![\"Map](\"https:\/\/www.desertsun.co.uk\/blog\/images\/Sakhmap2.gif\" "\\"Map")
<\/a><\/p>\nThe road from Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk to\u00a0the port of Kholmsk on the west coast takes you through wooded mountains which were in full autumn colour.\u00a0<\/p>\n
After an hour or so, I arrived at the small port of Kholmsk on the Tatar Straits.<\/p>\n Some people spend years seeking the truth.\u00a0 Yet more demand the truth.\u00a0 I found it\u00a0along the coast road\u00a0just south of Kholmsk.<\/p>\n The road along the coast follows the railway line for a bit, and offers drivers plenty of opportunities to tear out their transmission over the many level crossings.<\/p>\n Old fishing ships abandoned with the collapse of the USSR are scattered along the whole of the coastline.<\/p>\n A little further south lies the town of Nevel’sk.\u00a0 It is an old fishing collective which has fallen into disrepair since the end of the Soviet Union.\u00a0 It is the most run-down and decrepit place I’ve ever visited in Russia.<\/p>\n The dream…<\/p>\n …the reality.<\/p>\n This was almost as far as the road would take you, before you came to a barrier which was closed blocking any further progress.\u00a0 I saw one chap in a beefy Landcruiser get through, but I didn’t think I’d understand any explanation or warning that the chap in the little guard house would give me so I turned back.\u00a0 I think the road deteriorates further, and in winter is almost impassable except in a huge Kamaz truck. \u00a0I was a bit disappointed, as I wanted to get to the very southern tip and look across to Japan.\u00a0 People say this is not possible, but I’m not so sure.\u00a0 Looking out to see due west from the position of the barrier, near the village of Luzhki,\u00a0lets you see the tiny island of Moneron, which is further away from the island than Japan is.<\/p>\n Unable to go further south, I headed back to Nevel’sk and cut inland in the direction of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk.\u00a0 The road, impassable in winter,\u00a0was little more than a gravel track in places and wound its way through the mountains filled with autumn colours which made me feel like I was driving through Appalachia rather than Sakhalin Island, as the following pictures show.<\/p>\n Do you ever lie awake at night wondering what the south-western coast of Sakhalin Island looks like?\u00a0 Of course you do!\u00a0 You’d not be normal if you didn’t. Fortunately for you, your selfless blogger took a trip\u00a0to this very place … Continue reading <\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"