This is a documentary novella written in the autumn of 1991, inspired by a walking journey taken the same year—from Optina Hermitage to the city of Gus — Kh rustalny in the north of Meshchera. I confess that when preparing the diary for publication, I decided to make a few changes—after all, more than ten years have passed. I also decided to find out the fate of some of the heroes of the novella, but when it turned out that one and another were no longer alive, I decided to leave everything as it is. For me, they remain alive—met once on the boundless Russian country roads.
I hope you, too, will take these simple but very soulful people to heart.