Wednesday Walk along the Okhta River

I found this place on a map of the city when I was preparing a walking route through the old factory village. I had already chosen the most convenient route, and finally decided to take a quick look at the immediate surroundings: what if something interesting was hiding nearby?

I found a huge forest park to the east, a few historic buildings with unassuming architecture to the north and south, and began to look at the surroundings to the west of the village.

The area concealed many surprises. I knew that somewhere there flowed the small river Okhta, on the bank of which stood a very beautiful old church; besides, I remembered about interesting stone gates, which I had long planned to see - that limited my knowledge of the area.

I turned on panorama mode and suddenly saw the cable-stayed bridge reflecting in the mirror-like surface of the big lake. My first thought was that I had accidentally opened the map in the wrong place, on a roundabout road somewhere. But no, no mistake - I just didn't know about the construction of the bridge over the Okhta River at the point where its flow was blocked by a factory dam.

At this point I realized that I would have to come to this remote urban area at least twice to see everything interesting. I can tell you now that even two trips were not enough.

This time my walk started at the bus stop near the old red brick building. This building is now one of the structures of the bakery. The very delicious smell of freshly baked bread filled the neighborhood - but, to my great regret, there was no store nearby, not even a small stall selling the bakery's products.

I oriented myself on the map and turned in the direction of the river. I found myself in what looked like an old park in some places, an industrial suburb in some places, and a dacha suburb in other places. I didn't see any new buildings during my walk, though new housing estates were being built nearby.

Of architectural monuments, I wanted to see two old mills. I walked down the path along the river for quite a long time, encountering only wooden houses with unknown history in varying degrees of preservation, until I saw a piece of brick wall with arched windows behind a green wall of trees.

Both mills had long ago been converted into apartment buildings, and I would not have guessed their history had I not looked up the information beforehand.

The first mill was a horse-drawn air-powered mill, with a huge marquee on the roof of the building with a windmill wheel spinning inside. This technology was considered advanced at the time. This mill provided flour for the entire district for several years, but the hipped construction was not very reliable, the mill did not work long. Already in the 1860s the wheel was removed, the marquee was dismantled and the building was reconstructed.

Little information has survived about the second mill. I think it happened just because this building was more traditional and it did not occur to anyone to describe it in more detail.

After seeing the old mills, I went back to the Okhta River. I was looking for a good angle to photograph the new bridge. It turned out to be quite difficult: the river banks are overgrown with grass and bushes. I think good views will be available only in winter.

This is my entry for the #WednesdayWalk challenge by @tattoodjay and for the #MakeMeSmile challenge by @elizacheng.

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Smartphone	Google Pixel 3a
Location	Saint Petersburg, Russia