Why this ride
333 km from Kronstadt to Kronstadt, about 5 h 09 of riding. On the way it passes Yukkovskaya Elevation, Koltushskoe Highway, The Park «Mariental» and The Blocade Ring. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Northern battery No. 3 and The Blocade Ring
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 333 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 5 h 09
- 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
A-121 Ladoga and Sortavala
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 36 km this is A-121 Ladoga and Sortavala, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 36 km
- Named road
- A-121 Ladoga and Sortavala
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Northern battery No. 3
Kotlin Island is only about twelve kilometres long and rarely more than a kilometre or two wide, and every metre of its northern shore was given over to guns. A numbered battery like this one is the sort of thing that appears on a map as a dull label and turns out to be a lump of overgrown concrete and earth, with ammunition stores half buried in the ground and a view across a shallow, pewter-coloured sea. Kronstadt, four or five kilometres away, was founded by Peter the Great in the first years of the eighteenth century to keep Swedish ships out of the new capital's approaches, and the fortifications grew in layers for the next two hundred years.
Read the complete Northern battery No. 3 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Northern battery No. 3 is where the day begins. Next is Yukkovskaya Elevation.
2. Yukkovskaya Elevation
The Karelian Isthmus, north of Saint Petersburg, was Finnish until 1940, and the place names still carry the echo: Pargolovo, Levashovo, Kuokkala, now called Repino. The Yukki Heights, or Yukkovskaya Elevation, are among the higher ground on this stretch, a ridge of sandy hills and pine forest scattered with summer houses. Many of the datchas date from the late nineteenth century, when wealthy Petersburgers began to build wooden villas with carved trim and glassed verandas among the pines.
Read the complete Yukkovskaya Elevation write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Yukkovskaya Elevation comes up about 30 km into the recorded legs. Next is Koltushskoe Highway.
3. Koltushskoe Highway
East of Saint Petersburg, the Koltushskoe highway runs through suburban sprawl and countryside toward the village of Koltushi, and it belongs to a memorial landscape that ties the whole region together: the Green Belt of Glory, a chain of monuments marking the defensive line around Leningrad during the siege of 1941 to 1944, when nearly nine hundred days of blockade cost the lives of hundreds of thousands of civilians. Monuments, steles and memorials stand along the roads where the front lines and supply routes ran, including the Road of Life across Lake Ladoga.
Read the complete Koltushskoe Highway write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 66 km into the recorded legs you reach Koltushskoe Highway. Next is The Park «Mariental».
4. The Park «Mariental»
Pavlovsk's great park spreads over several hundred hectares along the Slavyanka river, a valley of meadows, groves and winding water that was designed as a landscape garden for the family of Tsar Paul I, with the palace by the Scottish architect Charles Cameron as its centrepiece. The name Mariental, meaning Maria's valley, recalls the empress Maria Feodorovna, who spent decades shaping the grounds after her husband's death. Little of it was left in 1944, when the retreating German army burned the palace and felled thousands of trees, and its restoration after the war took years of patient work.
Read the complete The Park «Mariental» write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The Park «Mariental», about halfway. Next is The Blocade Ring.
5. The Blocade Ring
The Blockade Ring stands on the south bank of the Neva, east of Saint Petersburg, close to where the Road of Life began its journey toward Lake Ladoga. It commemorates the siege of Leningrad, which lasted from September 1941 to January 1944, roughly 872 days, and the corridor that kept the city alive. When Shlisselburg fell in September 1941, the city was cut off by land, and the only lifeline ran across Ladoga, by boat in summer and over the ice in winter.
Read the complete The Blocade Ring write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The Blocade Ring sits at 148 km, about halfway. Next is back through The Park «Mariental».
6. back through The Park «Mariental»
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete The Park «Mariental» write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through The Park «Mariental» comes up about 228 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Koltushskoe Highway.
7. back through Koltushskoe Highway
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Koltushskoe Highway write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 271 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Koltushskoe Highway. Next is back through Yukkovskaya Elevation.
8. back through Yukkovskaya Elevation
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Yukkovskaya Elevation write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Yukkovskaya Elevation, late in the day. Next is Northern battery No. 3, 37 km on.
9. Northern battery No. 3
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Northern battery No. 3 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 333 km.
Leg by leg
Northern battery No. 3 to Yukkovskaya Elevation
Northern battery No. 3 → Yukkovskaya Elevation is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Yukkovskaya Elevation to Koltushskoe Highway
Yukkovskaya Elevation → Koltushskoe Highway is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Koltushskoe Highway to The Park «Mariental»
Koltushskoe Highway → The Park «Mariental» is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
The Park «Mariental» to The Blocade Ring
The Park «Mariental» → The Blocade Ring is 58 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
The Blocade Ring to back through The Park «Mariental»
The Blocade Ring → back through The Park «Mariental» is 60 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through The Park «Mariental» to back through Koltushskoe Highway
back through The Park «Mariental» → back through Koltushskoe Highway is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Koltushskoe Highway to back through Yukkovskaya Elevation
back through Koltushskoe Highway → back through Yukkovskaya Elevation is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Yukkovskaya Elevation to Northern battery No. 3
back through Yukkovskaya Elevation → Northern battery No. 3 is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.