Why this ride
An 85 km round trip from Kronstadt - roughly 1 h 18 in the saddle. The stops in between: The Maximov's Datcha, Oranienbaumsky Springboard and back through The Maximov's Datcha.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Northern battery No. 4 and Oranienbaumsky Springboard
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 85 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 1 h 18
- 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 24 km this is Saint Petersburg Imperial Shore, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 24 km
- Named road
- Saint Petersburg Imperial Shore
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Northern battery No. 4
Kotlin Island lies in the Gulf of Finland, at the entrance to the Neva, and its job for three centuries has been to guard St Petersburg from the sea. Peter the Great founded the naval base of Kronstadt here in 1704, and the island, long and narrow, was ringed with forts, batteries and artificial islands. The northern batteries, of which No. 4 is one, belong to that long chain, built in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries as the guns grew bigger and the ships more dangerous. They are low, grass-covered earthworks and brick casemates facing the water, and on grey days the place has a lonely, military feel. The sea is shallow here and often frozen in winter.
Read the complete Northern battery No. 4 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Northern battery No. 4 is where the day begins. Next is The Maximov's Datcha.
2. The Maximov's Datcha
The south shore of the Gulf of Finland west of St Petersburg is a strip of dachas, palaces and old military ground, and the place marked here as Maximov's Datcha sits within it, a couple of kilometres from the town of Lomonosov.
Read the complete The Maximov's Datcha write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The Maximov's Datcha comes up about 24 km into the recorded legs. Next is Oranienbaumsky Springboard.
3. Oranienbaumsky Springboard
The Oranienbaum Springboard is not a single building but a piece of ground, and once you know the story the low woods and fields south of the Gulf of Finland look entirely different. In September 1941, as German and Finnish forces closed the ring around Leningrad, a pocket of coast around Oranienbaum, today's Lomonosov, held out. It was cut off from the city by land, supplied across the water and under the guns of Kronstadt, and it never fell. In January 1944 the Second Shock Army broke out of this pocket as one jaw of the offensive that finally lifted the siege.
Read the complete Oranienbaumsky Springboard write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 42 km into the recorded legs you reach Oranienbaumsky Springboard. Next is back through The Maximov's Datcha.
4. back through The Maximov's Datcha
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete The Maximov's Datcha write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through The Maximov's Datcha, late in the day. Next is Northern battery No. 4, 17 km on.
5. Northern battery No. 4
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Northern battery No. 4 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Northern battery No. 4. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Northern battery No. 4 to The Maximov's Datcha
Northern battery No. 4 → The Maximov's Datcha is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
The Maximov's Datcha to Oranienbaumsky Springboard
The Maximov's Datcha → Oranienbaumsky Springboard is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Oranienbaumsky Springboard to back through The Maximov's Datcha
Oranienbaumsky Springboard → back through The Maximov's Datcha is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through The Maximov's Datcha to Northern battery No. 4
back through The Maximov's Datcha → Northern battery No. 4 is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.