Why this ride
369 km from Pushkin to Pushkin, about 5 h 10 of riding. The stops in between: Northern battery No. 1, The Road of Life and back through Northern battery No. 1. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Kievskoe Highway and The Road of Life
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 369 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 5 h 10
- 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 69 km this is Saint Petersburg Imperial Shore, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 69 km
- Named road
- Saint Petersburg Imperial Shore
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Kievskoe Highway
South of Saint Petersburg, the flat, damp plain of Ingria runs off towards Pskov and the old western frontier, and the Kievskoe Highway is the road that heads that way, the route to Kyiv that gave it its name.
Read the complete Kievskoe Highway write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Kievskoe Highway is where the day begins. Next is Northern battery No. 1, 80 km on.
2. Northern battery No. 1
Kotlin Island is a long, thin sliver of land in the Gulf of Finland, and Kronstadt, its fortress-town, was founded by Peter the Great in 1704 to guard the sea approaches to his new capital. It became the base of the Russian Baltic Fleet, and ring after ring of forts, batteries and ramparts was built on the island and on artificial islands around it. The Northern Battery No. 1 is one of those fortifications, a low military work on the north shore of Kotlin, part of a defensive system that went on being added to for more than two centuries.
Read the complete Northern battery No. 1 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Northern battery No. 1 comes up about 69 km into the recorded legs. Next is The Road of Life.
3. The Road of Life
On the south-eastern shore of Lake Ladoga, east of Saint Petersburg, a road ends at the water. This is the start of the Road of Life, the supply route across the ice that kept Leningrad alive during the siege of 1941 to 1944. The siege lasted 872 days, from September 1941 to January 1944, and it cut the city off from nearly everything except the lake. In the first winter, when Ladoga froze, trucks and horse-drawn sledges began to cross the ice with food and fuel, and on the return journey they carried out women, children and the sick. Lorries broke through the ice, and bombing and artillery attacked the route, but it kept going.
Read the complete The Road of Life write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 199 km into the recorded legs you reach The Road of Life. Next is back through Northern battery No. 1, 80 km on.
4. back through Northern battery No. 1
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Northern battery No. 1 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Northern battery No. 1, late in the day. Next is Kievskoe Highway.
5. Kievskoe Highway
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Kievskoe Highway write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Kievskoe Highway. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Kievskoe Highway to Northern battery No. 1
Kievskoe Highway → Northern battery No. 1 is 69 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Northern battery No. 1 to The Road of Life
Northern battery No. 1 → The Road of Life is 130 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
The Road of Life to back through Northern battery No. 1
The Road of Life → back through Northern battery No. 1 is 96 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Northern battery No. 1 to Kievskoe Highway
back through Northern battery No. 1 → Kievskoe Highway is 74 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.