Where does the sura flow? Sura - Ulyanovsk regional branch of the Russian Geographical Society

Sura (Chuvash. Săr, mountain mar. Shur, erz. Sura lei)- right tributary Volga, one of the most picturesque rivers of the Volga Upland.

Ice drift on the Sura River
Sergey Karpeev
Is the bream flicking its fin?
Or a pike will strike with its tail -
Will buzz on a fine day
A stretch of smoky radiance.

The river flow will break through
Ice loosening your back
And will leave behind
Trace the muddy abyss.

Snowwoman of spring waters
It will infuse on the floors -
And the rapids will roar,
An icy hoof.

They will be crushed every hour
Becoming a winter shackle.
Wagtail's brittle voice -
The hymn to spring will announce again.

The forest looks from the upper reaches
Into distant kinks.
The path of the ice drifts
Into the ghoul's eyes.

It should be assumed that the Kama tribes, having come to Sura, could have found here the ancient Mordovian name - rau(river), the meaning of which they did not know. Living on the shores of Sur for several hundred years, the newcomers added the native word Shur to the name Rau. The result was a hybrid name Shur + Rau. Then Prisurye again became the patrimony of the ancient Mordovians. As a result, the hydronym could be pronounced Surau, the final “a” arose under the influence of the Russian word for “river”.

It flows through the Ulyanovsk, Nizhny Novgorod and Penza regions, Mordovia, Mari El and Chuvashia.

The length of the river is 841 km, the basin area is 67.5 thousand km².

It originates on the Volga Upland near the village of Surskie Vershiny (Baryshsky district of the Ulyanovsk region - Height 301 m), and flows along it first to the west, then mainly to the north.

SURA RIVER

Volga Upland - the hill on the right bank of the Volga from Nizhny Novgorod to Volgograd. Height up to 384 m. Predominant height 150-200 m. Width up to 500 km. The Volga Upland steeply, in places with ledges, breaks off towards the Volga and gently declines towards the Oka-Don lowland. It is strongly dissected by a gully-beam network. Individual parts of the high Volga slope are called mountains. The Volga Upland is characterized by the presence of tectonic swells and troughs that cause the development of structural forms of relief. It is composed of limestones, clays, sands, marls and other rocks. Karst is developed.

The highest mountains in the Volga Upland: Khvalynsky Mountains.

The glacier touched only the westernmost edge of the Volga Upland. Therefore, sedimentary rocks here are not covered by thicknesses of glacial deposits and more often protrude to the surface. These are limestones, chalk, sandstones.

Sura River

In the lower reaches of the Sura, it is raftable and navigable.

Used for industrial water supply.

On the Sura there are the cities of Sursk, Penza, Alatyr, Yadrin, Shumerlya, the village of Novaya Sloboda, at the mouth there is a pier Vasilsursk.

MOUTH OF THE SUR RIVER - VASILSURSK - VOLGA

Mouth of the Sura - Cheboksary Reservoir:

· Location Vasilsursk village(Vorotynsky district Nizhny Novgorod region)

· Coordinates Coordinates: 56°07′23″ N. w. 45°58′21″ E. d. / 56.123056° s. w. 45.9725° E. d. (G) (O) (I).

Until the 16th century, the eastern border of the Moscow principality passed along the Sura.

MOUTH OF THE ALATYR RIVER - CHUVASHIA

Sursky line of defense - a structure near the Sura River, built on the territory of the Chuvash and Mordovian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republics, intended to delay Nazi troops on the approaches to Kazan along with the Kazan defensive line.

On the territory of the Chuvash Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, the Sursky border ran along the Sura along the line with. Zasurskoye, Yadrinsky district - village of Pandikovo, Krasnochetaisky - village. Sursky Maidan of Alatyr district - Alatyr to the border with the Ulyanovsk region. Tens of thousands of residents of the Czech Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic took part in the construction of the structure. The Sursky Frontier was built in 45 days.

Construction background

When in October 1941 the Wehrmacht was advancing towards Moscow and Moscow was preparing for defense in the State Defense Committee, a preliminary plan for the construction of defensive and strategic lines in the deep rear on the Oka and Don was discussed and adopted. Volga. The main and additional plans for rear defensive construction set the task of strengthening Gorky, Kazan, Kuibyshev, Ulyanovsk, Saratov, Stalingrad and other cities. In case of failure for Soviet troops development of defensive operations, they were supposed to delay the enemy at new lines.

PANORAMA OF THE SUR RIVER NEAR THE CITY OF YADRIN

SURA RIVER

Start of construction

Construction of the Sur defensive line began at the end of October 1941.

The construction of the defensive line, which later became known as the “Sursky Line,” began in 1941, when German troops were already near Moscow.

Completion of construction

On January 21, 1942, a telegram was sent to the People's Commissar of Internal Affairs L.P. Beria, signed by the head of the 12th Army Directorate Leonyuk, the chairman of the Council of People's Commissars Somov, the secretary of the regional committee Charykov: “The GKO task for the construction of the Sursky defensive line has been completed. The volume of excavated earth is 3 million cubic meters, 1,600 firing points (bunkers and platforms), 1,500 dugouts and 80 km of trenches with communication passages have been built.”

SURA RIVER - ALATYR CITY

SURA RIVER -

Characteristic

The diet is mixed, with a predominance of snow.

High water in April - May.

It freezes in November - December, opens at the end of March - April.

After the construction of the Sur reservoir, the river has a regulated flow.

Flora and fauna

In Sura there are: catfish, sterlet, bream, pike perch, asp, pike, sabrefish, crucian carp, roach, silver bream, white-eye, perch, ruff, sprat, bleak.

In the old days it was famous for the Sursky sterlet.

WINTER ON THE SUR RIVER

Tributaries of the Sura

Left tributaries

Alatyr is a left tributary.

Piana is a left tributary.

Penza is a left tributary.

Penzyatka is a left tributary.

Uza is a left tributary.

Truev is a left tributary.

Shuksha is a left tributary.

Kutlya is a left tributary.

Vyas is a left tributary.

Urga is a left tributary.

Chugunka is a left tributary.

Kadada - left tributary

Right tributaries

Algashka is a right tributary.

Barysh is a right tributary.

The Abyss (tributary of the Sura) is the right tributary.

Howl is a right tributary.

Vyadya is a right tributary.

Inza is a right tributary.

Kumashka is a right tributary.

Kirya is a right tributary.

Intent

Uranka - right tributary

Yulovka is a right tributary.

SURA RIVER ON THE BORDER OF THE NIZHNY NOVGOROD REGION. AND CHUVASHIA

ONE OF THE LARGEST AND NOTABLE TRIBUTORS OF THE SURA IS THE PIANA RIVER:

Piana is a river in the European part of Russia, flowing almost entirely through the territory of the Nizhny Novgorod region and for a short distance through the territory of Mordovia, the left tributary of the Sura.

