Why this ride
A 213 km round trip from Kommunar - roughly 3 h 36 in the saddle. On the way it passes Tallinskoe Highway, The English Park, The Steinbok-Fermor's Estate and back through The English Park. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Highway Pushkin - Gatchina and The Steinbok-Fermor's Estate
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 213 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 36
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. 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 25 km this is Saint Petersburg Imperial Shore, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 25 km
- Named road
- Saint Petersburg Imperial Shore
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 Tallinskoe Highway.
2. Tallinskoe Highway
Not every historic road is a pretty one, and the Tallinn highway on the south-western edge of St Petersburg is not trying to win prizes for charm. It is, however, one of the old imperial routes out of the capital, the road toward Narva and Reval, today's Tallinn, and as such it forms part of the UNESCO listing of the historic centre of St Petersburg and its related monuments, which includes the network of roads tying the city to its palaces and estates. Along it, the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries planted suburban residences, military camps and post stations.
Read the complete Tallinskoe Highway write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Tallinskoe Highway comes up 25 km in. Next is The English Park.
3. The English Park
Everybody who comes to Peterhof heads for the fountains, the Grand Cascade and the gilded Samson tearing open the lion's jaws, and almost nobody walks the few hundred metres west into the English Park. That is their loss. Catherine the Great, who found Peter the Great's straight avenues and clipped hedges old-fashioned, had this park laid out from 1779 by the English gardener James Meader, in the natural landscape style then sweeping Europe: a chain of ponds, meadows, clumps of oak and lime, and paths that wander rather than march. It belongs to the World Heritage Site covering the historic centre of Saint Petersburg and its ring of palaces and estates.
Read the complete The English Park write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
51 km in you reach The English Park. Next is The Steinbok-Fermor's Estate.
4. The Steinbok-Fermor's Estate
On the north shore of the Neva Bay, at the edge of the modern city, lies Lakhta, a district that was a village of Finnish and Ingrian farmers when Peter the Great first built his capital. By the nineteenth century the waterfront was dotted with country estates for the St Petersburg aristocracy, and the Steinbock-Fermor family held one of them, a park of old trees and lawns with a manor house by the Gulf of Finland. The estate park, shaded and quiet, is the kind of place where the city's dacha culture began.
Read the complete The Steinbok-Fermor's Estate write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The Steinbok-Fermor's Estate, about halfway. Next is back through The English Park.
5. back through The English Park
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete The English Park write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through The English Park sits at 101 km, about halfway. Next is back through Tallinskoe Highway.
6. back through Tallinskoe Highway
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Tallinskoe Highway write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Tallinskoe Highway comes up 127 km in. Next is Highway Pushkin - Gatchina.
7. 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
Highway Pushkin - Gatchina closes the day.
Leg by leg
Highway Pushkin - Gatchina to Tallinskoe Highway
Highway Pushkin - Gatchina → Tallinskoe Highway is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Tallinskoe Highway to The English Park
Tallinskoe Highway → The English Park is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
The English Park to The Steinbok-Fermor's Estate
The English Park → The Steinbok-Fermor's Estate is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
The Steinbok-Fermor's Estate to back through The English Park
The Steinbok-Fermor's Estate → back through The English Park is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through The English Park to back through Tallinskoe Highway
back through The English Park → back through Tallinskoe Highway is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Tallinskoe Highway to Highway Pushkin - Gatchina
back through Tallinskoe Highway → Highway Pushkin - Gatchina is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.