Kotlin Island sits in the middle of the Gulf of Finland like a cork in a bottle, and Peter the Great knew it. He seized this stretch of coast from Sweden in 1703 and almost at once began fortifying the island to guard the new capital, Saint Petersburg, which lay at the head of the gulf. Over the next two centuries a ring of forts and batteries grew up on islands, shoals and the shore, and Kronstadt became the home port of the Baltic Fleet. The batteries named in these ride titles, Southern and Northern, belong to that defensive system.
The sea here is shallow and a muddy green, and in winter it freezes so hard that armies have marched across it. The modern landmark is the flood barrier, a long dam with a road on top that was finished in 2011 to protect the city from surge floods, and which now carries the ring road across the water between the mainland north and south shores and Kotlin. Riding it is an odd experience, with open sea on both sides, wind pushing at the bike and the low outline of Kronstadt ahead. Crosswinds can be fierce, and the road is a fast highway shared with heavy lorries.
On the island, Kronstadt itself is a town of about forty-three thousand with a grid of straight streets, a naval cathedral with a gilded dome and a few canals that used to hold the fleet's dry docks. Fuel and food are available there and in Lomonosov, which lies on the opposite shore at a similar distance. The south shore road between Lomonosov and Bolshaya Izhora is quiet and wooded, and good for an easy coastal run.
Travel in Russia has become complicated, and rules for foreign visitors and vehicles can change, so check before planning anything here. If you are able, come on a clear June evening, when the sun hangs low over the gulf for hours and the forts glow orange on the horizon.