Paustovsky Trail in Meshchera

The Paustovsky Trail is one of the most famous and beautiful trekking routes in the Meshchera National Park. It starts in the village of Zavodskaya Sloboda and stretches for 5.5 km to Cordon 273. The trail passes through a dense pine forest where you can breathe the purest air and enjoy beautiful nature.

The writer Konstantin Paustovsky was born in 1892 in Moscow. In many of his works he described Russian nature. From 1930 to the early 1950s, Paustovsky spent the summer months in Solotcha town near Ryazan and spent a lot of time walking through the Meshchera forests. Since the 1950s, most of the time Paustovsky lived in Tarusa. It is a small town in the Tula region on the banks of the Oka River.

There is one hiking route, called the "Paustovsky Trail", in the vicinity of Solotcha. The Paustovsky Trail in Meshchera is located 70 km north of Solotcha, on the territory of the Meshchera National Park. In 1948, Konstantin Paustovsky was on a hiking trip with his friends. They traveled from Solotcha to the village of Zavodskaya Sloboda on a narrow-gauge railway, and from the village they walked to the cordon of the forester Zheltov. Later, Paustovsky described his impressions in the story "Cordon 273".

Cordon 273 is located on the banks of the Pra River near a small backwater. This is a small fenced farm where forester Alexey Zheltov and his family lived. In 1923, he started the service for the protection of the forest and lived with his family in this cordon until 1970. On the roof of Zheltov`s house there was a shield with the numbers 273, which served as a guide for pilots of military aircraft. Therefore, the forester`s farm was named "Cordon 273".

The administration of the Meshchera National Park plans to restore Cordon 272 and create a museum on the Paustovsky Trail. There is a small house and outbuildings. From here begins the "Backwater Trail", where you can walk along the banks of the Pra River. In early summer, the entire land along the trail is covered with lilies of the valley. Pines and oaks grow on the banks of the Pra River.

The Paustovsky trail in Meshchera is divided into several parts. For 1 kilometer from the bridge over the Pra River in Zavodskaya Sloboda to the turn, the trail passes through a birch forest. On both sides there are swampy puddles, which are called "Mshary". From the turn to Shuya Lake, the trail stretches for 3.3 kilometers in a pine forest. The air is always very clean here.

Shuya and Oros Lakes are located 4 kilometers from the village of Zavodskaya Sloboda. Shuya Lake is located on the left side of the Paustovsky Trail, and on the right side there is a large lake Oros. You can go out to the shore of Lake Shuya and swim in it if you want. The shore of Lake Oros is swampy and it is impossible to approach it. Tourist groups usually set up camps on the shore of Shuya Lake. The remaining 1.2 kilometers from the lake to Cordon 273, the trail stretches in a pine forest.