Why this ride
227 km from Kronstadt to Kronstadt, about 3 h 20 of riding. On the way it passes The Park «Nearest Dubki», Ropshinskoe Highway, Dudergof and back through Ropshinskoe Highway. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
The Barrier of Cribwork and Dudergof
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 227 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 20
- 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 25 km this is Saint Petersburg Imperial Shore, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 25 km
- Named road
- Saint Petersburg Imperial Shore
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. The Barrier of Cribwork
Kronstadt is a naval town on an island, and nothing about it feels like anywhere else in Russia. Kotlin lies about thirty kilometres west of the centre of St Petersburg, a long thin island of some twelve kilometres, and when Peter's engineers decided to close the sea approaches in the early eighteenth century they did it with timber. The barrier of cribwork was a line of log cribs filled with stone, sunk across the shallow channels so that enemy ships could only pass under the guns, and this label points to that engineering memory rather than to anything you can ride up to and touch. The cribs rotted or were buried long ago, and the sea lanes are now marked by fort islands and the modern dam.
Read the complete The Barrier of Cribwork write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The Barrier of Cribwork is where the day begins. Next is The Park «Nearest Dubki».
2. The Park «Nearest Dubki»
Dubki simply means little oaks, a common name for a patch of woodland, and the ride titles connect this spot with the Oranienbaum Springboard, which is the south shore, across the water, where a Soviet bridgehead held out through the siege of Leningrad from 1941 to 1944 while the city itself was encircled.
Read the complete The Park «Nearest Dubki» write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The Park «Nearest Dubki» comes up about 25 km into the recorded legs. Next is Ropshinskoe Highway.
3. 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
about 83 km into the recorded legs you reach Ropshinskoe Highway. Next is Dudergof.
4. 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
Dudergof, about halfway. Next is back through Ropshinskoe Highway.
5. 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 sits at 100 km, about halfway. Next is back through The Park «Nearest Dubki».
6. back through The Park «Nearest Dubki»
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete The Park «Nearest Dubki» write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through The Park «Nearest Dubki» comes up about 201 km into the recorded legs. Next is The Barrier of Cribwork.
7. The Barrier of Cribwork
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete The Barrier of Cribwork write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The Barrier of Cribwork closes the day.
Leg by leg
The Barrier of Cribwork to The Park «Nearest Dubki»
The Barrier of Cribwork → The Park «Nearest Dubki» is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
The Park «Nearest Dubki» to Ropshinskoe Highway
The Park «Nearest Dubki» → Ropshinskoe Highway is 58 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 back through Ropshinskoe Highway
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 back through The Park «Nearest Dubki»
back through Ropshinskoe Highway → back through The Park «Nearest Dubki» is 57 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through The Park «Nearest Dubki» to The Barrier of Cribwork
back through The Park «Nearest Dubki» → The Barrier of Cribwork is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.