Krasnoselsky chalk quarries on the map of Belarus. Traveling around Belarus. Kossovo – Ruzhany – Krasnoselsky chalk quarries – Slonim. Chalk lakes near Soligorsk

Amazingly clean White sand on the beach, the azure or turquoise color of the clearest water, beautiful rocky cliffs on the shore of a reservoir - who would have thought that all this is not in the distant Maldives or Seychelles, but literally very close by - in Belarus. Today I will talk about the Krasnoselsky quarries, in which you can even swim.

It turns out that this small but proud country has its own man-made miracle light, which has already become a tourist mecca for local residents, but little is known about it outside of Belarus. It's called Krasnoselsky quarries. The spectacle, I must say, is stunning and unusual. It seems that you are somewhere in the subtropics and only the trees on the shore remind you that this is all ours, dear.

Where are the Krasnoselsky quarries located?

Finding these careers on your own is quite difficult. They are not listed in tourist routes and only the Internet can help local residents. Surprisingly, no one has chosen these beautiful places to date. Travel Company, which organizes tours around Belarus. There are no campsites, hotels, numerous services, and these beautiful beaches can be called wild. This is because the owner of all this is OJSC Krasnoselskstroymaterialy, a plant that mines chalk here. It is thanks to the work of the huge BELAZ trucks of this enterprise that numerous quarries were formed, the number of which today amounts to dozens. The company itself is only concerned with the extraction of chalk and cares little about the fact that hundreds of tourists flock to these places every summer. Moreover, there are signs everywhere - “swimming is prohibited.” This can be explained simply: the places are not equipped, there are no rescuers or other specialized services that are ready to help at any time. But no one pays attention to the signs. People constantly come to these beautiful places to admire the stunning scenery and swim in the clearest clear water.


How to get here?

You can get to these beauties by your own car or public transport. First, you need to come to the city of Volkovysk. It is located in the Grodno region of Belarus ( look on the map). This is a fairly decent regional center and there are even good hotels here. The quarries themselves are located about 15 kilometers from the city, near the urban village of Krasnoselsky, from which they got their name. Once in this village, getting to the quarries will not be difficult; you just need to ask the local residents where they are. Until you get directly to these unique bodies of water, the surrounding landscapes will not be very pleasant. The village is quite gloomy, and only the local towers in a huge mass next to it. cement factory, which, by the way, is already more than 100 years old. Chalk mining here is carried out almost around the clock, and the road to the quarries is covered with a specific white dust.

It is quite difficult to be in close proximity to the quarries in your own car. All entrances are blocked by barriers. They say this was done so that the bank would not accidentally collapse and the car would not fall straight into the water. It seems that such an accident has already happened in these places. Therefore, stopping near the barrier, you need to walk a decent number of meters before those same amazing landscapes open up.


What are careers like?

The structure of the quarries themselves is reminiscent of small Norwegian fjords - sharp, steep banks and bodies of water stretching into the distance. These are elongated lakes, small in width. However, all careers are different from each other. There are quite old reservoirs that are very difficult to get to. They are surrounded by forest and bushes. Getting to the shore along the steep slope in these quarries can be very dangerous.


There are active quarries, but tourists are completely uninterested there, because there is dust everywhere, heavy equipment is driving around, and there is no water in these places yet. The most popular places among people are those quarries that were worked out 10-20 years ago. Here the shores have not yet become covered with dense vegetation, but tourists have already trodden paths and organized something like beaches.


Why is the water here azure?

It's quite simple. The stunning azure hue of the water here is provided by a mixture of chalk and calcium. The bottom is not overgrown, so the water remains surprisingly clear. The main thing is that swimming here is absolutely harmless. The water is clean, rainwater and does not have any harmful impurities. It can only become cloudy if you stir up the chalky bottom.

The only problem for vacationers may be the depth of the quarries. It is quite difficult to carefully enter the water here. Literally a meter from the shore it becomes very deep, so it is really dangerous for children to swim here. It is true that they say that in one of the quarries there is a place where you can relax even with children.

Each of these reservoirs has already received its name. If locals call them “Lens” under different numbers, then tourists name the quarries depending on the color of the water or landscape: “turquoise”, “pillars” and other names.



