Why this ride
212 km from Peterhof to Peterhof, about 3 h 22 of riding. It goes by way of Tallinskoe Highway, The Otdelny Park, The Blocade Ring and back through The Otdelny Park. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
The English Park and The Blocade Ring
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 212 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 22
- 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 33 km this is Saint Petersburg Imperial Shore, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 33 km
- Named road
- Saint Petersburg Imperial Shore
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. The English Park
Everybody who comes to Peterhof heads for the fountains, the Grand Cascade and the gilded Samson tearing open the lion's jaws, and almost nobody walks the few hundred metres west into the English Park. That is their loss. Catherine the Great, who found Peter the Great's straight avenues and clipped hedges old-fashioned, had this park laid out from 1779 by the English gardener James Meader, in the natural landscape style then sweeping Europe: a chain of ponds, meadows, clumps of oak and lime, and paths that wander rather than march. It belongs to the World Heritage Site covering the historic centre of Saint Petersburg and its ring of palaces and estates.
Read the complete The English Park write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The English Park is where the day begins. Next is Tallinskoe Highway.
2. Tallinskoe Highway
Not every historic road is a pretty one, and the Tallinn highway on the south-western edge of St Petersburg is not trying to win prizes for charm. It is, however, one of the old imperial routes out of the capital, the road toward Narva and Reval, today's Tallinn, and as such it forms part of the UNESCO listing of the historic centre of St Petersburg and its related monuments, which includes the network of roads tying the city to its palaces and estates. Along it, the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries planted suburban residences, military camps and post stations.
Read the complete Tallinskoe Highway write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Tallinskoe Highway comes up about 33 km into the recorded legs. Next is The Otdelny Park.
3. The Otdelny Park
Pavlovsk and Pushkin sit side by side on the plain south of Saint Petersburg, and both grew from the imperial taste for country palaces. Pushkin was once Tsarskoye Selo, the Tsar's Village, where Catherine the Great had a palace of blue and white with a facade that stretches for hundreds of metres, and where the Amber Room once stood. Pavlovsk was a smaller palace for her son Paul, set in one of the largest landscape parks in Europe. The name means separate or detached, and it points to a part of the landscape set apart from the main royal grounds.
Read the complete The Otdelny Park write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 55 km into the recorded legs you reach The Otdelny Park. Next is The Blocade Ring.
4. The Blocade Ring
The Blockade Ring stands on the south bank of the Neva, east of Saint Petersburg, close to where the Road of Life began its journey toward Lake Ladoga. It commemorates the siege of Leningrad, which lasted from September 1941 to January 1944, roughly 872 days, and the corridor that kept the city alive. When Shlisselburg fell in September 1941, the city was cut off by land, and the only lifeline ran across Ladoga, by boat in summer and over the ice in winter.
Read the complete The Blocade Ring write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The Blocade Ring, about halfway. Next is back through The Otdelny Park.
5. back through The Otdelny Park
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete The Otdelny Park write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through The Otdelny Park sits at 115 km, about halfway. Next is back through Tallinskoe Highway.
6. back through Tallinskoe Highway
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Tallinskoe Highway write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Tallinskoe Highway comes up about 187 km into the recorded legs. Next is The English Park.
7. The English Park
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete The English Park write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The English Park closes the day.
Leg by leg
The English Park to Tallinskoe Highway
The English Park → Tallinskoe Highway is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Tallinskoe Highway to The Otdelny Park
Tallinskoe Highway → The Otdelny Park is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
The Otdelny Park to The Blocade Ring
The Otdelny Park → The Blocade Ring is 53 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
The Blocade Ring to back through The Otdelny Park
The Blocade Ring → back through The Otdelny Park is 56 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through The Otdelny Park to back through Tallinskoe Highway
back through The Otdelny Park → back through Tallinskoe Highway is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Tallinskoe Highway to The English Park
back through Tallinskoe Highway → The English Park is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.