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Mission Murmansk - The Kola Peninsula Sept 2018

You could have cooked breakfast on our dampers after a day in the mountains. They were almost glowing. At one point I thought I'd blown one, but it was just over heating. After it cooled off, all was well again. It was bonkers out there and I just can't see that many after market products would have lasted long. I do need two new rear springs after towing the trailer, but struggling to get them anywhere. I might just have to fit spacers.
 
Are the helper air bags an option Chris, or are they open to damage?
 
Nah, that's not what they are for. They're really aimed at making suspension dual function, not for helping springs that have suffered damage really. I just don't like the idea of them. Fine if you have a set up and then want to tow a caravan ...
 
Toms has the icon suspension with remote reservoirs mine Andy's and Chris's all have efs.

Toms was a much nicer drive over the really bumpy roads but his suspension is abit more specilist the efs stuff worked really well and couldn't fault it

Ta muchly
 
Another small clip of a partly abandoned town that turned out to have a military occupation & was a restricted area...........we were advised to leave after we had a little poke around!

 
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Whilst we drove a lot of the same trails, you guys clearly did some good stuff that we didn't. I still smile to think of your mountain descent over those rocks!! That must have been awesome and nerve wracking all at once.
 
Thought I'd share a couple of my better pics showing what an amazing place Russia is off-road.

Sam, Andy, Chris and Tom will no doubt recognise a fair few of these places, if not all.....

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Certainly do Lorin, but we didn't realise that you'd been through that first obstacle. That's where our friend with assault rifle turned up, just the other side of Inga

There were times when, even though we KNEW you'd been through, there were virtually no signs at all. I road as 'rear gunner' almost all of the way and even though 3 other Cruisers were in front of me, the tyres barely left a mark to follow. Quite strange
 
Something our guide told us was very interesting.... having run the Russia trip for 13 years, this year was the driest he'd ever seen it and had some of the best weather. Many of the tracks we drove are often almost totally underwater and the water crossings a lot deeper. Despite this, he said that it was no easier for being dry and that the track outside Inga had recently been driven by some big trucks that had made the log filled holes worse than usual.

Whilst I appreciated the amazing weather, if I did it again I'd quite like to see it all when it's properly flooded. Must be a sight to behold
 
There were times when, even though we KNEW you'd been through, there were virtually no signs at all. I road as 'rear gunner' almost all of the way and even though 3 other Cruisers were in front of me, the tyres barely left a mark to follow. Quite strange

Thats quite correct, even though there had been 9 vehicles in Lorin & Toby's group through some of the tracks just a day or 2 previously, there was hardly any sign on the tracks.

only in a couple of places was it really obvious.

Even though its a vast area, the amount of routes are really quite small, we could only find the one heading North from Umba, which as it happened was the one you took via Inga.
Our (digital) maps on the toughbooks were ancient soviet maps, and showed the various tracks with buildings and settlements in places, many of the buildings & settlements are now abandoned & derelict, but the tracks, or remains of the tracks, are still there & passable.
The route we took across the mountains was a real achievement for us as it was so tough and difficult to find a way through, not sure what the route you took was like

Great pics Lorin, & yes I do recognise some of the places! It was so unreal to bump into you in such a large area, especially as we had no idea exactly where you might be, other than somewhere on the Kola, next time we meet up will probably be at Lincomb not in Russia.

Glad your trip was a success, however I am really glad that we ended up doing our trip independently, it made it very satisfying from start, (visa applications etc) to finish to do what we did & see the places we found, even getting out of Russia after (me) being detained for hours gave a sense of achievement!!
 
Looks amazing, a lot of the scenery reminds me of the Scottish highlands up here where I live and Norway....
...but you can't drive the trails up here :(
 
It's interesting how similar it gets up at the top of the world. There were parts that looked like New England, Alaska, Iceland etc. Norway was staggering. I am going back.
 
Well it's only like the Peak you know but with less Crag Rats and trekking poles.
 
Not going to help then when I say that there weren't any pay and display car parks either
 
YYY
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