What darkens these landscapes?

Since the holiday is wild, the beautiful picture is overshadowed by mountains of garbage that no one cleans up here. Even if you carefully leave the bags in the general pile, it will still remain, because garbage trucks don’t come here. It will be a pity if in 10 years these places become just a huge garbage dump, because no one is going to do landscaping here. Moreover, locals say that you can already get a serious fine for entering the plant’s territory.

However, this does not deter fans extreme recreation. As I learned, tens of thousands of people have visited here in just a few years, and this is far from the limit, since the popularity of the quarries is increasing every year. People come here on foot, by bicycle and by car.

How will the fate of this paradise- unknown, but all-knowing Belarusians say that these Belarusian Maldives are not the only ones in the country. Soon the same ones will appear in Brest and other regions of the country, because chalk deposits are one of the few natural resources, which is available in abundance here.

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We partially spotted the route, marked green on the map, on globus.tut.by, and partially developed it ourselves:

A significant part of our journey passed along the M1 highway (E30). Judging by the morning weather, the day should have been warm, clear and sunny.

However, when we drove 160 kilometers from Minsk, the sky was densely overcast, the weather changed, the thermometer dashboard slowly crawled to +13 C. The rest of our trip was spent waiting for rain. After Ivatsevichi we turned from M1 (E30) onto P44 and entered Kossovo. Here is the Church of the Holy Trinity, where Tadeusz Kościuszko was baptized in 1746. Actually, one of the goals of our trip was an attempt to acquaint our sons with the history of the “sapraudnag revaluyyaner”, who was undeservedly neglected in the course of the corresponding school subject:

* The following picture and some others in the upper right corner are marked with . This means that under such a photo there is another one hidden - similar or from a different angle. To display the second image, click on the first image, to return the first, click on the second.


On the outskirts of Kossovo, in the historical estate of Merechevshchina, there is one of the two most likely birthplaces of Tadeusz Kosciuszko. There, thanks to the help of the United States (Kosciuszko is an honorary citizen of the United States and France), the former appearance of the estate was restored. Whether it looked like this before is a question; we were struck by the emotional similarity of the estate to the Californian Fort Ross.


Inside the estate there is a very nice, well-kept exhibition that does not pretend to be historically correct:


And next to it is a beauty with a picturesque pond against the backdrop of open spaces:


The swan family gave us half an hour of delight. Who said they were ugly ducklings?


Near the estate there is all the infrastructure: a cafe (they say it’s delicious, we were there long before lunch), and a small guest house where you can spend the night.

And very close, within a five-minute walking distance, is the magnificent palace of industrial magnates Puslovsky (1838). I think we were one of the first to see the palace in its entirety from this perspective. Just a couple of months ago it was almost completely closed by forest and the same globus offered completely different photos. Remember the fairy tale about the sleeping beauty? I don’t know about you, but for me, she slept in just such a palace behind a dense forest. Burned by partisans (unfortunately) in 1943. Maybe someday we will see it in all its glory.


The palace is under restoration, although no active work was observed, perhaps because it was Saturday. According to the plan, the palace was supposed to resemble old English castles:


Ruzhany is very close from Kossovo. There are no larger ruins in Belarus. The size of the Sapega palace complex is amazing - it is more than a full-fledged stadium. The palace was built in the first half of the 18th century. In the center there was a front courtyard with a regular park, which could be reached through the triumphal arch of the main gate:

This is what he once was:


This is how it has remained to this day. An interesting solution was invented by restorers. The original appearance of the entrance wing was restored, where a small museum was installed. The ceremonial view of the outbuilding allows the traveler to think out (imagine) how everything was under the Sapiehas. Nevertheless, the palace itself breathes history, if only it could not be allowed to continue to deteriorate.


Let's wander around the palace "apartments"

Let's admire the antique fireplace:

Let's take a look into the wine cellar:

View from the palace complex to the village of Ruzhany:

GPS coordinates of the village of Ruzhany:: N52°51"53"" E 24°53"26"" .

The next point of our journey should be the lakes on the site of chalk quarries near the village of Krasnoselsky.

