Why this ride
A 138 km round trip from Gatchina - roughly 2 h 38 in the saddle. It goes by way of The Palace and Park Ensemble of the Villag, The Palace and Park Ensembles of the Town, Krasnoe Selo and back through Krasnoe Selo.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Prioratsky Park and The Palace and Park Ensemble of the Villag
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 138 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 38
- 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
Prioratsky Park → The Palace and Park Ensemble of the Villag
This part of the ride is 17 km of Prioratsky Park → The Palace and Park Ensemble of the Villag.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 17 km
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Prioratsky Park
Gatchina has a palace that most visitors head for first, but the building that makes riders and architects alike stop and stare is the little Priory Palace standing on the shore of Black Lake in Prioratsky Park. It looks like a small Gothic castle with a tower and a chapel, pale and slightly unreal against the water, and it is built of rammed earth. Nikolai Lvov, the architect and polymath, put it up around 1799 for Emperor Paul I, who had made himself Grand Master of the Knights of Malta and wanted a residence to offer the Order. The earth walls, compacted in layers and then plastered, have now survived more than two centuries of Russian winters, which is a better record than plenty of brick.
Read the complete Prioratsky Park write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Prioratsky Park is where the day begins. Next is The Palace and Park Ensemble of the Villag.
2. The Palace and Park Ensemble of the Villag
The village of Taitsy, south of Saint Petersburg near Krasnoye Selo, is home to an estate built in the eighteenth century for the Demidov family, the industrial dynasty whose fortune came from iron and metalworks in the Urals. The classical manor house, attributed to the architect Ivan Starov, stands in a landscape park with ponds and springs, and those springs mattered far beyond the estate: the Taitsy water conduit, built in the eighteenth century, carried water from here to the palaces and fountains of Tsarskoye Selo.
Read the complete The Palace and Park Ensemble of the Villag write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The Palace and Park Ensemble of the Villag comes up about 17 km into the recorded legs. Next is The Palace and Park Ensembles of the Town.
3. The Palace and Park Ensembles of the Town
Between 1941 and 1944 Tsarskoye Selo lay behind German lines, and when the Red Army came back the Catherine Palace was a shell. The Amber Room's panels had vanished, the park trees had been cut for firewood, and most of the interiors were ash. The restoration that followed, and the new Amber Room that finally reopened in 2003, make this one of the most remarkable rebuilding jobs in Europe. The town, now called Pushkin after the poet who studied at its Lyceum, is part of the UNESCO listing for the historic centre of Saint Petersburg, and the ensemble of palaces, pavilions and parks around it is the reason to come.
Read the complete The Palace and Park Ensembles of the Town write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 38 km into the recorded legs you reach The Palace and Park Ensembles of the Town. Next is Krasnoe Selo.
4. 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
Krasnoe Selo, about halfway. Next is The Palace and Park Ensemble of the Villag.
5. The Palace and Park Ensemble of the Villag
Ropsha is one of those places where the scenery is gentle and the history is anything but. The village sits on the low Izhora Upland southwest of St Petersburg, between Krasnoe Selo and the coast road at Lomonosov, and the palace that gives the estate its name looks down over a chain of spring-fed ponds and a slow, wooded park. It was here, in July 1762, that the freshly deposed Emperor Peter III was held after his wife Catherine seized the throne, and here that he died a few days later under circumstances nobody at court cared to explain. Catherine became "the Great"; Ropsha became a footnote with a chill on it.
Read the complete The Palace and Park Ensemble of the Villag write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The Palace and Park Ensemble of the Villag sits at 69 km, about halfway. Next is back through Krasnoe Selo.
6. 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 comes up about 84 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through The Palace and Park Ensembles of the Town.
7. back through The Palace and Park Ensembles of the Town
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete The Palace and Park Ensembles of the Town write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 101 km into the recorded legs you reach back through The Palace and Park Ensembles of the Town. Next is back through The Palace and Park Ensemble of the Villag.
8. back through The Palace and Park Ensemble of the Villag
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete The Palace and Park Ensemble of the Villag write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through The Palace and Park Ensemble of the Villag, late in the day. Next is Prioratsky Park.
9. Prioratsky Park
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Prioratsky Park 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 138 km.
Leg by leg
Prioratsky Park to The Palace and Park Ensemble of the Villag
Prioratsky Park → The Palace and Park Ensemble of the Villag is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
The Palace and Park Ensemble of the Villag to The Palace and Park Ensembles of the Town
The Palace and Park Ensemble of the Villag → The Palace and Park Ensembles of the Town is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
The Palace and Park Ensembles of the Town to Krasnoe Selo
The Palace and Park Ensembles of the Town → Krasnoe Selo is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Krasnoe Selo to The Palace and Park Ensemble of the Villag
Krasnoe Selo → The Palace and Park Ensemble of the Villag is 15 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
The Palace and Park Ensemble of the Villag to back through Krasnoe Selo
The Palace and Park Ensemble of the Villag → back through Krasnoe Selo is 14 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Krasnoe Selo to back through The Palace and Park Ensembles of the Town
back through Krasnoe Selo → back through The Palace and Park Ensembles of the Town is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through The Palace and Park Ensembles of the Town to back through The Palace and Park Ensemble of the Villag
back through The Palace and Park Ensembles of the Town → back through The Palace and Park Ensemble of the Villag is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through The Palace and Park Ensemble of the Villag to Prioratsky Park
back through The Palace and Park Ensemble of the Villag → Prioratsky Park is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.