Peter the Great loved oak, because oak meant ships, and the little park of Dubki, whose name means little oaks, is said to date back to the trees he ordered planted near his arms-making settlement at Sestroretsk. Whatever the truth of the exact planting, the park is a pleasant tract of old trees on sandy soil, with paths, ponds and the slow rhythm of a town that has long been a seaside resort. Sestroretsk, on the Gulf of Finland, became a fashionable spa at the end of the nineteenth century, and its shore of shallow water and fine sand still draws crowds in summer.
The riding is unhurried. The Ropshinskoe highway of the label belongs to a different part of the region, but the roads around Sestroretsk are flat, straight and shaded by pines and oaks. The surface is mostly good, with some frost-damaged patches after winter, and traffic can be heavy in July and August. You are better off in May or September, when the beach is quiet and the light is clear. Look out for cyclists and walkers on the lanes by the park, as the whole community seems to use them.
Sestroretsk is a town of over thirty-seven thousand, so fuel, food and groceries are within easy reach, only about two kilometres from the park. The old factory buildings, the lake called Razliv, and the sand dunes by the shore make for an interesting afternoon, and a seafront promenade offers cafes for a coffee stop. The town was also one of the places where the Karelian Isthmus front stabilised in the Second World War, and traces of defence lines are still visible in the woods if you know where to look.
A good way to enjoy Dubki is to leave the bike, walk under the oaks and listen to the wind in the leaves. In autumn the leaves turn bronze, and the ground is covered with acorns that crunch underfoot. It is an ordinary park by Saint Petersburg's standards, but its oaks carry a link to a man who wanted a navy and began by planting trees.