The length is 436 km, the basin area is 8060 km², the distance from the mouth to the source is about 65 km. Average water flow 25 m³/s. Very winding; in the basin there are karst landforms. Navigable in the lower reaches.

MOUTH OF THE PIANA RIVER - SURA RIVER

SURA RIVER

There are different versions about the origin of the name. According to one of them, prevailing among the inhabitants of the places through which it flows, the river is named because of its bizarre character and meandering. This is how P.I. wrote about the river. Melnikov-Pechersky: “Even the first Russian inhabitants called the Drunken River because it staggers, it dangles in all directions, like a drunken woman, and, having covered five hundred miles with twists and turns, it runs up to its source and almost pours out into the Sura near it.” .

According to another, it was named due to the fact that on August 2, 1377, three years before the Battle of Kulikovo, Russian troops in the battle near this river suffered a crushing defeat from the Tatar army of Prince Arapsha; Russian army, not expecting an attack by the Tatars, he drank.

And according to the third version, the name of the river comes from the Finno-Ugric word pien, which means “small”. It is possible that the name originally came from pien, which later transformed into Piana.

SURA FLOODMAN NEAR THE CITY OF YADRIN

RAFTING ON THE SURA RIVER:

The upper reaches of the Sura River are accessible for rafting only during high water, and travel along it is of a sporting nature. Below the confluence of Kadada, you can kayak along the Sura in the summer. The river here is suitable for beginner tourists too.

Length of route sections: Tyukhmenevo—Chaadaevka—90 km, Chaadaevka—Penza—110 km, Penza—Sura station—120 km, Sura—Alatyr station—220 km, Alatyr—Shumerlya—110 km, Shumerlya—Vasilsursk— 200 km.

Along the upper reaches of the Sura they usually go from the village of Tyukhmenevo, where they get from the city of Kuznetsk by bus.

The Sura at the beginning of the route is fast, winding, and flows in low banks. During high water, it overflows and often, straightening its path, rushes through the bushes. During the May holidays, the river almost everywhere already enters its channel. In some areas its width is only 2-3 m.

VILLAGE OF PORETSKOYE

Having accepted the Truev tributary on the left, the Sura becomes wider, the flow is calmer, the banks are higher, covered with beautiful, mainly pine, forests. The forests in the area of ​​Sosnovoborsk, Nikonovo, and Zolotarevka are especially good.

After the confluence of the Teshnyar, the loops of the Sura become larger, and sandy beaches are found. The journey along the upper reaches can be completed at the Pionerskaya station, located near the river (from here you can take an electric train to Penza), or at the road bridge: in 6 km from it is the Chaadaevka station (Penza-Syzran line), where long-distance trains stop.

FLOOD ON THE SUR RIVER

After Chaadayevka, from where the journey can begin in the summer, the banks drop somewhat, and after 20 km rise again into wooded hills. In low water, especially in dry summer, some riffles may require wiring. In addition, before Kanaevka there are two dams (overflow). The villages are quite far from each other. Beaches are frequent, but many are used as livestock watering areas. The right bank is higher, steep, the left bank is lower, gentle.

20 km Below the mouth of the Uza, the construction of the dam is being completed, and soon the waters of the reservoir - the Sursky Sea - will splash here.

Before Penza and below it, the Sura wanders along the floodplain, forms oxbow lakes, channels, sand spits, islands, and numerous shoals appear.

Penza was founded in 1666 as a guard post to protect the southeastern borders of the Russian state from nomads. Nowadays it is a large industrial center. The names of writers M. Yu. Lermontov, V. G. Belinsky, N. P. Ogarev, M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin, A. M. Gorky, artist K. A. Savitsky, teacher I. N. Ulyanov are associated with the city , surgeon N. N. Burdenko, commander M. N. Tukhachevsky. Eat local history museum, art gallery, botanical garden, dramatic and puppet theaters, circus.

OLD BED OF THE SUR RIVER

Below Penza, the banks of the Sura are relatively flat and the valley is wide. After the confluence of the Vyadya River on the right, the right bank becomes higher and overgrown with forests. In the Grabovo area there is a nature reserve. In the village there is the Ustinov Palace, built in the style of a medieval castle. Downstream on the left bank is the village of Pokrovskie Vazerki, famous for its folk craft - lace making.

Residents of the left bank of the Sura were active participants in the peasant war under the leadership of E. I. Pugachev. And now here you can hear legends dating back to those distant times.

The picturesque banks of the Sura near the village of Prokazna are shrouded in a pinkish haze in spring. These are the blooming gardens of the large horticultural state farm located here.

Further, the spurs of the Volga Upland come close to the river, and in some places there are beautiful cliffs to the water. Particularly good places are in the area of ​​​​Nikityanka, Aleksandrovka, Sura station, where there are outcrops of limestone and chalk. In this section, the picturesque Ayva River, which has a large slope and is semi-mountainous in nature, flows into the right.

SURSK RESERVOIR

If the starting point of the journey is the Sura station (Ryazan-Syzran line), then you need to follow the right tributary of the Sura - Inza, which flows into 200 m from the station. Below the mouth of the Inza, sandy and rocky cliffs appear alternately on the right and then on the left. The height of some of them reaches 60 m . Gradually the Sura becomes fuller, the depth at the riffles increases. From the village Surskoe river navigable.

Near Alatyr, the width of the Sura in low water is already about 200 m, and in high water the river overflows 2-5 km. Therefore, the villages are quite far from the water. The city of Alatyr was founded in 1552 as a military fortification. Nowadays it is the industrial center of Chuvashia.

MAP OF THE SUR RIVER

In the lower reaches of the Sura it is calm, although fast. The left bank is predominantly low, floodplain, the right bank is steeper, steep, its height increases closer to the mouth. Treeless areas alternate with good, mostly deciduous, forests.

The Sura energetically moves its course along the valley. After each flood, new shoals, sand islands, spits appear, and oxbow lakes are formed. The village of Kurmysh, founded in 1372 g . as a military fortification on the banks of the Sura, is now located in 1.5 km from the river. In Kurmysh you can see the church of the early 18th century. - architectural monument.

A journey along the lower reaches of the Sura usually ends in Vasilsursk, standing on a high cliff bank of the Volga 2 km from the mouth of the Sura.

Vasilsursk, founded in 1523 g., occupied an important strategic position on the waterway to the Caspian Sea. The surroundings of the city are very picturesque. One of the places with a highly dissected relief was called “Vasilsur Switzerland”. The local landscapes have long attracted artists. I. E. Repin and I. I. Shishkin worked here.

From Vasilsursk they leave by boat to Kazan or Nizhny Novgorod.

