Why this ride
From Kronstadt it runs 205 km to Kronstadt; allow about 3 h 25 of riding. The stops in between: Gostilitskoe Highway, Petrovsky, Vyborgskaya Road and back through Petrovsky. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
The Maritime Channel and Vyborgskaya Road
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 205 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 25
- 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 Maritime Channel
Stand on the shore anywhere near Kronstadt and you are looking at a dredged highway hidden under the water. The Maritime Channel, the Sea Canal of St Petersburg, was cut through the shallow Neva Bay in the late nineteenth century, opening in 1885, so that large ships could reach the city's port directly instead of unloading at Kronstadt. Before it existed, the bay was too shallow for anything but small vessels, and cargo had to be transferred to lighters, a slow and expensive business. The channel runs for around thirty kilometres from the open gulf to the mouth of the Neva, marked by buoys and lights, and it remains the main artery for ships entering the city.
Read the complete The Maritime Channel write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The Maritime Channel is where the day begins. Next is Gostilitskoe Highway.
2. Gostilitskoe Highway
Peterhof is famous for its fountains, and the road called Gostilitskoe runs along the high ground behind the palace, where the water begins. When Peter the Great decided in the early eighteenth century to build a rival to Versailles on the southern shore of the Gulf of Finland, the engineers had a problem, because the ground at the shore is flat, and a fountain needs a head of water. They found springs and ponds on the Ropsha heights, a few kilometres inland, and built a system of canals, reservoirs and pipes that carried water downhill to the palace by gravity alone, without a single pump. That system, the Water-bringing system of Peterhof, still works, and it is a marvel of its time.
Read the complete Gostilitskoe Highway write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Gostilitskoe Highway comes up 25 km in. Next is Petrovsky.
3. Petrovsky
The label is a puzzle: Petrovsky could refer to any of a dozen places in a city named after Peter the Great, and it is safest to treat it as a viewpoint on his great project, the opening of Russia to the sea. Whatever the exact spot, the landscape is unmistakable: flat shore, reeds, wide grey water, and on the horizon the dome of the Kronstadt cathedral and the line of the flood barrier.
Read the complete Petrovsky write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
50 km in you reach Petrovsky. Next is Vyborgskaya Road.
4. Vyborgskaya Road
Every road out of Saint Petersburg to the north-west ends up in Finland or in the memory of it, and the Vyborg highway is the old way. It leaves the city through the northern suburbs of Shuvalovo, Pargolovo and Parnas, passing parks, lakes and rows of tower blocks, and then continues over the Karelian Isthmus to Vyborg, a town that belonged to Finland until 1940.
Read the complete Vyborgskaya Road write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Vyborgskaya Road, about halfway. Next is back through Petrovsky.
5. back through Petrovsky
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Petrovsky write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Petrovsky sits at 100 km, about halfway. Next is back through Gostilitskoe Highway.
6. back through Gostilitskoe Highway
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Gostilitskoe Highway write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Gostilitskoe Highway comes up 125 km in. Next is The Maritime Channel.
7. The Maritime Channel
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete The Maritime Channel write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The Maritime Channel closes the day.
Leg by leg
The Maritime Channel to Gostilitskoe Highway
The Maritime Channel → Gostilitskoe Highway is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Gostilitskoe Highway to Petrovsky
Gostilitskoe Highway → Petrovsky is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Petrovsky to Vyborgskaya Road
Petrovsky → Vyborgskaya Road is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Vyborgskaya Road to back through Petrovsky
Vyborgskaya Road → back through Petrovsky is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Petrovsky to back through Gostilitskoe Highway
back through Petrovsky → back through Gostilitskoe Highway is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Gostilitskoe Highway to The Maritime Channel
back through Gostilitskoe Highway → The Maritime Channel is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.