{"id":2865,"date":"2018-04-13T14:13:14","date_gmt":"2018-04-13T14:13:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hghstories.com\/?p=2865"},"modified":"2019-06-20T12:12:01","modified_gmt":"2019-06-20T12:12:01","slug":"first-april-roads","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hghstories.com\/en\/first-april-roads\/","title":{"rendered":"The Fool\u2019s Day Roads"},"content":{"rendered":"

Not being patient enough to wait up for the warm days, we gave up to the growing urge and went to observe the next part of our land\u2019s forlorn beauty.
\nThe short route had been chosen, but it came out to be tricky in the end)))
\nThe first thing we found was the fact that the assphalt had been gone just as the snow had\u2026 Naturally, it was hard to expect anything else. However, the snow wasn\u2019t gone everywhere, and that was the fact we weren\u2019t ready for.<\/p>\n

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The first part of the program was to visit some ruins in Petropavlivka village.
\nSo we arrived to the necessary turn, and realized that it wasn\u2019t there))) That is, no one had obviously been there since the snow had fallen. The snow level was way above the rooftop – literally. The tyres were regular; there was no ram – so there was no way for us to go through))).
\nThe existing road led to another village and we decided to ask around – and maybe find the alternative road to Petropavlivka; the google maps stated that there was one way only. We were very curious – was it a \u201cdead village\u201d, or would we find some hermits there?)))
\nIn the end the available village wasn\u2019t much better))) We took the slow pace around it, stopped, knocked on the doors and windows, but no one responded and no one walked out.. There were only dogs barking – so the dark thriller associations were inevitable)).
\nAt the end of the village (which consisted of about 5 or 7 yards) we happened to see some man walking towards us. So we used our chance to ask about the way to Petropavlivka.
\n\u201cI don\u2019t know\u201d, – he said. \u201cI am the beekeper. Now, the men – they do know\u201d. There came the question about the difference between beekepers and men; and the following one – where could we possibly miss any of them around.
\nWe turned back – and yep! – there they were, indeed; they stood like marmots – one man near every yard))).
\nSo we learned from the marmot men that the road does exist, but requires taking quite a bit of a side-off – about 60 or 70 kilometers. So we decided we didn\u2019t really want to visit Petropavlivka that much))).
\nThe next point was – the 1910 Dimitry Solunsky Church in Katerynivka village.
\nOn the way there we were lucky to meet a pack of large feathered predators. I don\u2019t know the exact name(((. The photo-hunt took quite a while; the birds would get scared (somehow lazily, though) and circled above the road while finishing their lunch:<\/p>\n

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We came to Katerynivka and the adventures began)))
\nApart from the church we found the whistling-hissing sound of the air getting through a self-tapping screw top)<\/p>\n

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Just the same as in Bobrove, the building here was falling apart and the locals we met were confident about the impossibility of it being saved. They said it was to their pity, but it would have been better to demolish it and to re-build it again after.
\nWe will leave the level of professionalism in the terms of re-construction without comments, but it was somewhat scary to walk inside, indeed.<\/p>\n

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Luckily, the problem with the tyre was not so sad as the church visit \u201caftertaste\u201d. We replaced the tyre, but decided to find some tyre-fitting service and fix it – the disks differed, and so did the tyres (the difference was not drastic, but still).<\/p>\n

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And, naturally, the services were just about everywhere! Just kidding.
\nWe were forced to head off to Burluck – there happened to be at least one of them. And we didn\u2019t lose much time.
\nNext we planned to visit the Gnilitsya Pervaya (the first) village. The place we were looking for was the Church of John the Baptist, built between 1905 and 1912.<\/p>\n

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Now, the thing was rather strange – with an odious touch. The bright green was far from being a joy to one\u2019s eyes, the ancient stones were thrown around everywhere. It seemed that the restoration process had been started; we did not manage to take a look inside, though. So there were no other impressions except a few plastic loophole-windows\u2026<\/p>\n