Rostov Veliky and Nero Lake Loop

Lake views and historic skylines on a compact northern Golden Ring arc.

Open this ride in the planner →

Why this ride

Lake views and historic skylines on a compact northern Golden Ring arc. The road: M8 and Lake Nero roads. Distance and riding time are estimates from the checkpoints until the road is measured on this page.

Roadbook

1. Pereslavl-Zalessky start

   Pereslavl-Zalessky lies on the shore of a lake that Peter the Great used as a toy box, and the toy box included real ships. As a teenager, around 1688, the future emperor built a small fleet on Lake Pleshcheyevo, and the surviving boat, the Fortuna, along with some later models, can be seen in the Botik museum on the lakeside. The town is about a hundred and thirty kilometres north-east of Moscow, one of the old towns of the Golden Ring, and the lake itself is a broad sheet of water ringed by low wooded hills and fishing villages.

   The history is deeper than Peter's play. The town was founded in the twelfth century by Yuri Dolgoruky, the same prince who is credited with founding Moscow, and Alexander Nevsky, the prince who defeated the Swedes and Teutonic knights in the thirteenth century, was born here in 1220. The white stone Transfiguration Cathedral of the 1150s, rising from the old earth ramparts in the centre of town, is among the oldest surviving buildings in north-eastern Russia, with plain, powerful walls and a single dome. Around the town stand several old monasteries, including Goritsky and Nikitsky, with brick walls and golden domes reflected in ponds. Local fishermen smoke small lake fish called ryapushka, a regional speciality sold at roadside stalls.

   For riders, the backroads north toward Yuryev-Polsky and Suzdal run through quiet Russian countryside, with fields of rye and sunflowers, birch groves, wooden villages and small churches on the hills. The surface varies from smooth asphalt to broken patches, with potholes after the winter, and trucks and tractors share the road. The best times are late spring and early autumn, when birches turn yellow, and summer can be hot with sudden storms. Mosquitoes are common near the water, especially at dusk.

   Pereslavl has fuel stations, shops and cafés, and small guesthouses by the lake. The town is popular with Muscovites at weekends, so the roads and restaurants are busier then. A morning walk along the earth ramparts before the crowds arrive, with mist rising off the lake, shows the town at its most atmospheric.

2. Rostov Veliky stop

   Rostov, known as Rostov Veliky, or Rostov the Great, is one of the oldest towns in Russia, mentioned in the earliest chronicles under the year 862, and it sits on the shore of Lake Nero, a broad, shallow lake in the Yaroslavl region. Its history gives it a quiet grandeur that few other provincial towns can match. The Kremlin, built in the seventeenth century as the residence of the metropolitan, stands beside the water, a long, white walled enclosure of churches, towers and gardens, and its bells, cast in the 1680s, still ring out across the lake in a famous peal.

   The town is part of the Golden Ring of old cities northeast of Moscow, and travellers have been coming here for centuries. It has a long tradition of enamel painting, known as finift, in which tiny, brightly coloured scenes are painted on metal, and workshops still make brooches, boxes and icons. Local gardeners are known for their onions, grown in the rich soil of the lake shore and sold in markets around the region, and the town's cuisine has a modest, hearty character that suits cold weather.

   The roads in this region are flat, wide and straight, with little change in gradient. The main highway between Moscow and Yaroslavl runs close by, busy with trucks, and quieter local roads wander through villages of wooden houses with carved window frames, birch woods and fields. Surface quality varies, with smooth new asphalt in some places and potholes and patches in others, so keep your eyes on the road. Summer is the best season, with long evenings and warm weather, while spring brings mud and winter brings snow and ice.

   Rostov has about thirty thousand people and enough fuel stations, shops and cafés to meet your needs, and Ishnya, a few kilometres away, is a smaller place with a few shops. The nearest big city is Yaroslavl, about sixty kilometres to the north, which has a fine riverside and a number of old churches covered in painted tiles. If you plan to ride the Golden Ring, allow time to wander the streets and see the churches, because the real pleasure of the region is not in the kilometres but in the stops. Pereslavl, on its own lake to the south, is a worthy partner for a day's ride.

3. Lake Nero stop
4. Borisoglebsky stop
5. Uglich finish

   A boy died in Uglich in 1591, and the history of Russia changed. Tsarevich Dmitry, the youngest son of Ivan the Terrible, was found with his throat cut in the courtyard of the town's kremlin, and whether it was murder or an accident has been argued ever since. His death left the throne without an heir, set off the Time of Troubles, and gave rise to a string of pretenders who claimed to be the lost prince. The Church of St Dmitry on the Blood, a red-and-white building with blue domes on the spot, is one of the town's best-known sights.

   Uglich is a small town on the upper Volga with a lot of charm. The river was dammed here in 1940, so the water is now a broad reservoir, and the old centre sits above it with churches, merchants' houses and a monastery on the bank. The town's bell is a local legend: it rang to signal the death of the tsarevich, and as a punishment it was whipped, had its tongue removed, and was exiled to Siberia, only returning in 1892. Uglich also makes cheese, which is sold in the market, and a plate of it with local honey is a good lunch.

   The riding around is gentle and green. Roads to Myshkin, about thirty kilometres away, wind through villages and meadows, and Myshkin itself is a small town known for its mouse museum and its quiet streets. To the west, the huge Rybinsk Reservoir spreads out like a sea, with flooded forests and migrating birds. Surfaces range from fair to rough, and traffic is light, though trucks use the main roads. Summer is the best season, with long evenings and clear skies.

   Uglich has about thirty-eight thousand people, so fuel, food and rooms are easy to find. Myshkin is smaller, so top up here first. Walk along the embankment in the evening, when the light on the water is lovely. Foreign riders should check current conditions and rules before planning a trip.

Where this sits

Other rides by starting-point distance