CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
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.
98 km from Shushary to Shushary, about 2 h 04 of riding. It goes by way of Historical Centre of the Town of Pavlovsk, Dudergof and back through Historical Centre of the Town of Pavlovsk. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
On the Pulkovo heights, the low ridge south of St Petersburg, an observatory has been watching the sky since 1839. It was founded by Friedrich Georg Wilhelm von Struve, the German-born astronomer who became its first director, and it quickly became one of the leading observatories in the world, with the largest refracting telescope of its day. The Pulkovo meridian, running through the observatory's main building, served as the reference for Russian maps for many years. Struve also led the measurement of the Struve Geodetic Arc, a chain of survey triangulations stretching from the Arctic Ocean to the Black Sea, which helped determine the size and shape of the earth and is now a UNESCO site.
Read the complete Pulkovskaya Observatory write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Pulkovskaya Observatory is where the day begins. Next is Historical Centre of the Town of Pavlovsk.
Pavlovsk was a gift. In 1777 Catherine the Great gave her son Paul, the future emperor, a stretch of forest and meadow south of Saint Petersburg, and he and his wife Maria Feodorovna turned it into one of the most elegant country residences in Russia. The Scottish architect Charles Cameron designed the palace, a pale yellow building with a shallow dome and a colonnade, and the park, which spreads over some six hundred hectares, was laid out in the English landscape manner, with winding paths, little bridges and pavilions half hidden among the trees. It is among the largest landscape parks in Europe, and walking in it on a quiet morning is a joy.
Read the complete Historical Centre of the Town of Pavlovsk write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Historical Centre of the Town of Pavlovsk comes up about 22 km into the recorded legs. Next is Dudergof.
South-west of St Petersburg, the flat land of the Neva lowland rises unexpectedly into a pair of wooded hills, the Duderhof heights, the highest ground for many kilometres around. Their name comes from Finnish, and they have long been a landmark, used for military observation since the eighteenth century and as a summer retreat for the people of the capital. In the nineteenth century, the imperial army held its summer manoeuvres around nearby Krasnoye Selo, and the officers' villas and parade grounds became part of the social life of St Petersburg.
Read the complete Dudergof write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 51 km into the recorded legs you reach Dudergof. Next is back through Historical Centre of the Town of Pavlovsk.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Historical Centre of the Town of Pavlovsk write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Historical Centre of the Town of Pavlovsk, late in the day. Next is Pulkovskaya Observatory.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Pulkovskaya Observatory write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Pulkovskaya Observatory. That is the ride.
Pulkovskaya Observatory → Historical Centre of the Town of Pavlovsk is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Historical Centre of the Town of Pavlovsk → Dudergof is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Dudergof → back through Historical Centre of the Town of Pavlovsk is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Historical Centre of the Town of Pavlovsk → Pulkovskaya Observatory is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.