THE BEGINNING OF ICE DEVELOPMENT ON THE SURA RIVER

ARTICLE ABOUT FISHING ON SUR (

Although the Sura is only one of the large rivers flowing through the territory of my republic, the interest of fishermen in it is much greater than in others. At the same time, Sura is interesting at any time - pike catches well on the first ice, in the dead of winter you can catch good pike perch and bersh, and on the last ice Bream goes well. The most interesting fishing happens in March - April, when the fish gather in dense schools and begin to move from their wintering holes. At this time, the schools mix up - and in one hole bream, bersh, roach, pike perch, and perch are caught alternately. You most often get to see such an assortment closer to the very last ice, somewhere in late March - early April. In the dead of winter and even at the beginning of March, if spring is not too early, different fish are still taken separately, and each of them requires a separate approach.

Bream and sop

The white fish in the river are dominated by tall-bodied sop, silver bream, bream and white-eye. At least there are many more of them compared to roaches, although in some places there are also a lot of them.

And even though there are plenty of sop and bream here, the size of the fishermen’s catch can vary greatly: some have a full box, while others only got three sops. This “injustice” is associated with the peculiarities of fishing on the Sura: you have to fish in a constant and fairly strong current, and in such conditions it is very important to choose a jig of the correct weight. A fish that is too heavy will be afraid, but a fish that is too light will not reach this very fish, but will hang somewhere above the bottom. The main fishing for these fish is from the bottom, in the very bottom layer. At the same time, on some days the fish reacts better “to the game”, and on others - to the “standing” jig. Most often, anglers here fish “stand-up”, neglecting the game. But as practice shows, play, and sometimes very active play, can work wonders.

Once I went to Sura. I went out to a depth of 6 meters and began to actively search for sopa. She didn’t take it, but in one hole I caught a bershik - and only managed to catch two half-kilogram bershiki and a similar zander when the current noticeably intensified. I was not at all prepared for such a turn of events - all jigs that were anyhow heavy were at home. The maximum that I could find in the box was a medium-sized “Uralochka”. It didn't drag very strongly, so I continued fishing in the same hole. However, the bite has already ended: all the spiny-fanged comrades have disappeared somewhere, literally.

So I sat until lunch without seeing a bite. And after lunch, the current intensified even more - and my “Ural” began to be seriously dragged away. But I couldn’t leave the river because of this, so I started handing over the fishing line, trying to find the bottom with a jig. I groped it. Then it “ran away” again. I continued to feed the line further. So, periodically tapping on the bottom, I managed to drive the jig 15 - 20 meters from my hole. In fact, it turned out that I was fishing with a non-standard jig “step” - however, exactly the opposite: I did not reel in, but handed over the line.

The first bite took place at the moment when the jig was about ten meters away from me. I took out a good bait and continued fishing with the “step”. Then things got even more interesting. Sopa and silver bream began to peck throughout the entire area from five to ten meters from my hole! There were about two dozen other fishermen sitting around me. Seeing that I was carrying fish, they began to move towards me. They drilled from all sides. When one began to drill downstream from me, I immediately reeled in the tackle and moved to another place - so as not to cross the jig with that fisherman. He drilled in another place - and again began to pull the sops one after another. I was drilled again. I moved again. Soon they stopped drilling - because they realized that it was useless: I was biting, but the others were not. That day I came across a lot of sop...

On subsequent fishing trips, I consolidated my success in drift fishing with active play. By the way, it is important in this method of fishing to arrange the tackle well, from the bait to the fishing rod. And it’s better to do this before fishing, at home, in a calm environment - hastily assembled gear rarely turns out to be successful.

The main thing for a fishing rod is a sufficiently capacious reel on which you can wind 50 - 70 m of 0.2 mm fishing line. The reel must be open, not like a balalaika, so that the fishing line is always in sight. It is the open reel that allows you to control the formation of loops (“beards”), which can lead to line breakage. Also, the reel should be adjusted so that it can quickly, efficiently and without nerves hand over and reel in the fishing line.

Usually the fishing line is taken with a diameter of 0.12 - 0.15 mm. In some cases, when bream and pike perch begin to bite, you have to turn to a fishing line with a diameter of 0.18 mm or more. At depth, the fish should not feel rough tackle, so the use of thick fishing line to achieve the goal is justified.

A jig for depth and current, like on the Sura, needs to be of such a size and weight that, if necessary, it can reach the bottom - and at the same time have a little sail so that we can drive it to some distance from the hole.

On the very last ice fishing trips of that season, I managed to catch bream on the Sura in the same way. Some monsters simply tore off the fishing line in a strong current, others, which I miraculously managed to get to the hole, went away when I tried to squeeze them into the narrow throat of the hole. But a few broad-bodied ones still caught my catch.

Pike perch and bersh

Fishermen have a saying: “Where there is bream, there is pike perch.” I’ll say more - where there is bream and sop, there is pike perch with bersh. For pike perch, bream, and even more so bersha, is clearly not a prey, and a small-sized sopa may well be suitable for pike perch as good prey.

When the fish begins to move closer to spring, it moves from deeper places where it survived the winter to shallower places. There you can actively feed and gain strength for the upcoming spawning. So the silver bream, sop and bream come out of their holes. Pike perch with bersh also follow them. Moreover, pike perch usually walks along the edge of the main school of silver bream.

Sopa, although sometimes a victim, nevertheless does not stop feeding - and often after several fish you pull out a respectable pike perch. It is typical that the larger the average fish from the flock, the larger the pike perch. A flock of small, 50 - 60 g, pike perch is usually grazed by medium-sized pike perch, up to a kilogram; a more substantial fish is accompanied by a correspondingly larger pike perch. Although this is not an indicator: it often happens to catch sopa and pike perch weighing the same in the same hole, and here there can be no question that the pike perch is chasing the sopa in order to eat it. Maybe they just have a friendly relationship?

Sometimes, if you find yourself on the edge of a school of sop, there are no less zander bites than sop bites.

On Sura, on some days the current is stronger, on others it is weaker. After several years of fishing in these places, I got the impression that predators make absolutely no difference whether there is a current or not - they almost always take the same, only the fishing places and methods differ. On days with weak currents, I prefer to fish with balance beams from the deepest edges. Under the bridge over the Sura on the Cheboksary-Moscow highway, I have a couple of pits in mind, in which there are always pike perch and bersh. I haven’t come across particularly large specimens here, but the standard ones for the river - 400 - 800 grams - bite constantly. From time to time you come across “tails” of up to two kilos. Larger specimens rarely bite in winter.

On days when the current is stronger, pike perch can stay in slightly different places. So, one day, I looked for a predator for a very long time, and eventually found it at the entrance to the bay, where the current died down a little and the water began to swirl. It was here that I managed to find a concentration of predators. Among the standard “soup set” of 400 - 700 g, there were a couple of pieces of just over a kilogram. The baits that worked were standard pike-perch spinners, long, narrow and quite light, but the pike-perch did not react to the balancers at all.

