Kolomna stands where the Moskva River flows into the Oka, about a hundred kilometres southeast of Moscow, and the confluence has made it a town of consequence for more than eight centuries. Its Kremlin, built in the early 1500s on the orders of Grand Prince Vasily III to guard the southern approaches to Moscow, still has long stretches of brick wall and several towers, and it is one of the most evocative old fortifications in the region. One of the towers served as a prison in the early seventeenth century, and it is said that Marina Mniszech, the Polish wife of the false Dmitry, died there in 1614.
The town has also been an industrial centre for a long time. The Kolomna works, founded in the 1860s, built locomotives and heavy engines that went all across Russia, and the factory remains a landmark. But Kolomna's greatest claim to local pride is the pastila, a delicate, tart sweet made from apples and egg white, which has been produced here for generations and is served in a museum devoted to it, where visitors can taste several kinds with tea. It makes an excellent, light snack for a rider with a long day ahead.
The ride follows the Oka westward and then south, towards Ryazan, through a landscape of broad meadows, birch groves and low bluffs above the river. The roads are straight and flat, the corners are rare and the traffic can be heavy near Moscow and light farther south. Surface quality varies, so keep your eyes open for potholes, and be aware that wooden bridges and level crossings are still found on some secondary roads. Summer evenings are long and warm, and the smell of hay and wood smoke drifts across the fields. In winter the roads can be icy and the days are short.
With nearly a hundred and fifty thousand people, Kolomna has plenty of fuel, food and accommodation, so it is a good place to fill up before a long day. Sychyovo and Raduzhny, small settlements nearby, have a few shops and cafés, but not much more. If you want to see the town properly, give yourself a couple of hours to walk the Kremlin walls, visit the pastila museum and look down over the water from the old embankment, where fishermen sit in all weathers.