Cretaceous quarries near Krasnoselsky and quarry lakes
In the village of Krasnoselsky, the main attraction is the building materials plant of republican significance. The raw material for this plant is chalk, which is mined in chalk quarries. Quarries are divided into active and abandoned. Some abandoned quarries turned out to be flooded with underground water over time, as a result we have several lakes with azure-colored water. "Belarusian Maldives..." :))
We drove, like many others, purely intuitively. We leave Ruzhany and drive further along the P44 towards Volkovysk, go around it on the right, and still continue along the P44 towards the village of Krasnoselsky. How long have we been driving, maybe we’ve already passed these quarries with lakes? They are not on our map at all (these lakes are too small for a map of the region), and there is no such object as these lakes in the navigator either.
Update May 23, 2014:
But BelAZ mining dump trucks started coming our way - we are on the right track! :)


The BelAZ of this model is not very large - it occupies exactly half of this road, 3.5-4 meters wide, passing it is no problem. We did not see larger models of dump trucks. And for some reason BelAZs do not have state numbers - neither front nor back :). BelAZ trucks from developed quarries transport chalk dug up by huge excavators to the nearby Krasnoselskstroymaterialy plant. The road surface and roadside bushes and trees are covered with a thin layer of chalk dust:


Here is the first quarry lake:


The banks are steep and steep. The water in the lake is warm and exactly the same color as on the screen - bluish-azure, even despite the obvious bad weather:

And one more lake, next to the first one, where in 10 minutes you can catch two tiny crucian carp:

Lunch time has already come, and we still have a lot of plans. We turn around and go to reverse side. We had lunch in Volkovysk, took pictures of the children at the wolf monument and headed for Slonim along the P99 road. The next point is a defensive church in Synkovichi, a village in the Zelvensky district. The most likely time of its construction can be considered the end of the 15th - beginning of the 16th century. Massive walls, towers and rooms above vaults with loopholes bring it closer to a small castle. In the right front tower, one of the loopholes was converted into a dwelling by wild bees.

Slonim. Every house has historical value. Unfortunately, the day was coming to an end and we were not able to really see the city.
On this day, schools held proms, the city center was closed off for the graduation parade.

The atmosphere of the holiday filled the whole city, a beautiful tradition, it’s time for Minsk to adopt it.

Practical information

Where are the Krasnoselsky chalk quarries located? How to find chalk quarries? Detailed map

GPS coordinates of chalk quarries- N 53.289539°, E 24.50346°.
And now without GPS (to find using GPS - it doesn’t take much intelligence :)). Let me make a reservation right away - it will be convenient to get to the chalk quarries and quarry lakes only with your own transport. It is not necessary to have a car or a motorcycle, but at least you need to have a bicycle. But the option with a bicycle is suitable only for ardent lovers of cycling tourism. As for public intercity transport and how to get there - I don’t know, I haven’t tried it.
So, we set off on our way to the chalk quarries in our transport. If you start from Minsk, you will have to travel 270-280 km, spending 3-3.5 hours one way. Map:

The landmark for searching for chalk quarries is the city of Volkovysk. We leave Minsk towards Brest, get on the M1 (E30), drive past Baranovichi and soon turn onto the P99 road to Slonim. We drive past Slonim, through Zelva and approach Volkovysk. Before reaching Volkovysk there will be an intersection at which you will have to turn right onto the P44 road and move along it towards Grodno and the village of Krasnoselsky. Drive along P44 until you see factory buildings on the left side - this is a building materials factory in the village of Krasnoselsky. And approximately here there will be an exit (or overpass): to the left - to the village of Krasnoselsky, to the right - towards the village of Novoselki. This exit is marked on the map with number 1:

We turn right towards the village of Novoselki, drive, reach this village and drive through it. It has an almost uninhabited appearance, with rickety houses and fences, all generously dusted with chalk. In general, chalk is everywhere there - on the roads, along the roads, all the trees and bushes are covered in chalk. By the end of the trip, your car and clothes will also be soaked and sprinkled with chalk dust. After Novoselki you will drive another 2 kilometers and see abandoned chalkpit, and in them there are quarry lakes. The ones you came for :) . Yes, all the roads we drove on were asphalt; there were no dirt roads along the way.