It should be noted that the local pike perch and bersh are very outstanding. The main place where I catch these predators in winter is the area under the previously mentioned bridge. There are quite a lot of pike perch and bersh there, and they are taken even if you don’t really count on them - you get caught with jigs intended for sop and with pike girders. But in the summer, fanged-striped fish practically do not react in any way to spinning baits. I specially came in spring, summer and autumn to these same places, diligently jigged, and twitched at dusk, but to no avail. Pike - yes, asp - yes, pike perch and bersh - no. Despite the fact that they were often caught on donks here, and in other places along the Sura, pike perch and bersh react positively to spinning baits, but not under the bridge. This still remains a mystery to me.

Roach

On the Sura, when you fish on the main current for a very long time, it begins to seem that there is no one here at all except the sopa and the zander with the bersh. But the river is also full of other fish - for example, roach. In the summer it comes across here very regularly, but in the winter it doesn’t happen everywhere. My most successful roach fishing was closer to the last ice. At this time, sorog, as it is called here, is good to catch in the bays and at the exits from them.

Snagged areas are especially interesting in terms of roach fishing. The specimens found here are much larger. In the snags we should feed a little in order to lure the object of our desire out of the very thick of the snags. It is necessary to feed on a relatively clean bottom so that, under the influence of the current, the bait is carried onto the snags.

In such places I use fishing line with a diameter of 0.12 - 0.18 mm. It is relatively thick, but you shouldn’t be afraid of this, because the fish bite mainly large ones, from 250 - 300 g and above. Moreover, this “higher” means that the roach here can “fly” significantly more than a kilogram. Such a monster will not miss the opportunity to dive deeper into the snags - and in order to stop it you will need such a thick fishing line.

Jigs are suitable for any shape, and the weight is selected experimentally - the main thing is that the bait does not get pulled into snags. I prefer to fish “on the stand”, so as not to get caught again. The nod should be chosen softer. And the main thing is that it detects the bite “on the rise”. In no case should you put more than one hook or jig on the rig: while fishing, a large roach, which likes to walk in circles, will definitely hook the extra hook onto a snag - and then a run-off will be inevitable.

The best time for catching roach on the Sura is March, during a long spring, and April. At this time, the safest ice is in bays and places with weak currents. Roaches also have a complex character, and a good bite does not happen all the time. But this is not a reason to turn down the gear. If the sorog stands still, then it is quite possible to stir it up by using different ways. You also need to be able to find a local cluster in a specific place.

…One day the fishing didn’t go well from the very beginning. On the first ten runs - although it was for roach, it was very small - 30 - 50 grams each. Previously, here we always came across larger ones. True, I was fishing in a slightly different place, where now someone had inopportunely placed their fishing rods. And under these girders there are small ridges in which better fish are hiding.

With each new hole, I get closer and closer to the girders - everywhere the 30-gram “laurel” (small roach, as well as silver bream, sopeshka, white bream - ed.) pesters me. But then the bottom began to become lumpy - already very close to the arranged gear, it was possible to hook a small bottom strip. And then larger tracks began to appear. Even if it’s only 150 - 200 g, the bites are good and there are a lot of them. I drill around the perimeter of this area and catch a more or less decent sorog.

After another indistinct bite, I feel the tremors of a very decent fish. My fishing line is 0.06 mm, a jig with a swallow hook. I swing the fish back and forth - and after long minutes I pull the roach onto the ice. These don't come here very often - they contain about half a kilogram. I drill the area lengthwise and crosswise, darkening the holes. But the large fish no longer bite - everything is 100 - 200 g. And then in the next hole - a good bite! This fish feels an order of magnitude larger than the previous monster. Up and down, up and down, a jerk - and an annoying cliff. The fish are completely leaving the area, and I don’t have time anymore.

ASP ON SUR

FISHING ON SUR

"Non-core" fish

The species composition of the inhabitants of Sura is not limited to sop, bream, roach, pike perch and bersh. There are also perch and pike here, but on the last ice they are caught worse in the places I know. On the first ice - yes, sometimes there is no end to the pike, but in March the bite is inconsistent.

In March, perch periodically comes out to roach areas, into bays, and sometimes they are caught on the main current. It reacts very well to unbaited “goats” and “devils”, but it is not advisable to specifically run and look for it using a spoon in the main current, far from its favorite bays.

Pike are also rarely found on the main current. In the areas where I fish, my neighboring fishermen constantly put out their fishing rods, but in all the time I have seen literally several catches. For pike, it’s better to go to the famous Belavka, which, by the way, is very close to the famous Sursky Bridge.

Night fishing on the Sura River

The summer of 2010 turned out to be unusually hot, with scorching heat accompanied by a long drought. The air temperature during the day often exceeded forty degrees, and the night did not bring the desired coolness. It is not surprising that at the end of the working day, in search of coolness, people gravitated to bodies of water. The fairly shallow banks of rivers and lakes (there hasn’t been a single major rain in two months) are filled to capacity with vacationers, so it seemed that there was nowhere for an apple to fall. In the evenings, clouds often thickened in the sky, giving hope for the end of the stuffiness to all living things. But apart from a bright light and noise performance and a little rain that couldn’t even “knock down the dust,” there was no effect. By mid-August, the land, which had been under the yoke of such harsh weather, was covered with cracks, and the meadows and forests were painted in the shades of golden autumn. So on one of these evenings I went fishing. Having reached the river, he settled down on a bank convenient for fishing and distant from noisy companies. I immediately pre-fed promising places for fishing. Having “thrown” the bottom tackle closer to the middle of the river, and the float rod to the reed thickets, I wait for bites. Evening dawn, the setting sun is hidden behind the crowns of trees and rays of light make their way to the surface of the water less and less, getting stuck in the reed thickets along the way. A thundercloud clearly looms in the sky, darkened by the sunset.

The thought “this is not for us” flashed through my head.

The bell rang timidly, then more insistently, there was a hook. The carpenter coveted a large grain of corn. A START! The float slid through the water and became completely submerged. The crucian carp was caught on pearl barley. It's getting dark. I attach a “firefly” to the gear. Meanwhile, the cloud is growing in size and getting closer.

And again the thought flashed: “no, not to us.”

The bait started working. True, the fish that were caught on the hook did not make any decent catch. The bright moon has risen and in its light the cloud looks increasingly threatening. There was a chill. Rare drops left hope

“maybe not to us.”

Having warmed up, I continue to monitor the gear. It bites. The wind gradually increases, bringing with it rain that turns into downpour. There was no trace of doubt left.

"to us".

