Why this ride
A 185 km round trip from Kronstadt - roughly 3 h 03 in the saddle. The stops in between: Ropshinskoe Highway, Dudergof, Historical Centre of the Town of Pavlovsk and back through Dudergof. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Southern battery No 2 and Historical Centre of the Town of Pavlovsk
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 185 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 03
- 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 37 km this is Saint Petersburg Imperial Shore, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 37 km
- Named road
- Saint Petersburg Imperial Shore
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. 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 is where the day begins. Next is Ropshinskoe Highway.
2. Ropshinskoe Highway
Ropshinskoe Highway is the road that leaves the Gulf of Finland behind at Peterhof and climbs gently south towards Ropsha, and for a ride that starts and ends here it is a good place to look at a map and understand the ground. You are on the edge of the Izhora upland, a low limestone step above the coast. It never looks like much from the saddle, a few tens of metres of rise through birch and pine, but in this flat country that step decided who could see whom, and that mattered enormously in the last century.
Read the complete Ropshinskoe Highway write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Ropshinskoe Highway comes up about 37 km into the recorded legs. Next is Dudergof.
3. 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.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 68 km into the recorded legs you reach Dudergof. Next is Historical Centre of the Town of Pavlovsk.
4. 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.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Historical Centre of the Town of Pavlovsk, about halfway. Next is back through Dudergof.
5. back through Dudergof
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Dudergof write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Dudergof sits at 99 km, about halfway. Next is back through Ropshinskoe Highway.
6. back through Ropshinskoe Highway
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Ropshinskoe Highway write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Ropshinskoe Highway comes up about 156 km into the recorded legs. Next is Southern battery No 2.
7. 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
Southern battery No 2 closes the day.
Leg by leg
Southern battery No 2 to Ropshinskoe Highway
Southern battery No 2 → Ropshinskoe Highway is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Ropshinskoe Highway to Dudergof
Ropshinskoe Highway → Dudergof is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Dudergof to Historical Centre of the Town of Pavlovsk
Dudergof → Historical Centre of the Town of Pavlovsk is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Historical Centre of the Town of Pavlovsk to back through Dudergof
Historical Centre of the Town of Pavlovsk → back through Dudergof is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Dudergof to back through Ropshinskoe Highway
back through Dudergof → back through Ropshinskoe Highway is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Ropshinskoe Highway to Southern battery No 2
back through Ropshinskoe Highway → Southern battery No 2 is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.