Yakhroma sits on a canal, and the canal is what matters. The Moscow Canal, which links the capital to the Volga, was dug in the 1930s by tens of thousands of workers, many of them prisoners, and when it opened in 1937 it brought the river to the city and gave Moscow the water supply and the port it had lacked. The canal passes through Yakhroma, and the locks and the pumping stations that serve it were built in a grand style, with towers and ornamental gates, so that even the industrial architecture has a ceremonial feel.
The little river that gave the town its name runs through the old centre, and the town grew up around textile mills that processed cotton and linen. Today it is a modest place of about twelve thousand people, with a mix of Soviet apartment blocks, old brick factory buildings and wooden houses with carved window frames. The waterfront by the lock is a pleasant place to sit and watch the barges. In summer, people come here to swim and fish, and anglers sit along the banks of the canal at all hours.
Nearby Dmitrov, seven kilometres away, is much older, and has a better story. It was founded in 1154 by Yuri Dolgoruky, the prince credited with founding Moscow, and the earthen ramparts of its kremlin still encircle the cathedral at the centre of town. The anarchist thinker Peter Kropotkin spent his last years here, and died in the town in 1921. The roads between the two towns run through flat, farmed country with birch woods and wide fields, and the road is usually well kept along the main route, with narrower lanes in the villages.
For a rider, this is gentle country, a place for a relaxed ride rather than an exciting one. The road along the canal has a quiet charm, with long, straight stretches broken by bridges and locks, and in the early morning, the mist rising off the water is lovely. Traffic is heavier on the approaches to Dmitrov and on weekends, when Muscovites head for their dachas. Fuel is available in Yakhroma itself and in Dmitrov, which has everything else you could need, including a good choice of cafes. Autumn and early spring are the best times, when the birches are bare or turning and the canal is calm.