The raincoat helped avoid getting wet. The downpour subsided, clouds covered the entire sky, and pitch darkness reigned. At times the rain stopped altogether. At such moments, you could hear tree branches cracking under the pressure of the wind. The bite evaporated, only the worm was sometimes caught with ruffs. Closer to dawn, the bite for the donkey resumed. The carp almost pulled the rod into the water. Everything happened in one second. The powerful bite caused the fishing rod to jump on the stand, and the bell suspended on the tip of the rod began to ring as it rang.

Having made the hook and felt something weighty at the other end of the line, I began to move along the shore so as not to give the fish a chance to hide in the reeds. In complete darkness on the bank, muddy from the rain, I slipped and fell. I fell on the rod, breaking the reel, and had to pull the line out by hand. Having brought the fish to the shore and lifted it on a fishing line from the water, the fish jumped off the hook. But she couldn't leave.

Bottom line

2 carp - 1 kg each. Donka corn

8 roach - small pearl barley

2 ruff - float worm

1 bream float worm

AND A SEA OF IMPRESSIONS!!!

SOURCE OF INFORMATION AND PHOTO:

Team Nomads.

Valery Timofeev.

http://www.skitalets.ru/books/

http://www.textual.ru/gvr/

WIKIPEDIA

http://www.intat.ru/land/tatar/

http://www.airfotovideo.ru/photos/

http://www.photosight.ru/

http://www.russia-da.ru/

http://fotki.yandex.ru/users/kirs-andrej/

http://penzagard.ru/sura.html

http://fisher-pnz.ru/

http://clubs.ya.ru/russia/

http://www.sfish.ru/index.php

Sura River.

The Sura River is an important river for us, Its bottom is silver, Its banks are steep and gilded. An ancient folk tale Sura (Chuv. - Syr) is a river, the right tributary of the Volga, one of its most significant tributaries within the Chuvash Volga region. The total length is 864 km, of which 2/3 of the Sura runs outside the borders of Chuvashia. Its beginning. Sura takes place in the Ulyanovsk region on the northern outskirts of the village of Surskie Vershiny. From there it flows west, to Penza. Then it turns north and 4 km north of the settlement of Sura again finds itself in the Ulyanovsk region. Further from the Ulyanovsk region, near the village. Ivankovo-Lenino, enters the territory of the Alatyr region and flows from south to northwest through the Alatyr and Poretsk regions and along the western border of the Chuvash Republic for 230 km. Running through forests, wide collective farm fields and meadows, past apple orchards and suburban vegetable gardens, it slowly makes its way to the Volga, where it flows from the territory of the Nizhny Novgorod region near the city of Vasilsursk. The left slope of the river is moderately steep, reaching a height of 50-70 m, and in the area of ​​the village. Stemasy, Alatyr district, as well as near the village. Poretskoye, the villages of Ustinovka, Kozlovka, Poretsky district, are especially steep and steep. It is heavily crossed along its entire length by ravines, rivers and streams, and in many places is covered with continuous forest or isolated groves.

The floodplain is wide everywhere, up to 5-6 km, and even more between the settlements of Poretskoye-Shumerlya and the mouth of the Pyana. It is composed of sandy and sandy loam soils, and in wetlands - peat; rises above the low-water level by 2-7 m, often ending in a steep ledge towards the river. In the area of ​​Knyazhesky and Krasny Yars, the height of the steep ledge reaches 15-20 m.

The floodplain abounds in lakes, the banks of which are covered with shrub and tree vegetation. Only in the floodplain of the Sura within the Chuvash Republic can be counted about 500 lakes, of which Chernoe is the largest, Dolgoe is the longest in Chuvashia. The floodplain of the Sura in its middle course is almost completely forested, only within the Krasnochetaisky and Yadrinsky districts it is much less so. Floodplain forests are oak groves or elm forests, confined to elevated areas, while the lowlands are occupied by aspen, and in the near-terrace part, floodplain alder forests grow. There are many other broad-leaved species in the tree layer - alder, birch, linden, and spruce is also found.

The rest of the floodplain, devoid of forest, is covered with meadows. Near the village of Mizherkasy the floodplain is low-lying. Here, grass stands of meadow foxtail and swamp bluegrass predominate. Upstream, meadows are found only in clearings. In the clearings lying in the depths of the forest, where the soils are granular, almost purely cereal grass stands predominate, where foxtail, bromegrass, wheatgrass, meadow fescue, white bentgrass, and swamp bluegrass grow together. In some clearings with granular soil, the grass stand contains a lot of legumes, as well as red and pink clover. Near

The central floodplain of Alatyr is elevated, and the meadows on it are partially plowed, partially preserved, but poor, reminiscent of dry meadows: sparse small-grass grass with low drought-resistant forbs. They differ from ordinary dry meadows in their steppe nature and the presence of fescue and thin-legged grass in the grass stand. Above Alatyr, the floodplain decreases again, and cereal grass stands are developed on granular soils, and near Ivankovo-Lenino, on silt-sandy layered soils, foxtail meadows occupy a large space. The grass harvest in the meadows located in the Sura floodplain is generally always good. It should be noted that floodplain meadows are annually flooded with flood water. The average date of break-up (beginning of spring ice drift) in Sur is April 12. There was a case when the spring ice drift began on March 30 (1937), and the late one - on April 24 (1952). Complete clearing of ice most often occurs at the beginning of the third ten days of April. In spring, due to intensive snow melting, the water level rises rapidly. The average rise in water level in the area of ​​the village of Knyazhikha (Nizhny Novgorod region) reaches 8.4 m, and the maximum rise is 10.1 m (04/25/1963). The average date for the highest water level in the spring is April 17, the earliest is April 3 (1966), and the latest is May 1 (1952). Here we use data from a hydrological post located near the village of Knyazhikha, Nizhny Novgorod region, where observations were carried out from 1930 to 1970. In the most high-water years, in a number of settlements located on the banks of the Sura, houses and streets of several settlements located in the right-bank floodplain are flooded.

The decline of the flood occurs more slowly than the rise, and lasts up to 1.5-2 months. With the end of the flood, a period of low water begins, which occurs in June-July. The lowest levels are set in August-September. At this time, the average width of the channel is 110-250 m. At this time, the channel is replete with shoals and riffles. There are especially many of them between the settlements of Alatyr - Poretskoye, as well as downstream to the city of Shumerlya. During water expeditions, we many times encountered islands and shallow areas in the riverbed between the indicated settlements. We saw people crossing the Sura in the Alatyr region without any watercraft. The depth on the rifts is 0.7-1 m, on the reaches - 3-7 m. Very deep places are found in the area of ​​the Knyazhesky and Krasny yars, where the depth reaches 8-12 m. The current speed on the reaches is insignificant and only on the rifts reaches 0.5-0.8 m/s. Freeze-up on Sura occurs at the end of November, the deadline is the beginning of December. The ice thickness reaches 30-50 cm on the rifts, 50-70 cm on the reaches. The chemical composition of the waters of the Sura, above the confluence of the Piana, is dominated by bicarbonates, i.e., acid salts of carbonic acid, and below the confluence of the Piana - sulfates, i.e., salts of sulfuric acid. The Sura above the confluence of the Piana belongs to a zone with moderately hard water, and below the confluence - hard (T.G. Galaktionova. Mineralization and general hardness of river waters // Collection of works of the Gorky Hydrometeorological Observatory. Gorky, 1964). River water turbidity Sura is about 230 g/m3. On average, it carries about 1.9 million tons of suspended matter into the Volga annually, that is, almost as much as the Oka, despite the fact that its drainage area is almost 4 times smaller, and the annual runoff is 4.5 times less. .

