Hiking to the Orlovska Fortress Ingress Portal

This was a super adventure, and a lot happened in it

And it was worth it!

A request came in to take down a long-standing portal, Orlovska Fortress, held by the Ingress player ninzyabatya — the portal had stood for almost 2 years!

I was planning a trip to Krasnohrad anyway to walk around its portals, so I decided to also hike through the countryside to this remote, ancient portal.

No sooner said than done — off we go!

I took a minibus to the nearest point somewhere in the fields near the village of Diachkivka, got off and walked straight ahead.

The trip promised to be slow — about 20 km on foot through the fields, it was already past 1 pm, and it started raining!

I walked while the rain poured on me. When it stopped, my clothes dried right on me as I walked, steaming.

Some places were really picturesque

Caution, train!

Something happened to the sunflowers — they weren’t really harvested…

3 hours (~20 km) at a fast pace, and I’m approaching Diachkivka.

I pass through the village and head into the fields, straight to the Orlovska Fortress — or rather, what’s left of it.

Steppe, grass, fields, wind, freedom!

A wonderful feeling!

A bit of history about the Orlovska Fortress

The fortress stands on the right bank of the Berestova river.

The Ukrainian defensive line was built to protect the southern borders of the Russian Empire from raids by the Turks and Crimean Tatars. It was about 285 km long and included 16 earthen fortresses and 49 redoubts, designed by General Weisbach.

It is the best-preserved earthen fortress of the line, built in 1731–1742: rectangular, with four bastions and a courtyard of over 1 hectare. The entrance was on the north-west side; the south-west wall was reinforced with a ravelin facing the river. The fortress was surrounded by a dry moat, parts of which survive today, and was connected by a rampart and moat to the neighboring Paraskeviiska and Ivanivska fortresses.

Beautiful places! On top of the earthen rampart you can see traces of campfires — people sometimes come here to relax and grill.

The portal was successfully destroyed, and ninzyabatya messaged me. I showed him the “proof” and we had a nice chat

It was getting dark — 5:30 pm — and I still had to get home!

86 km to Kharkiv, and I’m on foot.

I hoped to catch a bus on the main road, which was another 11 km away (via the village of Medvedivka). I thought it would be faster, and a chance to walk a different way.

The road was tough — mud and slush everywhere!

Puddles of a strange color:

I’d walked enough, done everything I planned — now I just had to get home, and that’s 90 km!

On the way to Medvedivka I passed an abandoned village that wasn’t even on the map: a narrow road, ruined houses on both sides, trees growing through the huts — it was creepy. And then, in the very last house, a window was lit and something was moving behind the curtain! It felt mystical; it was dark, I could barely see the road, and I sighed with relief once I’d left that village behind.

The road was wet; where there was no grass the mud was terrible, sticking to my sneakers in clumps until they got heavy enough to fall off. Some night birds flew overhead — or maybe big bats? Totally wild!

I reached Medvedivka, and it was already very dark

The road was empty — no buses, no cars. I decided to keep walking toward Kharkiv. I passed the small village of Muravlynka and headed for Staroverivka, a bigger village on my way, where I hoped to find a bus station or, at worst, call a taxi.

In the dark, without food or water, on my feet all day, I walked 22 km from the fortress to Staroverivka. At times the road was really scary. At some point I was walking in the dark without the phone light — the power bank was dead and the phone was low. Suddenly I almost tripped over something. I lit it up with the phone and saw the carcass of some animal lying on the road. Grim, but I had to keep going — I walked around it and moved on. There was constant rustling in the bushes and bird cries.

A car passed maybe once an hour, just a couple of them. I didn’t even try to stop them — what sensible person stops at night far from civilization?

Around 10 pm I finally walked into Staroverivka. No buses, the railway station was already closed, no taxis! The locals I met said there was no way to get to Kharkiv at night — I’d have to wait for morning!

I wandered around the village and went into a shop-café to ask the saleswoman where I could find a taxi. She offered to help — huge thanks to her! I wasn’t taking photos anymore: I’d walked over 50 km that day (I’d also been circling around Krasnohrad), I was tired, I wanted to get home and eat. Just to sit on a chair — but no time! I needed to find transport.

Prettier with the forests and fields

The saleswoman turned out to be the owner. She and her husband called several people who work as drivers, but they were all either drunk or asleep — nobody wanted to drive at night. Then she remembered a relative, a young guy who isn’t a taxi driver but has a car, doesn’t drink and could help! She called him and he agreed to talk. She told me to come to the café next door, and the guy came out to me. I was overjoyed — finding a car at night in a place like that is a miracle!

We agreed on a price — reasonable for the night — and raced off to Kharkiv!

We had a great chat on the way, and it turned out that Yevhen thought I was a relative of that saleswoman — that’s why he agreed to help; otherwise he would have said no. Hardly anyone would drive a stranger off the street at night, and for little money. Lucky me

An hour and a half later I was home! How happy I was to get back to Kharkiv from the woods and meadows, the mud, the puddles and the night!

P.S. I left out many details, worries, doubts and moments of awe — if I described everything I felt during that trip, it would make a small book