Kem is a small port town on the White Sea in northern Karelia, and for most visitors it is the gateway to the Solovetsky Islands. The town sits at the mouth of the Kem river, in a flat, windswept land of low forest, rocks and cold shining water, and its main sights are a wooden cathedral and the quiet of a place that has seen several centuries of Pomor sailors come and go. The Pomors, the Russian settlers of the White Sea coast, made their living from fishing, salt and trade, and the culture they left behind has a strong, independent character.
The Assumption Cathedral, finished in the early eighteenth century, is one of the largest wooden churches in northern Russia, a tall, tiered building of dark timber that rises above the roofs of the town. Its interior is plain but has some beautiful icons, and the wooden walls have the warmth that comes from centuries of weather. It is the sort of building that makes you want to put a hand on the logs.
From the nearby port of Rabocheostrovsk, boats cross the White Sea to the Solovetsky Islands, home to a fortified monastery founded in the fifteenth century that became one of the most powerful in the country. In the twentieth century, the islands were turned into one of the first camps of the Soviet prison system, and the history of the place carries enormous weight. Today a community of monks and residents shares the island, and the beautiful landscape with its lakes, birch forest and pale northern light makes a moving contrast with the story. The ferry runs only in the summer months, and the crossing takes a few hours, with the sea sometimes rough.
The road to Kem passes through the endless forest of Karelia, with long straights and low rolling hills. It is a road for a slow, steady pace, with trucks to share it, and in places the surface is broken. Wildlife includes elk and the occasional bear, and the summer midges and mosquitoes are famous.
Kem has fuel, shops and simple places to eat, and it is the last place of any size before the sea, so top up here. In June and July the white nights keep the sky light round the clock, and the sea shimmers pale blue and silver. By September the air is cold and the birch turn yellow.