Of the more than four dozen tributaries in the Chuvash section of the Sura, the most significant are the left ones - Atratka (13 km), Karmala (22 km), Alatyr, Me (partially flowing through the territory of our republic), Kisha, Medyana, Urga (flowing from the Nizhny Novgorod region); right - Abyss, Lyulya, Kirya, Algashka, Kumashka, Kumazhana, Urevka, Vyla, etc.

With the filling of the Cheboksary reservoir, the width, depth and regime of the river changed significantly. The water level at the river mouth after filling the reservoir rose by 11 m. In the Yadrinsky district, large floodplain areas were flooded, and many lakes disappeared.

Sura is navigable; passenger and cargo transportation has long been carried out along it. This can be judged by the volume of trade that was carried out along the Sura. So, for 1857-1861. on average per year it shipped (in poods): rye flour ~ 2,321,739, malt - 22,908, oats - 465,036, buckwheat - 111,006, wheat - 533,810, millet - 4,160, peas - 25,040, barley - 17,877, flaxseeds - 86,470, hemp oil - 2200, calcined potash - 91463, lard - 107,813, alcohol (in buckets) - 51,791, rags - 3000. All of them, with few exceptions, were heading to the northern capital , and therefore the Sur caravan was usually also called “Petersburg”.

In 1832, a steamship appeared on Sura. But until the end of the last century, barge haulage persisted here. The number of shipworkers on the river reached 10-13 thousand people. One of the documents noted: “On Sura, barge haulage is more preserved; all ships, without exception, rafted to the Volga, go to Rybinsk on a towline, sail or import.” The Surek barge haulers were distinguished by their special art of piloting ships; for the most part, peasants from low-income or large families became barge haulers. The main place for loading and unloading goods was the Kurmysh pier. Among the barge haulers one could also meet many of our fellow countrymen, residents of the Krasnochetaisky region.

In the XVII-XVIII centuries. The Sura remained the main waterway of the Kurmysh district. All major cargo transportation was carried out along it. The questionnaire of the Noble Cadet Corps, compiled for the Kurmysh Voivodeship for November 6 - January 30, 1761, states: “On the Sura River flowing near Kurmysh, ordinary plows walk with bread, with salt and with government forests and with wine only in the spring, when the most there is a large water spill, and those ships along the Sura go with bread from the cities of Penza and Alatyr, with salt from Saratov, with government forests cut down near the city of Kurmysh, loaded from piers close to the cities, with wine factories located in the Penza and Alatyr district, to various upper cities." This indicates the level of development of navigation on this river in the distant past. Cities and large settlements served as piers. The Vylsko-Zavodskaya (the mouth of the Vyla) and Alatyrskaya piers were especially famous, from which grain and timber were exported in large quantities.

Even in the recent past, in the 50s-80s. XX century, one could see how ships and barges loaded with various cargo and goods passed up and down the Sura. At the same time, passengers were transported by flat-bottomed high-speed vessels of the Zarnitsa type, which could land on the shore anywhere. Currently, due to rising water levels, navigation opportunities have increased, but for various reasons, cargo transportation has decreased significantly, and regular passenger transportation above Yadrin does not take place at all.

Sura was famous for its rich ichthyofauna, back in the 1940-1960s. More than 100 quintals of excellent river fish were caught here annually.

In file No. 228 “Information of the Yadrinsky district leader of the nobility on the state of state property in the district for 1865” it is said: “In Sura there is sterlet, which in taste has an advantage over the Volga, bream, pike perch, and in the lakes: perch, crucian carp, sorozhka and other small fish." And in the newspaper “Russian Diary” (dated June 4, 1859), which was published in St. Petersburg, in the article “Kurmysh Chuvash” it is noted: “The Chuvash are not at all engaged in fishing, muskrats and minks, of which there are a lot there.” In the footnote to the article there is a disclaimer: “There were a lot of beavers on Sura, and they disappeared not more than 50 years ago.” Currently, due to the deterioration of the ecological condition of the river, there is a process of reduction in the species and number of fish. Valuables have almost disappeared sturgeon species fish, in particular sterlet. The largest fish living in Sura is catfish. There was a case when an amateur fisherman in the Krasny Yar area caught a catfish weighing 56 kg.

The picturesque nature of Sura is of great recreational importance. These places are an excellent place for recreation and tourism for the residents of the republic. On the banks of the Sura there are children's summer health camps and holiday homes, and in the Yadrinsky district there is the famous tourist base "Sursky Dawns". In order to attract tourists from other regions and countries, it is necessary to develop an appropriate recreational economy here, taking into account the peculiarities of history, culture, way of life, and traditions of the peoples living in this region. The Sura, in addition, provides water to the cities and villages located on its banks, and itself is in dire need of protection from industrial and domestic pollution.

Sura, begins in the area of ​​Surskaya Shishki. This hill, giving rise to a turbulent river, is declared Just below the Surskaya Shishka, the Sura River crosses the eastern part of the Penza region, and then, after a sharp bend near the village of Sursky Ostrog, again

returns to the Ulyanovsk region. Flowing through a trapezoidal valley, the Sura gives birth to eleven tributaries, including the large Barysh, and flows into the mighty Volga.

Sura is a stormy river. It is famous for its rapid current, sharp turns of the riverbed, long sand spits and steep banks. The river is fed by melted snow and numerous small springs, and thanks to this, the water at the sources of the Sura is very clean and cold. The banks of the river are overgrown with tall golden pines, and many small lakes and forest swamps have formed in its floodplain and watersheds. In spring, the Sura leaves its banks and overflows two kilometers or more.

Before the revolution, this river was famous for its fish - it was very tasty and was valued much more than fish from the Volga. In those days, the river was inhabited by pike, chub, sterlet and smaller species such as roach. Barbaric and uncontrolled fishing has depleted its wealth. Now the blue Sura is of interest mainly to tourists and athletes, because it is along it that one of the most picturesque kayaking routes in Russia runs. In the spring, during high water, the river is “conquered” mainly by professional athletes, and novice tourists come to visit Sura in the summer, when the river calms down a little.

