Why this ride
218 km from Lebyazh’ye to Lebyazh’ye, about 3 h 51 of riding. It goes by way of The Maritime Channel, Gostilitskoe Highway, Northern battery No. 4 and back through Gostilitskoe Highway.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Fort «Seraya Loshad» and Northern battery No. 4
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 218 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 51
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Scenic road chapters
Saint Petersburg Imperial Shore
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 28 km this is Saint Petersburg Imperial Shore, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 28 km
- Named road
- Saint Petersburg Imperial Shore
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Fort «Seraya Loshad»
Along the southern shore of the Gulf of Finland, west of Saint Petersburg, a low strip of pine forest and sand runs for kilometres between the road and the sea. Fort Seraya Loshad, the Grey Horse, stands in this coastal country, eleven kilometres from the village of Lebyazhye, among a group of forts built for the defence of the capital and the naval base at Kronstadt.
Read the complete Fort «Seraya Loshad» write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Fort «Seraya Loshad» is where the day begins. Next is The Maritime Channel.
2. The Maritime Channel
Stand on the shore anywhere near Kronstadt and you are looking at a dredged highway hidden under the water. The Maritime Channel, the Sea Canal of St Petersburg, was cut through the shallow Neva Bay in the late nineteenth century, opening in 1885, so that large ships could reach the city's port directly instead of unloading at Kronstadt. Before it existed, the bay was too shallow for anything but small vessels, and cargo had to be transferred to lighters, a slow and expensive business. The channel runs for around thirty kilometres from the open gulf to the mouth of the Neva, marked by buoys and lights, and it remains the main artery for ships entering the city.
Read the complete The Maritime Channel write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The Maritime Channel comes up about 47 km into the recorded legs. Next is Gostilitskoe Highway.
3. Gostilitskoe Highway
Peterhof is famous for its fountains, and the road called Gostilitskoe runs along the high ground behind the palace, where the water begins. When Peter the Great decided in the early eighteenth century to build a rival to Versailles on the southern shore of the Gulf of Finland, the engineers had a problem, because the ground at the shore is flat, and a fountain needs a head of water. They found springs and ponds on the Ropsha heights, a few kilometres inland, and built a system of canals, reservoirs and pipes that carried water downhill to the palace by gravity alone, without a single pump. That system, the Water-bringing system of Peterhof, still works, and it is a marvel of its time.
Read the complete Gostilitskoe Highway write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 75 km into the recorded legs you reach Gostilitskoe Highway. Next is Northern battery No. 4, 28 km on.
4. Northern battery No. 4
Kotlin Island lies in the Gulf of Finland, at the entrance to the Neva, and its job for three centuries has been to guard St Petersburg from the sea. Peter the Great founded the naval base of Kronstadt here in 1704, and the island, long and narrow, was ringed with forts, batteries and artificial islands. The northern batteries, of which No. 4 is one, belong to that long chain, built in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries as the guns grew bigger and the ships more dangerous. They are low, grass-covered earthworks and brick casemates facing the water, and on grey days the place has a lonely, military feel. The sea is shallow here and often frozen in winter.
Read the complete Northern battery No. 4 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Northern battery No. 4, about halfway. Next is back through Gostilitskoe Highway.
5. back through Gostilitskoe Highway
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Gostilitskoe Highway write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Gostilitskoe Highway sits at 109 km, about halfway. Next is back through The Maritime Channel.
6. back through The Maritime Channel
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete The Maritime Channel write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through The Maritime Channel comes up about 169 km into the recorded legs. Next is Fort «Seraya Loshad».
7. Fort «Seraya Loshad»
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fort «Seraya Loshad» write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Fort «Seraya Loshad» closes the day.
Leg by leg
Fort «Seraya Loshad» to The Maritime Channel
Fort «Seraya Loshad» → The Maritime Channel is 47 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
The Maritime Channel to Gostilitskoe Highway
The Maritime Channel → Gostilitskoe Highway is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Gostilitskoe Highway to Northern battery No. 4
Gostilitskoe Highway → Northern battery No. 4 is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Northern battery No. 4 to back through Gostilitskoe Highway
Northern battery No. 4 → back through Gostilitskoe Highway is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Gostilitskoe Highway to back through The Maritime Channel
back through Gostilitskoe Highway → back through The Maritime Channel is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through The Maritime Channel to Fort «Seraya Loshad»
back through The Maritime Channel → Fort «Seraya Loshad» is 49 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.