In general, we are almost there. If you have an SUV or a motorcycle or bicycle, then you can turn off the road and try to drive cross-country closer to the shore. And if the car is low-slung, then you will have to walk further, you just need to move the car off the road - BelAZ trucks drive nearby and mercilessly dust with chalk. You can remove your car from the road by driving onto any secondary dirt road - there will be two or three of them, something like a pocket or a branch from an asphalt road. Then we move along rough terrain, 100-200 meters need to be overcome. And you will find yourself at the nearest quarry lake (indicated “Lake 1” on the map above). Other lakes are also nearby, see the map above.

Many people ask - is there any infrastructure near the lakes - a hotel, a guesthouse, a store at least? There is none of the above, there is nothing at all. Because there is a Belarusian outback without embellishment. The wilderness is terrible and fucking wild. And also because these quarry lakes are not a recreation area, don’t be confused. All quarries belong to the Krasnoselskstroymaterialy plant, and the fact that in some abandoned chalk quarries on the formed lakes tourists got into the habit of relaxing, swimming and fishing is at the vacationers’ and fishermen’s own peril and risk. In general, the places there are absolutely wild, only the BelAZ trucks rushing past add a touch of civilization.
The day we arrived was cloudy and rainy and it was a workday, so we didn’t see any crowds of vacationers. But on fine weekends there are quite a few people there.
The lakes are tens of meters deep, have a viscous bottom and steep banks. Swimming in these lakes is somewhat dangerous, so keep that in mind. Breathing chalk dust is also not beneficial. Think about it. But just seeing these lakes once is worth it!

Live forever and be amazed. Such parting words can be given to tourists arriving in Belarus. Here they will find something exotic that is, perhaps, nowhere else. A indelible impressions, positive emotions are what is required.

Maldives near Minsk

Many are amazed by the trip to the chalk quarries (Belarus). The photos selected for the article confirm that this is, in fact, a miracle.

Just five or six years ago no one knew about them. And no pilgrimage in personal cars or public transport there was no one in the area of ​​the city of Volkovysk. But in a very short time they started talking loudly about it - it became fashionable. And this is the mystery. Because chalk quarries (Belarus) are an industrial object, and not at all a tourist one. Will you go to sunbathe and swim, say, in the territory controlled by a brick or tractor factory? And there are more than enough people here.

Magic fossil

A long time ago, a chalk deposit was found near Volkovysk. Almost a hundred years ago they began to mine it, and they do not stop today. This is done by the Krasnoselskstroymaterialy enterprise, which produces lime, cement, and building mixtures. It seems that things are going very well, because the white mineral is transported on BelAZ trucks at night.

Pits that have already been mined are not used - they stand abandoned. Gradually they are filled with water - a whole lake is formed. However, some chalk remains at the bottom. It colors the artificial pond in a fantastically beautiful color from soft azure to rich turquoise, sometimes emerald. By the way, the water in the quarries is drinkable, and in some places there is a lot of fish. So those who like to sit with a fishing rod also come here.

The quarries are in the lowlands. The shores surrounding the artificial lakes are high and steep, sometimes just like a vertical descent! Because of this, it is not only difficult to approach the water, but also to find a place to lie down. And, in general, you need to be careful here. Falling down is a couple of trifles. When you enter a body of water from the shore, you immediately fall to great depths.

Young trees grow on the steep banks and the grass turns green. There are huge boulders and blocks of silicon underfoot. And the lake, enclosed in a ring, is transparent, delicate, like blue glass. Fantastic picture! All this attracts tourists. More than one hundred thousand people come here every year.

Singers also often come here. They chose chalk quarries (Belarus). Artists shoot videos for their songs here, because there is beauty all around and the water itself is like in the Maldives. Therefore, there is no need to travel so far and spend a lot when there is a stunning landscape right under your nose.

Pilgrimage in half with paradise

Whatever they call this place: the Mecca of Belarusians, and our Maldives, and the miracle of the Volkovysk region, an eden for amateur photographers, and a business card of the country.

