees. Northern nature shows all its beauty in Autumn.

Colors of Autumn

After riding around the town we went to our primary destination point — Monrepo park. It is located right on the bank of the Gulf Of Finland and and significant part of its landscape is rocky, and sometimes it is necessary to climb uphill.

Uphill

But the result worth it.

The Gulf Of Finland

This time we were even able to get to the Island Of Dead — via ramshackle wooden bridge. When we decided to cross the bridge by bikes, people, who were already on the island cried: "Hey! Watch out the bridge — we want to come back home today... ".

Bridge to Island Of Dead

This bridge is the only connection between the island and the land. But is remained safe. After climbing up we watched several old graves — that is why the island is called so.

The grave on the Island of Dead

All the park area is covered with paths, made by walking people, but they are also suitable fore the brave bicycle riders.

Deep in the park

You can see gloves on my hands. It is because the air temperature was about 10C (50F), but while you are moving, you do not feel cold.

The more deep in the park you go the more it looks like a forest.

Deep in the park

Deep in the park the rocks become quite high, but it is not very difficult to get to the top, using numerous paths along the slops.

Volodya on the rock

The top of the rock is flat and many people come there with tents to spend weekend close to nature. That day we saw over ten tents there.

At the end of our trip we achieved the bridge above the Gulf Of Finland, connecting Russia and Finland. This is borderland. Frontier post is located at the end of this bridge.

Bridge above the gulf

Finland is just a few miles from here. This is the border of the park and the end of our trip. So, we turned back and rode back to Viborg train station.

My total trip distance for that day was 55km (34miles) and about 1/5 of it by the hills in the park.

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