The Neva begins here, in a rush of grey water pouring out of Lake Ladoga, and at its very mouth sits a small island with a fortress on it. That is Oreshek, which the Russians know as Shlisselburg after the town on the bank, and which Swedes called Nöteborg and Novgorodians founded in 1323 as a nut-shaped stronghold guarding the river route to the Baltic. The Swedes took it in 1611, and Peter the Great took it back in 1702 after a short siege, renaming it Schlüsselburg, the key fortress, because whoever held it held the gate to the sea. It was the first step in the campaign that led to Saint Petersburg.
The island later became a prison, and a grim one. Political prisoners, from Decembrists to the revolutionaries of the People's Will, were held in isolated cells there, and Lenin's elder brother Alexander Ulyanov was executed in the fortress in 1887 after a plot against the tsar. Today the fortress is a museum, reached by a small boat from the town pier, with thick brick walls, a ruined cathedral and a sombre memorial. Boats run in the warm months, depending on weather, and Ladoga can be rough, so check before you plan.
The town has another claim on memory. During the siege of Leningrad, German forces took Shlisselburg in 1941 and cut the last land link to the city, leaving Ladoga as the only route. Supplies crossed by boat in summer and over the ice in winter, along the Road of Life, and in January 1943 the Red Army broke through the narrow corridor along the shore. The area around Sinyavino, a few kilometres away, saw some of the bloodiest fighting of the war, and the forests still hold the remains of that struggle. A monument and a museum stand near the road.
Riding here is easy but not exactly scenic. The roads around the town are busy, with trucks bound for the Neva and the industrial sites along the shore, and surfaces are patched. Wind off the lake can be raw even in summer. Late spring and early autumn are quiet, and white nights give the town a pale glow in June.
Fuel, food and shops are available in town, which is large enough for several stations. Expect cheap cafés and simple places to sleep. The old canal and locks, dating from the nineteenth century, are worth a look, since they bypassed the rough water of the lake.