Here the Neva is a working river, broad and fast, carrying barges and the outflow of Lake Ladoga past factories and housing blocks on its way to the city. Yet on the left bank near Ust-Izhora, among the industry, survive the traces of a much older riverside life: the country houses, datchas in the old aristocratic sense, that Saint Petersburg's wealthy families built along the Neva in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, with parks running down to the water. The ensemble of the Zinoviev datcha is one of them, included in the long list of estates, parks and buildings that make up the World Heritage Site around the historic centre of Saint Petersburg.
The deepest layer is medieval. In July 1240, at the mouth of the Izhora where it enters the Neva, Prince Alexander of Novgorod surprised and defeated a Swedish force. The victory earned him the name Nevsky, and he became one of Russia's most venerated saints and national heroes; Peter the Great later had his relics moved to the monastery he founded in the new capital. A church dedicated to Alexander stands at Ust-Izhora, and the village holds re-enactments and commemorations around the anniversary.
The riding here is honest about what it is: a busy main road along the river, industrial suburbs, trucks heading for the ring road, potholes and tram tracks closer to the city. It makes sense as part of a route along the Neva towards Shlisselburg and the fortress of Oreshek at the river's source, where the Neva leaves Lake Ladoga, rather than as a destination in its own right. Weather in this region swings from humid summer heat to long, dark, icy winters, and the riding season is short.
Foreign travel to Russia is heavily restricted in practice for most Western riders at present, with sanctions and insurance and payment problems on top of visas, so official advice should be the first thing you check.
Metallostroy, four kilometres away, is a sizeable industrial town with fuel and shops, and the city itself is a short ride downstream. Smoked fish, sold at roadside stalls along the river and the lake, makes an excellent snack.