Why this ride
From Kronstadt it runs 187 km to Kronstadt; allow about 3 h 08 of riding. The stops in between: The Colonizer's Park, Krasnoe Selo, Railway Saint Petersburg - Pavlovsk and back through Krasnoe Selo. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Northern battery No. 2 and Railway Saint Petersburg - Pavlovsk
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 187 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 08
- 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
For about 36 km this is Saint Petersburg Imperial Shore, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it — expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 36 km
- Named road
- Saint Petersburg Imperial Shore
Krasnoe Selo → Railway Saint Petersburg - Pavlovsk
25 km through ground somebody thought worth listing. The road passes it rather than bypassing it. Speed drops and stays down. Park rather than crawl through.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 28 km
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Northern battery No. 2
Forts are places for people who like their history with a view of the sea, and Kotlin island has more of them than most. Northern Battery No. 2 is part of the chain of defences that guarded the northern channel into the Gulf of Finland, and it dates from the great programme of fortification that Russia undertook in the nineteenth century to protect Kronstadt and, behind it, the capital. The batteries line the island's northern shore, low, squat and half buried in the pines.
Read the complete Northern battery No. 2 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Northern battery No. 2 is where the day begins. Next is The Colonizer's Park.
2. The Colonizer's Park
Peterhof sits on the south shore of the Gulf of Finland, about half an hour's ride west of central Saint Petersburg when the traffic behaves, and the Colonists' Park is one of its quieter green corners. Most visitors come for the Grand Cascade and the gilded fountains of the Lower Park and never notice that the wider Peterhof estate is a patchwork of separate gardens laid out by different tsars over a couple of centuries. This one belongs to the later, more relaxed layer: lawns, big trees, ponds and paths meant for strolling rather than for impressing ambassadors.
Read the complete The Colonizer's Park write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The Colonizer's Park comes up about 36 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 63 km into the recorded legs you reach Krasnoe Selo. Next is Railway Saint Petersburg - Pavlovsk.
4. Railway Saint Petersburg - Pavlovsk
Pavlovsk station has a story that every Russian railway enthusiast can tell. The line from Saint Petersburg to Tsarskoye Selo opened in the late 1830s, the first public railway in the country, and it was soon extended to Pavlovsk, where a grand station building became a place of concerts and summer entertainment. Johann Strauss the younger came to conduct there in the nineteenth century, and the rich of the capital rode out in their finery to hear him. The railway still runs, though the trains are electric and the concert hall has long gone quiet.
Read the complete Railway Saint Petersburg - Pavlovsk write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Railway Saint Petersburg - Pavlovsk, about halfway. Next is back through Krasnoe Selo.
5. back through Krasnoe Selo
Return visit. Read the place description above.
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
back through Krasnoe Selo sits at 100 km, about halfway. Next is back through The Colonizer's Park.
6. back through The Colonizer's Park
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete The Colonizer's 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 Colonizer's Park comes up about 149 km into the recorded legs. Next is Northern battery No. 2, 25 km on.
7. Northern battery No. 2
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Northern battery No. 2 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Northern battery No. 2 closes the day.
Leg by leg
Northern battery No. 2 to The Colonizer's Park
Northern battery No. 2 → The Colonizer's Park is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
The Colonizer's Park to Krasnoe Selo
The Colonizer's Park → Krasnoe Selo is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Krasnoe Selo to Railway Saint Petersburg - Pavlovsk
Krasnoe Selo → Railway Saint Petersburg - Pavlovsk is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Railway Saint Petersburg - Pavlovsk to back through Krasnoe Selo
Railway Saint Petersburg - Pavlovsk → back through Krasnoe Selo is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Krasnoe Selo to back through The Colonizer's Park
back through Krasnoe Selo → back through The Colonizer's Park is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through The Colonizer's Park to Northern battery No. 2
back through The Colonizer's Park → Northern battery No. 2 is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.