Why this ride
A 105 km round trip from Kronstadt - roughly 1 h 23 in the saddle. The stops in between: Southern battery No 2, The English Park and back through Southern battery No 2.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Northern battery No. 5 and The English Park
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 105 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 1 h 23
- 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 35 km this is Saint Petersburg Imperial Shore, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 35 km
- Named road
- Saint Petersburg Imperial Shore
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Northern battery No. 5
On the northern shore of the Gulf of Finland, the Primorskoye Highway runs from St Petersburg through a string of resort villages, pine woods and sandy beaches toward Zelenogorsk and Vyborg. Northern Battery No. 5 belongs to the other side of the story, the chain of coastal defences that once guarded the sea approach to the city.
Read the complete Northern battery No. 5 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Northern battery No. 5 is where the day begins. Next is Southern battery No 2.
2. Southern battery No 2
Kotlin Island sits in the middle of the Gulf of Finland like a cork in a bottle, and Peter the Great knew it. He seized this stretch of coast from Sweden in 1703 and almost at once began fortifying the island to guard the new capital, Saint Petersburg, which lay at the head of the gulf. Over the next two centuries a ring of forts and batteries grew up on islands, shoals and the shore, and Kronstadt became the home port of the Baltic Fleet. The batteries named in these ride titles, Southern and Northern, belong to that defensive system.
Read the complete Southern battery No 2 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Southern battery No 2 comes up about 35 km into the recorded legs. 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
about 70 km into the recorded legs you reach The English Park. Next is back through Southern battery No 2.
4. back through Southern battery No 2
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Southern battery No 2 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Southern battery No 2, late in the day. Next is Northern battery No. 5, 17 km on.
5. Northern battery No. 5
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Northern battery No. 5 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. 5. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Northern battery No. 5 to Southern battery No 2
Northern battery No. 5 → Southern battery No 2 is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Southern battery No 2 to The English Park
Southern battery No 2 → The English Park is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
The English Park to back through Southern battery No 2
The English Park → back through Southern battery No 2 is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Southern battery No 2 to Northern battery No. 5
back through Southern battery No 2 → Northern battery No. 5 is 13 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.