Imagine an area the size of 300 football fields. This is the area occupied by chalk quarries (Belarus). The length of each is from 1 to 4 km, the depth is 10-15 meters, and in some places up to 30. Diving fans rejoice! And daredevils jumping into the water from cliffs. However, the quarries are recognized as an extreme danger zone. More than a third of all deaths in the country’s rivers and lakes occur in the popular local Maldives.

"Blue" plus "Zelenka"

Of the many former quarries that turned into reservoirs, people chose two main ones for recreation and named them after the predominant shade of the water - green and blue. Not only Belarusians, but also residents of Ukraine and Russia come here. Together with people from local villages, they form a dense population of the steep banks. They lie there, sunbathing, clinging to the slopes so that sometimes there is nowhere to put their feet. One word - Maldives! And this is amazing. Beauty is beauty, but there is no infrastructure here: no shops or kiosks where you can buy something to eat, no changing rooms, or even the simplest toilets.

And the beach itself is a more or less flat surface, where grass and bushes have sprouted, plus impressive mountains of stones. This is not the golden sand of the Mediterranean. And there are more and more tourists every year.

Beautiful, but dangerous

A beautiful landscape is good. But troubles await anyone. Especially where rest in certain quarries is prohibited. This is first of all “Blue”, then “Pillars” and also “Grand Canyon”. But this is where the most people are. Maybe many people don’t know where swimming is allowed? The entire line of land near the lake, as well as its bottom, is strewn with sharp silicon, which can easily injure you. The depth of the lakes is 15 m, which poses a risk for novice swimmers. A sudden collapse of a section of the coast may also occur, which has happened more than once. Finally, this beautiful sky-blue water is harmful to humans. In terms of microbiological indicators, it exceeds safe standards tens of times.

There are prohibited quarries on the territory of OJSC Krasnoselskstroy. Its management posts notices to prevent accidents, of which there have been many, and asks tourists not to visit the quarries or swim in them. This technological zone belongs to high-risk production facilities. Outsiders are generally prohibited from visiting them. Those who break the taboo are fined. However, for some reason people do not take this into account. And they boldly climb into the water.

You may ask, where can you swim? These are chalk quarries (Belarus) called “Blue”, as well as “Mars”.

By private car or train

The Belarusian miracle is located 270 kilometers from Minsk. This means that you need to overcome this distance somehow if you want to get to the local Maldives. Your goal is chalk quarries (Belarus). How to get there? Let's face it, the road is long and far from fun. The first method is for those who have their own personal car. From the capital you move straight to Brest. As soon as you reach Baranavichy, make a right turn towards ancient Slonim. We passed it, then passed Zelva. Next on the way is Volkovysk. You go around it from the east side and then head north. The village of Krasnoselsky will be your guide. Before reaching Novoselki a little, you should turn right. And then we drive to the road for dump trucks, then turn right again.

Now we’ll tell you about the road to the chalk quarries (Belarus). How to get there by public transport. Here in Minsk you boarded an electric train or a train. And you drive calmly all the way to the city of Baranovichi. Then switch to diesel. It will take you to the city of Volkovysk. Then you rush on shuttle bus, drive to the village of Krasnoselsky. True, it’s better to get off a little earlier (before the village of Novoselki). And then on foot, looking at the cards mentioned above.

So, your goal is Belarus, chalk quarries. How to get there? The task is not easy. Moreover, there are no accurate signs nearby. But it’s hard for a newcomer to make a mistake in these places. From the highway you can clearly see a landmark: a factory emitting a column of smoke into the sky, surrounded by peaceful agricultural fields. And a little further on, pay attention to the unusual road: it is not gray, but all whitish. Loaded BelAZ and MAZ, one after another, literally in a few minutes rush to the enterprise and back. A trail of chalk stretches behind each truck and sprinkles a white layer on both the dark asphalt and dusty roadside vegetation.

The last stage is a country road, and after that you are at your goal. The long-awaited chalk quarries (Belarus) open before your eyes. The photos that you will see in this article will show all their unusual beauty. If you are not afraid of such a difficult path and you are not afraid of fatigue or random troubles, then your reward will be indelible impressions from meeting such a unique place on the ground.

