Not every stop on a route has a story that belongs to one fort, and this one belongs to a coastline. The north shore of the Gulf of Finland, between Sestroretsk and Lisy Nos, is a flat, sandy and pine-covered strip of land that was once Finnish territory, and the batteries and forts built on it, including the one the label calls Fort Constantin, were part of the same defensive system that guarded Kronstadt from the other side. The names Gorskaya and Tarkhovka belong to the settlements around, and the Dam, the huge flood barrier that links the island with the mainland, lands at this shore.
The country here is typical of the Karelian Isthmus: sandy soil, pine woods, birch groves, heather and low dunes beside the sea. In summer the shallow water warms quickly and the beaches fill up at weekends, while in winter the sea freezes and people walk or ski across the ice. Berries and mushrooms grow in the forest, and in autumn locals can be seen carrying baskets along the roadsides.
Close by lies Razliv, a lake near Sestroretsk where Lenin hid in a hut in the summer of 1917, avoiding arrest. The hut and its sheltered haystack setting have been a museum since the Soviet era, and the place is still on the tourist trail. Sestroretsk itself has a Russian history of its own, beginning with an arms factory that Peter the Great founded in the early eighteenth century, and becoming a resort town in the nineteenth.
For the rider this is a flat and often busy region. Roads are generally in good condition, but traffic in summer can be thick, with holidaymakers heading for the beach. The best time is on a weekday morning, when the pine woods are fresh and the air smells of resin and sea. Winter riding is not a good idea, since ice and snow cover the roads.
Tarkhovka and Gorskaya are small settlements, while Sestroretsk and Zelenogorsk offer larger shops and fuel. Fill up before you go too far along the coast. Remember mosquito repellent in summer, since the damp woods breed clouds of them.