Why this ride
307 km from Shushary to Shushary, about 5 h 25 of riding. It goes by way of Park «The Menagerie», The Palace and Park Ensemble of the Villag, The Barrier of Pile and Fort «Seraya Loshad». The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Pulkovskaya Observatory and Fort «Seraya Loshad»
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 307 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 5 h 25
- 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
Slow enough to look. The surface follows the shoreline, so the corners arrive where the water decided, not where an engineer did. Water arrives beside the road and stays for 38 km. The line follows the shore because there is nowhere else for it to go.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 39 km
- Named road
- Saint Petersburg Imperial Shore
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Pulkovskaya Observatory
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.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Pulkovskaya Observatory is where the day begins. Next is Park «The Menagerie».
2. Park «The Menagerie»
Gatchina is one of the great imperial estates ringing St Petersburg, and the Menagerie, the Zverinets, is its wild back garden: a large walled tract of forest north of the palace that was laid out in the eighteenth century as a hunting reserve, with deer and other game kept for the court. Today it is mostly woods, ponds and paths, and on a hot day it is the coolest place within reach.
Read the complete Park «The Menagerie» write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Park «The Menagerie» comes up about 31 km into the recorded legs. Next is The Palace and Park Ensemble of the Villag.
3. The Palace and Park Ensemble of the Villag
Gostilitsy is a village on the Izhora Upland, west of Ropsha and south of Peterhof, and it is one of those places near St Petersburg where the imperial past hides behind fences and overgrown trees. The estate here is associated with Alexei Razumovsky, the Ukrainian Cossack singer who rose to become the favourite and, by many accounts, the secret husband of Empress Elizabeth in the eighteenth century. The palace and park ensemble that grew up around the manor included a house, a church, ponds and landscaped grounds fed by springs, and it is listed among the monuments of the historic centre of St Petersburg and related groups, a UNESCO site that includes many of the palaces and estates around the city.
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
about 69 km into the recorded legs you reach The Palace and Park Ensemble of the Villag. Next is The Barrier of Pile.
4. The Barrier of Pile
Izhora is an old name for this part of the coast. Long before Saint Petersburg, the land between the Neva and the Luga belonged to the Izhorians, a small Finnic people who fished, farmed and served as pilots on the river, and whose language survives only in a few villages. Bolshaya Izhora, the Great Izhora, is a modest settlement on the shore, with a church, some dachas and a sea wall, and the nearest town of any size is Kronstadt across the water. The point on the map sits at the edge of the gulf, in reed and low scrub, where the shallows run out for hundreds of metres and the horizon is a thin line of cranes and chimneys.
Read the complete The Barrier of Pile write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The Barrier of Pile, about halfway. Next is Fort «Seraya Loshad».
5. Fort «Seraya Loshad»
Along the southern shore of the Gulf of Finland, west of Saint Petersburg, a low strip of pine forest and sand runs for kilometres between the road and the sea. Fort Seraya Loshad, the Grey Horse, stands in this coastal country, eleven kilometres from the village of Lebyazhye, among a group of forts built for the defence of the capital and the naval base at Kronstadt.
Read the complete Fort «Seraya Loshad» write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Fort «Seraya Loshad» sits at 150 km, about halfway. Next is back through The Barrier of Pile.
6. back through The Barrier of Pile
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete The Barrier of Pile write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through The Barrier of Pile comes up about 191 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through The Palace and Park Ensemble of the Villag.
7. 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
about 230 km into the recorded legs you reach back through The Palace and Park Ensemble of the Villag. Next is back through Park «The Menagerie».
8. back through Park «The Menagerie»
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Park «The Menagerie» write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Park «The Menagerie», late in the day. Next is Pulkovskaya Observatory.
9. Pulkovskaya Observatory
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Pulkovskaya Observatory 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 307 km.
Leg by leg
Pulkovskaya Observatory to Park «The Menagerie»
Pulkovskaya Observatory → Park «The Menagerie» is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Park «The Menagerie» to The Palace and Park Ensemble of the Villag
Park «The Menagerie» → The Palace and Park Ensemble of the Villag is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
The Palace and Park Ensemble of the Villag to The Barrier of Pile
The Palace and Park Ensemble of the Villag → The Barrier of Pile is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
The Barrier of Pile to Fort «Seraya Loshad»
The Barrier of Pile → Fort «Seraya Loshad» is 42 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fort «Seraya Loshad» to back through The Barrier of Pile
Fort «Seraya Loshad» → back through The Barrier of Pile is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through The Barrier of Pile to back through The Palace and Park Ensemble of the Villag
back through The Barrier of Pile → back through The Palace and Park Ensemble of the Villag is 39 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 back through Park «The Menagerie»
back through The Palace and Park Ensemble of the Villag → back through Park «The Menagerie» is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Park «The Menagerie» to Pulkovskaya Observatory
back through Park «The Menagerie» → Pulkovskaya Observatory is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.