Why this ride
A 104 km round trip from Kommunar - roughly 2 h 15 in the saddle. The stops in between: Park «The Menagerie», Krasnoe Selo and back through Park «The Menagerie». The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Highway Pushkin - Gatchina and Krasnoe Selo
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 104 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 15
- 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.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Highway Pushkin - Gatchina
Two imperial palaces lie at either end of this road, and between them the flat country south of Saint Petersburg still carries the scars of the twentieth century's worst siege. At the northern end is Pushkin, the former Tsarskoye Selo, where the Catherine Palace stretches its blue and white façade for hundreds of metres and the reconstructed Amber Room glows inside. At the southern end is Gatchina, Paul I's palace, grey and fortress-like, in a park of lakes and islands. The historic road between them is one of the many components of the World Heritage Site of the historic centre of Saint Petersburg and its related monuments.
Read the complete Highway Pushkin - Gatchina write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Highway Pushkin - Gatchina is where the day begins. Next is Park «The Menagerie».
2. Park «The Menagerie»
Gatchina is one of the great imperial estates ringing St Petersburg, and the Menagerie, the Zverinets, is its wild back garden: a large walled tract of forest north of the palace that was laid out in the eighteenth century as a hunting reserve, with deer and other game kept for the court. Today it is mostly woods, ponds and paths, and on a hot day it is the coolest place within reach.
Read the complete Park «The Menagerie» write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Park «The Menagerie» comes up about 27 km into the recorded legs. Next is Krasnoe Selo.
3. Krasnoe Selo
Readers of Anna Karenina will know Krasnoye Selo, even if they have never been within a thousand kilometres of it. It was here, at the summer camp of the imperial guards, that Tolstoy set the officers' steeplechase in which Vronsky rides his mare Frou-Frou to disaster in front of the court. For more than a century, from the early nineteenth century until the revolution, the guards regiments of the Russian army gathered each summer in this area south-west of Saint Petersburg for manoeuvres, parades and horse races, and the tsar and the court came to watch. It is listed as one of the monuments associated with the historic centre of Saint Petersburg.
Read the complete Krasnoe Selo write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 50 km into the recorded legs you reach Krasnoe Selo. Next is back through Park «The Menagerie».
4. back through Park «The Menagerie»
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Park «The Menagerie» write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Park «The Menagerie», late in the day. Next is Highway Pushkin - Gatchina.
5. Highway Pushkin - Gatchina
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Highway Pushkin - Gatchina write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Highway Pushkin - Gatchina. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Highway Pushkin - Gatchina to Park «The Menagerie»
Highway Pushkin - Gatchina → Park «The Menagerie» is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Park «The Menagerie» to Krasnoe Selo
Park «The Menagerie» → Krasnoe Selo is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Krasnoe Selo to back through Park «The Menagerie»
Krasnoe Selo → back through Park «The Menagerie» is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Park «The Menagerie» to Highway Pushkin - Gatchina
back through Park «The Menagerie» → Highway Pushkin - Gatchina is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.