Ferzikovo is a district village of four thousand or so people east of Kaluga, set back from the right bank of the Oka where the river makes its long swing toward Aleksin and Tarusa. Nobody comes here for the village itself, and it would not pretend otherwise: a few streets of wooden and brick houses, an administration building, shops and a church. What makes it a good stopping point is the country around it, which is some of the loveliest along the middle Oka.
The river here runs between high, wooded banks and broad meadows, and the villages along it have that particular central Russian look of grey timber, blue window frames and gardens full of apple trees. This stretch of the Oka attracted painters and writers for a reason. Downstream, between Aleksin and Tarusa, Vasily Polenov built his house and studio on the bank in the late nineteenth century, and the estate, now a museum, is still one of the most beautiful places on the river. Tarusa itself was home to Marina Tsvetaeva in her childhood summers and to Paustovsky later.
The roads around Ferzikovo are minor ones, with patched tarmac, gentle hills and occasional sharp dips where the road drops to cross a stream or a gully before climbing again. There are long views across the valley from the higher ground, especially in the late afternoon when the light comes in low from the west. Traffic is light on weekdays, a little heavier on summer weekends with dacha owners heading out of Kaluga. Watch for loose gravel at junctions and the odd unmarked speed bump through villages.
Practically, Ferzikovo has basic shops and should have fuel on the main road, but for a wider choice of food and services Aleksin, about twenty kilometres away, is the better bet, and Kaluga is around half an hour west. If you are riding on toward Yasnaya Polyana, Tolstoy's estate near Tula, the route continues through farmland and forest. Take a moment on a high point above the Oka before leaving; on a calm summer evening, with the river shining and swallows over the meadows, this is central Russia at its gentlest.