Military Training in the Black Sea zone

Today I listened to the radio and the brain singled out the phrase: "Military exercises were held at the Opuksky testing range." Immediately surfaced in the memory of the tank rut and the smoke of ruptures on the horizon.

It was in my summer Crimea trip. We stayed in a camp not from from Azov Sea.

"The Red Lakes!" Red lakes! ... You need to look at the red lakes ... "- A woman in the camp said. Well, we decided, we'll go and see ...

I oriented on the map, drove ... Quite near Kerch on the Black Sea coast is the Opuk reserve. On the territory of the reserve and around there are salt lakes. The most famous and large is the Lake Koyash. In the photos on the Internet, the lakes are really red, but when we visited them, it was a hot day, and the lakes had only an elusive pink hue. Throughout the lake, like white foam or broken polyfoam, lay pieces of salt ...

The spectacle is strong. The lakes themselves are shallow. The bottom is covered with black medicinal mud. The water is very salty and hot. It is heated in the sun. In general, the spectacle is interesting. The lake is bordered by the sea and a difference in the color of the water is visible, separated by a thin line of earth.

We bathed in the sea, lay on the sand, stared at the rocks sticking out far into the sea. Everything was so wonderful that we decided to visit again later ...

It came later ...

We have already decently traveled around the Crimea, having visited both Sempiropol and Sevastopol and drove along the Southern Coast of Crimea (the South Coast of the Crimea) and again decided to visit the lakes. Our base was not far from this place. Village Pesochnoe, on the shore of the Azov Sea. Those. you just need to cross the peninsula from sea to sea, almost at its thinnest part. The first time we went by the signs and made a big detour. This time I decided that it's worth trying to drive straight. We have a car, although not an SUV, but with a character. And I decided, I'll go straight across the field to the south. There must be a road along it, along the sea, I'll drive up to the very beach where we rested. No sooner said than done.

I turned off the asphalt and drove along the sry grass, focusing on the remains of the tractor's track. After a while, the grass rose slightly above the hood. We sailed across the green field. It was scary, adrenaline was pumping in the blood. The field did not end and it did not end. It became, even, a desire to turn back, and the team, sensing this, tried to arrange a riot and deploy as a ship floating in a green grassy sea. But here there was a road!

I was proud of my cunning and decision to cut the path!

We rushed along inferior asphalt ahead, but the road to us was blocked by a checkpoint with armed soldiers.

I decided to turn left, because there was a dirt road there. I had a fence with barbed wire to my right, on the left is a boundless field. It's been 15 minutes. Nothing has changed. The fence with the thorn is neither end nor edge. The team murmurs. I'm going. The track is somehow very wide. The car does not go into it.

After another 15 minutes the spine ended and I saw a right turn. To sea. I turned and literally a few meters saw the sign "Stop. Shooting is in progress. " Ow-yoy. I thought. And then he saw on the horizon crawling along the sea box.

I've got froze inside. We are alone around the desert and we saw tanks on the horizon. I turned around and without a word rushed back to the checkpoint.

When I saw the soldiers again at the checkpoint, I slowed down, left the car and asked what they had here. And how to get to the sea? To which he received the following reply: "By sea, probably not. Now the exercises are on, they are shooting. Look, you see, the air force has gone. Is it better to leave this place altogether, but then you never know what? "

In the direction to which he was pointing, the smoke of the rifts rose.

I followed his advice. When we returned to the camp, after sunset, we laughed nervously ...

From this adventure there were only photos of the sunset, since it seemed to me not very good idea to shoot the tanks, although now, it seems that it would be possible to shoot ...