We left Novgorod at 10, today aiming for Lake Metz, another forest camp.  Decent music was on the stereo and traffic was light.  We arrived in time for lunch.

We were staying in a big house built out of wood in a clearing in the forest, on the bank of the lake.  A jetty led out into the lake where two dinghies were tied up.  One looked serviceable, whilst the other was half submerged.  Mosquitoes buzzed around everywhere.  As we explored the forest surrounding the main house, we spotted notices tacked to the trees, and retreated for fear that these were warnings of hidden dangers.  Sasha laughed at me when I told him this, and explained that they were jokes printed out from the Internet.  Seems a bizarre thing to do, but fair enough.

I got a single room, and Rob ended up sharing with the London kiwis.  Once we were properly moved in, we all went down to the jetty.  We sat on the jetty looking out across the lake, getting attacked by mosquitoes.  Rob, Sasha, Dimitri and the London kiwis hired the boat (the non sinking one) and rowed out into the lake, while I sat on the jetty with Mike, Julia, and Charlie.  Thunder rumbled in the distance, and gradually got closer.  A storm was building, though it was still calm where we were sitting.  I ran back to the house for my camera and took some pictures of the gathering storm, while rather maliciously hoping for lots of rain.  We could see the boat heading back towards us trying to outrun the rain.

The rain and wind arrives, and we retreat into the main house while the boaters get very wet.  I’m sitting in the main house reading when they all arrive looking damp but triumphant.

As it gets dark, the whole place takes on the feeling of a spooky film.  The house creeks continuously – when you walk, when you open doors, and hell, it just creeks in the wind all by itself.  The storm rages outside, the wind blowing the rain against the windows.  We didn’t expect the speakers to start buzzing of their own accord so that really was a bit weird.

Tanya and Simone go for a banya.  Sasha goes with them and I wonder if they’re aware of the clothing protocol.  Amazingly they enjoy it so much that they have another one, and this time Matt joins in.  Since the lake is on the doorstep, the cooling off phase that consisted of having a bucket of water chucked at you in Oxotino has been replaced by jumping in the lake.  Matt returns looking not terribly refreshed for the experience but Tanya and Simone clearly loved it.

Rob and I played pool while we waited for dinner.  Either this was a nonstandard pool table or the Russians have invented a particularly sadistic form of pool in which the balls are slightly larger than the pockets.

We have a late dinner and I construct a rudimentary mosquito net using a net curtain and duct tape.