Do you need to spend half your annual income and fly to wonderful places? paradise islands, when are there such amazing places in the Republic of Belarus? Really fabulous landscapes, looking at which, you understand that all the colorful pictures from the Internet simply fade, and all this is the creation of human hands. Yes, that's right, the chalk quarries, now abandoned, have become popular resort for a huge number of tourists. Many local residents are sure that you can have a good rest in Belarus. No, many people know that there are many beautiful rivers and lakes here, but places like this, as if from a Bounty advertisement, are definitely impossible. No, perhaps this is exactly how chalk quarries appear to admiring eyes today.

Location

Just recently, almost no one had heard about holidays in these places. Then inquisitive travelers making hiking, came across some amazing blue Lakes, surrounded by snow-white shores, which are overgrown with fluffy fir trees. This is how chalk quarries began to gain popularity. It grows every year, now only the lazy have not heard about the quarries near Volkovysk, it’s too beautiful here, real paradise. We will try to tell you in detail where they are located so that the journey is easy and pleasant.

Probably, we need to start with the fact that the Krasnoselsky chalk quarries are a huge territory. That is, these are not one or two lakes, but a huge number of them. There are hundreds of them here, but only those that were dug quite recently are of particular interest to tourists. Their main charm is the stunning azure color of the water. This phenomenon occurs if the quarry has only recently been filled with clean water. Literally next season she will become completely ordinary, so you need to seize the moment.

Impression

It is strongest for those who see chalk quarries for the first time. Everyone wants to take a photo here, and people try to find the moment for the sun’s rays to fall on the surface of the water, this is the best way to capture the stunning blue color against the backdrop of the white shores. Reviews usually agree with each other, people see photographs posted by other tourists, but do not believe that this could happen very close, in Belarus. When tourists come here for the first time, they understand that this is paradise on earth, and it does not exist at all exotic islands Moreover, it was created by man.

How to get there

Let's talk a little more about where the chalk quarries are. First of all, you need to find Volkovysk on the map and move in its direction. The very first quarry is located just along the way, before reaching the building materials plant. However, don't be discouraged if you don't have a personal car. You can embark on an exciting adventure. Gather a friendly company and hit the road. Chalk quarries await you. We will now look at how to get there by public transport. You can get from Minsk to Baranovichi by train or train. Then you need to travel on a diesel engine to Volkovysk. Finally, take a ticket for a commuter bus to the village of Krasnoselsky. Before reaching it, you will need to get out in front of the village of Novoselki. A charming journey on foot awaits you.

History of these places

We have already said that this miracle appeared thanks to the efforts of man. It is here that there are large deposits of chalk, the extraction of which is carried out by the industrial giant OJSC Krasnoselskstroymaterialy. It produces various building mixtures, so the extraction of chalk continues to this day, thanks to which new quarries appear regularly. In general, it is very difficult to get lost here; the gigantic production facility is visible from afar; the entire road to Krasnovelsk follows this landmark. And further, all the way to the quarries, you will see huge trucks that take out chalk, and the entire road, signs and trees around are covered with chalk dust.

Danger

When tourists visit the chalk quarries, taking a photo as a keepsake becomes an obsession. Everyone tries to capture not only fantastic nature, but also themselves against its background, and therefore expose themselves to risk. Several people die here every year, which worries the authorities. Apparent mountain landscapes- these are nothing more than sands that can easily collapse and bury you. The steep banks sometimes reach 40 meters, and this entire wall can collapse overnight. And the depth here is up to 50 meters. In addition, the water warms up no more than 2 meters, so when diving, you can experience the consequences of a sharp temperature change. A large number of bacteria in water also poses a certain danger to humans. So don't forget why the chalk quarries were dug. The area of ​​tourism and the area of ​​industrial chalk mining are very different from each other, and engineers hardly thought about the safety of swimmers.

Pros and cons of local holidays

The nature here is very interesting and unusual. Stunning azure water surface, snow-white shores - all this creates a most interesting landscape. However, tourism is not provided here, so vacationers are forced to sunbathe wherever they can, on steep banks covered with moss and mixed forest. You will need to go down to the water along a steep slope without steps. No beach infrastructure, lifeguards or doctors. At the height of the season, a lot of tourists relax here, and this means pleasant company, as well as occupied places in convenient areas of the shore, there is a lot of abandoned garbage, muddy water, since a large number of swimmers raise chalk impurities from the bottom.

