Out on the Karelian Isthmus, in a landscape of pine, birch and sandy soil, stands a grove of larches that looks entirely out of place. The Lindulovskaya Grove was planted in 1738 by an admiral, Fyodor Soimonov, who wanted to grow shipbuilding timber for the Russian navy, and he chose Siberian larch, a durable and rot-resistant wood. Some of the trees are nearly three centuries old and very tall, and the grove is protected as a natural monument, the oldest planted larch forest in Russia. Walking among the trunks, with their orange-grey bark, and the soft light filtering through the needles, is surprisingly moving.
The isthmus has a complicated history. It was Finnish territory from 1917 until the Winter War of 1939 and 1940, and the villages here once had Finnish names, church towers and farms. After the war the population changed, and the landscape was reshaped by Soviet settlement, with dachas and military sites. In the Second World War the isthmus was a front line, and the Road of Life, the lifeline of besieged Leningrad, which ran across the ice of Lake Ladoga, begins not far north. Memorials and monuments appear at many roadsides.
Riding on the isthmus is different from riding in the city. The roads are wide, often straight, and pass through forests and past lakes, with traffic building on the roads out of Saint Petersburg on Friday afternoon. Surfaces vary, with some very good and some patched. Summer brings mosquitoes and warm evenings, autumn brings mushroom pickers by the road, and winter is long and dark. The best time to visit the grove is late summer and early autumn, when the light is softest and the forest is quiet.
Roshchino, about five kilometres away, has fuel stations, shops and cafés, and Molodezhnoye has a few shops. Local food includes mushroom soup and fish from the lakes. Bring insect repellent for the grove, stay on the paths, and take care not to damage the roots or bark, since the trees are protected.