The route begins in the village of Tyukhmenevo, passes by Chaadaevka, Penza, Alatyr and Shumerlya, and ends in Vasilsursk. The length of the Sura from Tyukhmenevo to Vasilsursk is 850 kilometers. The beginning of the route is always difficult, because the Sura River is especially obstinate at its source. To the brave ones who decided to complete the route in early spring, you will have to kayak through the flooded bushes. Returns to its permanent after

At the source the river bed is very narrow, in some places its width does not exceed three meters. The Sura River becomes much wider after the Truev tributary flows into it. The river calms down, its flow becomes slower, and the banks are covered with pine forests. However, the bends of the Sura are still steep and make the route difficult. They become larger and smoother after the place where Teshnyar flows into the river. Further on, the Sura becomes even wider, and small sands appear along its banks.

other beaches.

The twenty-kilometer Penza reservoir, fed by Sura, begins behind Kanaevka, and in front of Penza tourists face numerous obstacles - sand spits, islands and shoals. Beyond Penza, the banks of the river become gentle, and the Sura flows smoothly and calmly. Sura is especially good in the spring, near the village of Prokazna. There the river is surrounded by flowering gardens, and near Aleksandrovka it adorns itself with impressive limestone and chalk cliffs. Below, the river is surrounded by rocky banks and becomes deep and navigable. In the lower reaches the river flow is calm but fast.

Each flood changes the appearance of the river. It is “overgrown” with new shallows, spits and oxbow lakes. Thanks to such changes, the route does not become boring. Constantly renewing itself, the Sura River gives tourists new experiences every year.

The Sura River was considered one of the most sacred rivers of Rus' and the Russian people. And this river has more than one address. One Sura is a tributary of the sacred Dnieper, the other is a tributary of the sacred Mother Volga. Many others remarkable places associated with the name Sura.

Researcher of Sourozh Rus', Ruskolani S. Lyashevsky, in his work “Prehistoric Rus'” (based on the research of famous American professors of Russian origin S.Ya. Paramonov and N.F. Skripnik) notes that “Sura” means “sun”. We find from him that sura is a sacrificial drink.

The chronicler Nestor, touching on pagan times, tells that the Rus gathered to pray at springs instead of temples: “They drink sura to the glory of our gods.”

The latest newcomers to the Volga Sura are Mordovian settlers. Penza researcher M.S. Poluboyarov wrote down a Mordovian legend born no earlier than the 18th century:

“In ancient times, the Erzyans did not live here, but in some other place. They heard that the lands near the Volga were rich and free. And they decided to move to the Volga. They arrived, and everything there was already occupied by other peoples. The old people began to give advice: should we go back or try our luck somewhere else? We spent the night on the bank of a river. Nobody knew its name. One an old man and says: “Let’s go along this river. She points in the direction like a thumb.” We listened to this advice. They went up from the Volga and found free lands... They settled here. And the river was named Sur. In Erzya “sur” means “finger”.

How did the Mordovians come to the river, major influx Volga, where “everything was already occupied by other peoples” and “no one knew its name”? It is unlikely. Mordovians are very smart people. The fact that they knew the real Sura is confirmed by the presence of the drink “sura” in Mordovian cuisine. A sura is a sura, and not some kind of finger. The word “quasura” is also known from Sanskrit; Apparently, kvass and sura are related drinks.

"Surya" - in Sanskrit (the oldest written language of the Brahman religion; Indo-European family of languages) means the sun. In Sanskrit, “Surabahi” is a goddess in the form of a wonderful cow, capable of giving gold, precious stones and other valuables instead of milk. In Sanskrit, “Sura Devi” is an intoxicating drink that personifies the goddess Surabahi. Hence Russian word“Sura”, used by the Magi in magical rites, and by the people for the same reason and as a drink. The toponyms “sura” are associated with the sacraments of the Magi, their path to escape into dense thickets to perform rituals of worship of the gods.

There is a river Sura in the basin Northern Dvina. The Surov River flows in the Mogilev region of Belarus. Big Suren and Small Suren are in Bashkiria.

Another Sura (perhaps the first on the Russian Plain) flows into the Dnieper, at the Dnieper rapids, in a place where everything is imbued with the Russian spirit and beliefs Ancient Rus'. The current name of the river is Mokra Sura. There is also Sursky Island and the Sursky Rapids. The Mokraya Sura has two tributaries - the Kamyshevataya Sura and the Sukhaya Sura, which emphasizes the stability of this hydronym in this area. In addition, on the right bank of Ukraine there are rivers: Sursha, Sura Stolpovaya, two Surzhi and Surka.

There are many places of worship of ancient Russian gods on the territory of Ukraine and Belarus. The names of ancient temples were inherited by ancient cities. In the former Vitebsk province there is such a city on the spout of the Dvina and Kasplya rivers. There is Surozh near Grodno on the Narew River. There was a village called Surazhichi on the Iputa River, and since 1781 the city of Surazh. Some toponyms are more than one thousand years old. The villages of Sura are known in the Arkhangelsk and Penza regions, Surava - in the Tambov region, Surazh - a regional center in the Bryansk region, Surinsk - in the Samara region. And it was spread all the way to Altai, where Surkash is, and the Primorsky Territory, where Suragievka is. There are Surgut and Surgodi...

Where there are Russian people, there is “sura”, “surazh”. The Slavic Rhaetia, where the Danube, Rhone, Rhine, and Adizh rivers originate, is no longer in the Alps, but even here there is still a tract that gave its name to the village of Sura. Moreover, in some gorges of the Alpine mountains, several tens of thousands of Slavs have been living for the third millennium - the remnants of the glorious Raetia.

From the work of the Byzantine writer Procopius “On Buildings,” written in 560 (Journal “Bulletin” ancient history", 1939, № 4), the fortress of Sura in Thrace is known.

For the ancient Ross, the wilderness and hunting are more valuable than the golden bridle

Right here, in Crimea, the Russian city of Surozh has been known since ancient times. Hordes of Goths, Huns, and Tatar-Mongols swept across the country with an ancient, rich culture; Sourozh Rus' was destroyed. But the memory remains.

State formations of the Goths, Byzantium, and later a fragment of the Golden Horde, the Khanate of the Crimean Tatars, a vassal of Turkey, appeared in Crimea.

However, the name Sourozh was preserved both in everyday life and in the Orthodox church language... From a number of sources, including from the “Degree Book,” we know about the holy Archbishop Stephen of Sourozh. The parish was called not just any name, but in the old way – Sourozh.

In ancient times, the Greeks and later the Italians founded Black Sea coast There are many colonial cities. The merchant Greeks called the former Surozh similar to the name Sugdeya. The Italian Genoese, who ousted the Greeks in the 14th century, called the city in their own way, but also in harmony - Soldaya.

Only the Russians, including the chroniclers, still called the city Surozh. In 852, the Novgorod prince Bravlin made a campaign in the Crimea, which the chronicler captured: “And the Slavs marched from Novgorod, Prince Brovalin and fought the Greeks and conquered the Greek land from Kherson and to Kerchev and to Surozh...”