The distance from Minsk to the destination is approximately 260 kilometers. There are two options for how to get there – along the Brest-Moscow highway (the so-called “Olympic”), and along the Minsk-Grodno highway. We dismissed the second option immediately, because, firstly, there is a narrow road here almost all the time (two-lane), and secondly, we have driven along it a million times, and therefore this route did not arouse much interest in us.

As for the Olimpiyka, it is a highway, along the entire length of which oncoming traffic is separated by metal barriers. There are two lanes in each direction. And the maximum permitted speed for passenger cars is 120 km/h.

The road is in excellent condition and driving along it is a pleasure. The only thing is that practically along the entire route they do not meet settlements(but a highway is a highway, and it runs away from settlements).

We drove along this road a little further than Baranovichi (quite Big city by the standards of the Republic of Belarus, it is one of the first largest after the capital and regional centers). After Baranovichi you need to turn right from Olimpiyka - towards Slonim (there is a sign there). And having gone around this city, go towards the settlement. Zelva and Volkovyska. A couple of kilometers short of Volkovysk, we turned into the village. Krasnoselsk. This is where these very quarries are located.

The chalk quarries belong to OJSC Krasnoselskstroymaterialy, which produces cement and other building materials. Upon entering the city and approaching this plant, the following picture opened before us: MAZ and BELAZ trucks loaded with chalk were tirelessly scurrying along the road. At the same time, the road, roadsides and roadside buildings are covered with a thick layer of white dust. It feels as if everything here is covered with snow - winter in the middle of summer.

When approaching the quarries themselves, we found many cars placed along the road, across the field, in various trains, basically, anywhere. Moreover, judging by the numbers, people come here from all regions of Belarus. There are a lot of cars with Russian license plates.

It’s worth saying right away that the quarries are the technological territory of Krasnoselskstroymaterialy OJSC. And work is still underway on some of them. Therefore, visiting these facilities by outsiders is prohibited (as indicated by the signs placed there). But you can’t easily cope with such a mass of people, so representatives are forced to turn a blind eye to tourists.

It is worth noting that everyone strives to drive a car directly to the shore of one of the quarries. The company’s workers are actively fighting this, regularly burying the “goat paths” made by machines. But they appear again and again (thanks to visitors in SUVs). So we managed to find such a path and drive straight up to one of the quarries (however, when leaving the road the car hung on its belly, but after accelerating a little, it finally pulled itself out).


To be honest, it is difficult to find a place to set up a camp near the quarries. First of all, it's simple here great amount cars that, like me, manage to make their way straight to the shore. Secondly, the banks are literally littered with litter. There is simply an incredible amount of garbage left by tourists who, after a vacation, cannot just stupidly throw it in their trunk and take it out, but throw it anywhere. This moment is very annoying - it is difficult to find a place where there are no heaps of garbage.

Having gone deeper into the forest, located between two large, unused quarries, we finally found a suitable place, set up a tent (since we were traveling overnight), and went to explore the nearby quarries.

Yes, indeed, what we saw in the pictures was not an optical illusion. The expanse of bright turquoise water and many people sunbathing on the shore and swimming in the quarries opened before us. It is worth noting that the depth here is considerable. The banks are steep. Once you move a couple of meters from the shore, you won’t be able to find the bottom, even if you dive with your hands. By the way, they say that in one of the quarries an excavator once sank (but not an ordinary one, but a large one - a mining one, which is used in workings). And if you're lucky, then good weather you can see its outline from the shore somewhere in the depths.

After spending the night in a tent, in the morning we went on a “tour” of all the quarries. We managed to get around 5. And each of them is unique in its own way. Somewhere the water is not turquoise, but green, somewhere there are very convenient beaches for swimming, etc. In general, there is something to see there.

Returning back to the road, we discovered that our “loophole” from yesterday had been filled with a bulldozer. But fortunately, not far from it, motorists crashed a new one. Shocked a little across the field, we finally got onto the road.

Total: 260 km from Minsk, about 3 hours of travel, if you don’t rush, and you find yourself in the local “paradise” - the “Belarusian Maldives”.

 

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