Serpukhov Polenovo Oka Cliffs

Wooded Oka banks, art heritage and a strong river-valley destination.

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Why this ride

Wooded Oka banks, art heritage and a strong river-valley destination. The road: M2 and Oka valley roads. Distance and riding time are estimates from the checkpoints until the road is measured on this page.

Roadbook

1. Moscow start

   Moscow does not do small. It has more than ten million people, a ring road, the MKAD, that encloses a space bigger than many countries' capitals, and a centre that is arranged in concentric circles like the rings of a tree. At the middle is the Kremlin, the red-brick fortress on the Moskva river, with its golden-domed cathedrals and its walls, and beside it Red Square, with the colourful domes of St Basil's. The city was first mentioned in the chronicles in 1147, and grew from a modest wooden stockade into the capital of a vast empire.

   To ride in Moscow is to be reminded of its scale. The Garden Ring and the Third Ring carry huge flows of traffic, drivers are fast and aggressive, and motorcycles filter between lanes at speed. The best time to explore on two wheels is a summer evening, when the light lasts until late, the traffic eases, and the bridges over the river are lit. The skyscrapers known as the Seven Sisters, built under Stalin, rise from the skyline, and from Sparrow Hills, the high ground near the university, you can see the whole city spread out in a haze. The metro stations, designed as underground palaces, are worth leaving the bike for.

   From the city, a favourite day trip leads north-east to Sergiev Posad, about seventy kilometres away, where the Trinity Lavra of St Sergius, the most important Russian Orthodox monastery, stands inside white walls with blue and gold domes. The road passes through forest and farmland, and pilgrims fill the monastery on holidays. It is a good outing for a long day, with plenty of cafes in the town and stalls selling painted wooden toys, a local craft.

   Fuel is found everywhere in the city and along the main roads, and the cafes range from cheap canteens to fancy restaurants. Summers are warm and can be thunderous, while winters are long, dark and very cold, with snow from November to March. Before planning any trip, check the current travel and entry conditions carefully, as they change often and can affect insurance, border crossings and the practicality of riding in Russia.

2. Serpukhov stop

   Serpukhov is a town on the Oka that has been the southern guard post of Moscow for seven centuries. In the fourteenth century it was the seat of a small principality ruled by Prince Vladimir the Brave, a cousin and comrade of Dmitry Donskoy, who led the Serpukhov regiments at the great battle of Kulikovo in 1380. The town lay on the border between Moscow and its southern enemies, and a white-stone kremlin, built to keep the Tatars out, once stood above the river bend.

   Today the old center is a quiet quarter of churches, merchant houses and a kremlin hill where the cathedral stands among surviving walls. Just outside, the Vysotsky Monastery, founded in 1374 by St Sergius of Radonezh, the most revered saint of medieval Russia, sits behind its walls near the Nara River, a peaceful, well-kept complex that holds the Icon of the Inexhaustible Cup, a revered image that draws pilgrims. The town later grew rich on textiles, and its brick mills and old merchants' mansions recall that era.

   The riding in the district is a pleasure of its own. Roads south and west follow the Oka through bluffs, pine woods and meadow, and the river's high western bank has chalky cliffs and ravines. The Polenovo estate, home of the painter Vasily Polenov, lies on the river a short ride away, and the nearby town of Tarusa, a gentle riverside settlement, has long drawn writers and artists. The main road, the M2 from Moscow to Tula, is fast and busy, with heavy truck traffic, but the secondary roads are quieter, if patchy.

   Serpukhov, with more than a hundred thousand residents, has all the services you need, with fuel at many stations, supermarkets and cafes. It is the right place to start or end a day on the Oka. The best seasons are late May to June, with fresh green and cool nights, and September, when the meadows go golden. High summer can be hot and the roads busy on weekends with city dwellers, and spring thaw brings potholes and mud, so check the surface before pushing the pace. Deer and wild boar are common in the woods at dusk.

3. Tarusa finish

Where this sits

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