Why this ride
480 km from Kronstadt to Kronstadt, about 8 h 19 of riding. The stops in between: Fort «Ino», Fort «Krasnaya Gorka», Historical Centre of the Town of Lomonosov and Krasnoe Selo. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
The Historical Part of the Town of Kronsta and Krasnoe Selo
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 480 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 8 h 19
- 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 78 km this is Saint Petersburg Imperial Shore, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 78 km
- Named road
- Saint Petersburg Imperial Shore
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. The Historical Part of the Town of Kronsta
Kronstadt's gold dome is visible from a long way off, and it belongs to the Naval Cathedral of Saint Nicholas, a great Byzantine-style church that was finished in 1913 for the sailors of the Baltic Fleet. The Soviets turned it into a cinema and then a sports hall, and a long restoration returned it to its original purpose in 2013. It now stands in the centre of a town that looks like an eighteenth-century naval base surrounded by sea.
Read the complete The Historical Part of the Town of Kronsta write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The Historical Part of the Town of Kronsta is where the day begins. Next is Fort «Ino».
2. Fort «Ino»
In pine woods on the northern shore of the Gulf of Finland, west of the resort strip of Zelenogorsk, lie the shattered concrete remains of Fort Ino. It was built from 1909 as part of the defences of Saint Petersburg, a key battery of Peter the Great's Naval Fortress, designed to close the gulf to enemy fleets with heavy guns. When Finland became independent, the fort ended up on Finnish territory, and under the Treaty of Tartu in 1920 its fortifications were to be dismantled, which is why what remains today is mostly blasted concrete, scattered among the trees and dunes.
Read the complete Fort «Ino» write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Fort «Ino» comes up about 78 km into the recorded legs. Next is Fort «Krasnaya Gorka».
3. Fort «Krasnaya Gorka»
On the southern shore of the Gulf of Finland, near the village of Lebyazhye, the remains of Fort Krasnaya Gorka sit among pine woods and sand dunes. The fort was built in the years before the First World War as part of a chain of coastal defences protecting the approaches to St Petersburg, with heavy guns facing the sea and their counterparts on the opposite shore at Ino, in what was then the Grand Duchy of Finland. Together, the forts were designed to close the gulf to an enemy fleet.
Read the complete Fort «Krasnaya Gorka» write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 173 km into the recorded legs you reach Fort «Krasnaya Gorka». Next is Historical Centre of the Town of Lomonosov.
4. Historical Centre of the Town of Lomonosov
Lomonosov was called Oranienbaum until 1948, and its history is a story of ambition. Prince Alexander Menshikov, Peter the Great's close friend and favourite, began a grand palace here in the early eighteenth century, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, and the name, meaning orange tree, came from its greenhouses. Later, the estate passed to the imperial family, and in the 1760s Catherine the Great had the Chinese Palace built in the park, a small, richly decorated pavilion with painted ceilings and exotic interiors. The ensemble is part of the UNESCO listing of Saint Petersburg and related monuments.
Read the complete Historical Centre of the Town of Lomonosov 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 Lomonosov, about halfway. Next is Krasnoe Selo.
5. Krasnoe Selo
Readers of Anna Karenina will know Krasnoye Selo, even if they have never been within a thousand kilometres of it. It was here, at the summer camp of the imperial guards, that Tolstoy set the officers' steeplechase in which Vronsky rides his mare Frou-Frou to disaster in front of the court. For more than a century, from the early nineteenth century until the revolution, the guards regiments of the Russian army gathered each summer in this area south-west of Saint Petersburg for manoeuvres, parades and horse races, and the tsar and the court came to watch. It is listed as one of the monuments associated with the historic centre of Saint Petersburg.
Read the complete Krasnoe Selo write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Krasnoe Selo sits at 140 km, about halfway. Next is back through Historical Centre of the Town of Lomonosov.
6. back through Historical Centre of the Town of Lomonosov
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Historical Centre of the Town of Lomonosov write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Historical Centre of the Town of Lomonosov comes up about 281 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Fort «Krasnaya Gorka».
7. back through Fort «Krasnaya Gorka»
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fort «Krasnaya Gorka» write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 308 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Fort «Krasnaya Gorka». Next is back through Fort «Ino».
8. back through Fort «Ino»
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fort «Ino» write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Fort «Ino», late in the day. Next is The Historical Part of the Town of Kronsta.
9. The Historical Part of the Town of Kronsta
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete The Historical Part of the Town of Kronsta write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 480 km.
Leg by leg
The Historical Part of the Town of Kronsta to Fort «Ino»
The Historical Part of the Town of Kronsta → Fort «Ino» is 78 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fort «Ino» to Fort «Krasnaya Gorka»
Fort «Ino» → Fort «Krasnaya Gorka» is 95 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fort «Krasnaya Gorka» to Historical Centre of the Town of Lomonosov
Fort «Krasnaya Gorka» → Historical Centre of the Town of Lomonosov is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Historical Centre of the Town of Lomonosov to Krasnoe Selo
Historical Centre of the Town of Lomonosov → Krasnoe Selo is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Krasnoe Selo to back through Historical Centre of the Town of Lomonosov
Krasnoe Selo → back through Historical Centre of the Town of Lomonosov is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Historical Centre of the Town of Lomonosov to back through Fort «Krasnaya Gorka»
back through Historical Centre of the Town of Lomonosov → back through Fort «Krasnaya Gorka» is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Fort «Krasnaya Gorka» to back through Fort «Ino»
back through Fort «Krasnaya Gorka» → back through Fort «Ino» is 105 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Fort «Ino» to The Historical Part of the Town of Kronsta
back through Fort «Ino» → The Historical Part of the Town of Kronsta is 67 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.