Why this ride
From Pushkin it runs 363 km to Pushkin; allow about 5 h 13 of riding. It goes by way of Fort «Kronshlot», The Road of Life and back through Fort «Kronshlot». The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
The Babolovsky Park and The Road of Life
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 363 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 5 h 13
- 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 67 km this is Saint Petersburg Imperial Shore, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 67 km
- Named road
- Saint Petersburg Imperial Shore
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. The Babolovsky Park
Inside a ruined palace in a quiet park south of Saint Petersburg sits one of the strangest objects in Russia: a gigantic bath carved from a single block of granite, more than five metres across, made in the early nineteenth century by the stonemason Samson Sukhanov for the Babolovsky palace. The palace, a small Gothic style residence built for Catherine the Great's favourite Prince Potemkin, was later rebuilt and then ruined during the Second World War, but the bath was too heavy to move and remains inside the shell of the building.
Read the complete The Babolovsky Park write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The Babolovsky Park is where the day begins. Next is Fort «Kronshlot».
2. Fort «Kronshlot»
Fort Kronshlot is a stone fortress sitting on an artificial island in the middle of the water, and it has been there, in one form or another, since 1704. Peter the Great ordered it built to guard the shallow channel to the new city of Saint Petersburg, and the first version was a wooden tower on piles driven into the seabed and filled with stone. The name comes from the German for crown castle. The current structure is mostly of the nineteenth century, a long oval of brick and granite with gun casemates facing the water.
Read the complete Fort «Kronshlot» write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Fort «Kronshlot» comes up about 67 km into the recorded legs. Next is The Road of Life.
3. The Road of Life
On the south-eastern shore of Lake Ladoga, east of Saint Petersburg, a road ends at the water. This is the start of the Road of Life, the supply route across the ice that kept Leningrad alive during the siege of 1941 to 1944. The siege lasted 872 days, from September 1941 to January 1944, and it cut the city off from nearly everything except the lake. In the first winter, when Ladoga froze, trucks and horse-drawn sledges began to cross the ice with food and fuel, and on the return journey they carried out women, children and the sick. Lorries broke through the ice, and bombing and artillery attacked the route, but it kept going.
Read the complete The Road of Life write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 198 km into the recorded legs you reach The Road of Life. Next is back through Fort «Kronshlot».
4. back through Fort «Kronshlot»
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fort «Kronshlot» write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Fort «Kronshlot», late in the day. Next is The Babolovsky Park.
5. The Babolovsky Park
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete The Babolovsky Park write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at The Babolovsky Park. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
The Babolovsky Park to Fort «Kronshlot»
The Babolovsky Park → Fort «Kronshlot» is 67 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fort «Kronshlot» to The Road of Life
Fort «Kronshlot» → The Road of Life is 131 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
The Road of Life to back through Fort «Kronshlot»
The Road of Life → back through Fort «Kronshlot» is 98 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Fort «Kronshlot» to The Babolovsky Park
back through Fort «Kronshlot» → The Babolovsky Park is 67 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.