Let us once again note the stability of ancient legends, which is sometimes stronger than paper and rock carvings. For a long time now there has been no Surozhi-city in Crimea, and Moscow and other merchants who traded with Crimean cities, both in the 14th century and at the beginning of the 16th century, were called “Surozhans”, “guests-Surozhans”. That’s what they wrote in documents and chronicles. Traders did not travel from Genoese Soldaya, but from Surozhi, as in ancient times.

In Russian chronicles of the 12th century the Sea of ​​Azov is also called the Sea of ​​Surozh. It apparently became Azov with the construction of the Azov fortress by the Turks.

Sura, Surazh, Surozh, Surozh Rus' - these are not consonances, but a hit in the name of the Sun worshipers who drink the sacred Sura.

Nowadays, on the site of the Crimean city of Surozh, there is an urban-type settlement of Sudak. And Russian people live there. It’s as if the sun has completed another cycle... However, here we see an old truth: Russians always come (or return) to where the threat comes from. Russians, like trout, swim against the current. If only you wake them up. And it wouldn’t hurt to repeat and remember this.

In 1717, during the raid of the Kuban highlanders and Crimean Tatars on the territory today assigned to the Saratov, Penza, and Ulyanovsk regions, more than a hundred Russian, Mordovian and Chuvash villages were burned and wiped off the face of the earth. Thousands and thousands of people died. Tens of thousands were sold into slavery in Crimea, Bukhara, Turkey, Egypt...

1717 - the time of Peter the Great Russian Empire, when the Swedish army, which in 1709 was considered the strongest in Europe, read in the world, was already defeated near Poltava. But even at this time, the Asian habit of the slave trade did not die out; the predation of the slave traders was on an incredible scale. This does not remain without consequences. As a result, in the 19th century, five hundred thousand highlanders moved from the Kuban to Turkey, and about six hundred thousand Crimean Tatars moved from the Crimea.

Only the names Rus and Surozh did not return to Crimea. This is a flaw of pre-revolutionary figures...

The remnants of the Crimean Tatars were evicted by the NKVD during the Second World War. Government officials were not afraid of this, but to return historical names even under Khrushchev and his successors they were terribly afraid. There is no need to be afraid of us. Russian people are peaceful if you don't bother them.

No matter how hard officials tried, they could not completely erase Sura and Surozh from people’s memory. And we have no right to abandon our history.

The sacred river Sura has a tributary, the sacred river Alatyr. More on this in the next chapter.

The sources of the Sura River are the Sursky Peaks.

Baryshsky district, Ulyanovsk region.
Latitude: 53°23′1″N (53.383667).
Longitude: 46°56′18″E (46.938375).
according to Yandex.Maps

The Sura River - or, as it is also called, “ younger sister» The Volga, the second largest right tributary of Russia’s most famous water artery, originates in the Ulyanovsk region, in a village with the eloquent name of Surskie Vershiny. It is from here, from a small stream (according to the official version), that it begins its long journey, stretching over 841 kilometers, to the mouth. main river Sursky region - Penza region. And also one of the most significant rivers the republics of Mordovia, Chuvashia and Mari-El, Ulyanovsk and Nizhny Novgorod regions.

Therefore, it was from the Sura Peaks, from the sources and further, across fifty bridges located along the entire course of the Sura, that our mini-expedition began, called “”. During which, we, the four participants in this journey - Vladislav, Anatoly, Daniil and I, not only got acquainted with all the structures anywhere connecting the two banks of the Sura, but also once again became convinced that the river that gave its name to the Sura region , indeed, interesting, changeable, varied in texture, but most importantly, of course, very, very beautiful. Especially in the crimson colors of early autumn.

The village of Surskie Vershiny in the Baryshsky district of the Ulyanovsk region - the place where the Sura began, has the status of the official sources of the river, on the one hand it is justified, on the other hand - perhaps not. So, how to determine 100% accurately - from which specific spring our beloved is born? water artery, now, impossible. Moreover, in the village itself there are at least two reservoirs dammed by dams, which with a certain degree of certainty can claim to be the Sur sources (or, more precisely, “super sources”). But, according to archival data, the springs that merged together and once gave rise to Sura were, in general, not located in Sursky Heights, and a little higher than the village, in the forest. But the forest was cut down, the streams were blocked with a dam, the springs were silted up and now the sources of the Sura are marked where they are marked.

Namely, in the swampy lowland that is located behind the outermost house, along left side from the old store in the center of the village. If you don’t know where exactly this place is and don’t ask the locals, then you probably won’t be able to find the beginning of the Sura right away. From the height of the slope, unless you get closer, the spring, designated as the official sources of the river, is simply not visible. However, after the relatively recent renovation of the spring, it has become easier to find the Sura spring in the Sura Heights.

Now, instead of a dilapidated, rickety well, the place of its origins is marked by a blue polycarbonate booth with a bright red roof. And if, during the search, something red flashed in the ravine, it means the source of the Sura is strictly in front of you.

As you can see, from the signs accompanying the booth, representatives of the Cadet School for Civil Defense and Emergency Situations No. 70 in Penza and, probably, some deputies about " United Russia", who decided, for the sake of modesty, to remain anonymous.

Through their joint efforts, the place where the spring flows from the ground was enclosed in a concrete ring. And above it they built a wooden flooring and installed a prefabricated greenhouse house on screws. Which not only covers the source well from bad weather, but also acts as a noticeable landmark for those who want to find the Sursky sources.

Unfortunately, we did not have any available materials or tools with us for further improvement of the Sura spring. Therefore, as a souvenir, we placed our expedition sticker in the corner of the information stand.

In honor of the beginning of the journey from the source to the mouth. And, so to speak, as a talisman “for good luck” for the realization of all the goals set for this trip.

Then, we took a photo with our expedition flags against the backdrop of the spring, collected the first Sura water in a test tube for analysis, drank the same Sura water, but from glasses, and set off to search for the first bridge over the Sura.

Leading to the other side of the ravine, in which, according to current official data, the main water artery of our Sursky region originates. Looking ahead, I can say that the first bridge over the Sura turned out to be a very interesting structure, in terms of engineering. However, read more about it and the name that we jointly gave to this wooden structure in the next post on the topic.

In the meantime, here is a scan diagram of the origins of Sura. The spring (bottom, left), which, in fact, is designated as the Sursky sources, is highlighted with a red dot. Above, a dam-dam is clearly visible, collecting water from springs to the north of the village. There is another similar dam to the north-west of the village. And both of them, what’s most interesting, according to Yandex Maps, are signed as... Sura. This relates to the question of which sources of the Sura are considered the true sources.

Video bonus:

See the full CATALOG of all SURA bridges