Nizhny Tagil is an iron city, and it has been one since Peter the Great's day. In 1702, a Tula blacksmith named Nikita Demidov was given the Nevyansk works, and his family soon spread across the Urals, founding Tagil in 1722 on the river of the same name. The Demidov family grew into one of the richest in Russia, and the iron that came from these furnaces roofed churches, armed regiments, and built bridges across the empire. Ore came from the great iron mountain of Vysokaya, a hill that was dug away over centuries, leaving a vast pit, and the mining museum in the town has good displays on the old trade.
In the Soviet era, the city became a symbol of heavy industry. The Uralvagonzavod works, evacuated from Kharkiv in 1941, produced railway wagons and then T-34 tanks, which came to be known as the weapon that won the war, and the plant is still one of the biggest tank factories in the world. The skyline is a forest of chimneys, and the haze that hangs over the valley on a still day tells you what kind of place this is. About three hundred and eighty thousand people live here, in a long, narrow strip along the river.
Culture has a place too. The town is known for Tagil trays, painted metal trays decorated with bright flowers on a black background, a craft that began in the eighteenth century and is still practised. A museum shows the history of the tradition, and you can buy a small one as a souvenir.
The riding approach is mostly flat, with the Urals low and rounded around the town, and the road in from Yekaterinburg or Perm runs through forest and hills, with moderate traffic. Surfaces can be rough, with patching, and industrial lorries are common. Summers are warm, winters hard, and the best months are May to September. Smog can be an issue in still weather.
Fuel, food and beds are plentiful, with petrol stations on every main road, supermarkets, cafés, and hotels of varying quality. A day in the city is a day in the Urals' industrial heart, and it is not pretty, but it is real. Climb the viewpoint above the river if you can, and look over the roofs. It shows you what the Demidovs built.