Why this ride
From Peterhof it runs 328 km to Peterhof; allow about 4 h 49 of riding. The stops in between: Northern battery No. 2, Terioki, Koltushskaya Elevation and back through Terioki. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
The Colonizer's Park and Koltushskaya Elevation
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 328 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 4 h 49
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. 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 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 Colonizer's Park
Peterhof sits on the south shore of the Gulf of Finland, about half an hour's ride west of central Saint Petersburg when the traffic behaves, and the Colonists' Park is one of its quieter green corners. Most visitors come for the Grand Cascade and the gilded fountains of the Lower Park and never notice that the wider Peterhof estate is a patchwork of separate gardens laid out by different tsars over a couple of centuries. This one belongs to the later, more relaxed layer: lawns, big trees, ponds and paths meant for strolling rather than for impressing ambassadors.
Read the complete The Colonizer's Park write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The Colonizer's Park is where the day begins. Next is Northern battery No. 2, 43 km on.
2. Northern battery No. 2
Forts are places for people who like their history with a view of the sea, and Kotlin island has more of them than most. Northern Battery No. 2 is part of the chain of defences that guarded the northern channel into the Gulf of Finland, and it dates from the great programme of fortification that Russia undertook in the nineteenth century to protect Kronstadt and, behind it, the capital. The batteries line the island's northern shore, low, squat and half buried in the pines.
Read the complete Northern battery No. 2 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Northern battery No. 2 comes up 43 km in. Next is Terioki.
3. Terioki
Terioki, or Terijoki in Finnish, is the old name of Zelenogorsk, a resort town on the northern shore of the Gulf of Finland, about fifty kilometres from St Petersburg. Until the Winter War, it was part of Finland, and before the revolution it was one of the favourite dacha destinations for the wealthy of the imperial capital, who came by train to spend summers among the pine trees and sandy beaches. After the Soviet Union took the Karelian Isthmus in 1940 and again in 1944, the Finnish population left, and in 1948 the town was renamed Zelenogorsk, the green hill.
Read the complete Terioki write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
87 km in you reach Terioki. Next is Koltushskaya Elevation.
4. Koltushskaya Elevation
East of Saint Petersburg, the land swells into a low ridge of moraine, left behind by the great ice sheet. The Koltushi Heights are not high, only some tens of metres above the surrounding plain, but in a country as flat as this, they are noticed. The landscape is a patchwork of pine and birch woods, wetland and open farmland, with the village of Koltushi scattered along the roads. A century ago it was a rural district, and the physiologist Ivan Pavlov, famous for his work on conditioned reflexes, founded a research station here, which people half-jokingly called the capital of conditioned reflexes.
Read the complete Koltushskaya Elevation write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Koltushskaya Elevation, about halfway. Next is back through Terioki.
5. back through Terioki
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Terioki write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Terioki sits at 173 km, about halfway. Next is back through Northern battery No. 2, 44 km on.
6. back through Northern battery No. 2
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Northern battery No. 2 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Northern battery No. 2 comes up 217 km in. Next is The Colonizer's Park.
7. The Colonizer's Park
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete The Colonizer's Park write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The Colonizer's Park closes the day.
Leg by leg
The Colonizer's Park to Northern battery No. 2
The Colonizer's Park → Northern battery No. 2 is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Northern battery No. 2 to Terioki
Northern battery No. 2 → Terioki is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Terioki to Koltushskaya Elevation
Terioki → Koltushskaya Elevation is 80 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Koltushskaya Elevation to back through Terioki
Koltushskaya Elevation → back through Terioki is 80 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Terioki to back through Northern battery No. 2
back through Terioki → back through Northern battery No. 2 is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Northern battery No. 2 to The Colonizer's Park
back through Northern battery No. 2 → The Colonizer's Park is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.