Why this ride
129 km from Russko-Vysotskoye to Russko-Vysotskoye, about 2 h 30 of riding. On the way it passes Krasnoe Selo, The Monastery Troitse-Sergieva Pustin, Volkhonskoe Highway and Historical Centre of the Village of Streln.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
The Palace and Park Ensemble of the Villag and Historical Centre of the Village of Streln
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 129 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 30
- 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
The Palace and Park Ensemble of the Villag → Krasnoe Selo
This part of the ride is 13 km of The Palace and Park Ensemble of the Villag → Krasnoe Selo.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 13 km
Saint Petersburg Imperial Shore
For about 18 km this is Saint Petersburg Imperial Shore, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it. Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 18 km
- Named road
- Saint Petersburg Imperial Shore
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. The Palace and Park Ensemble of the Villag
Ropsha is one of those places where the scenery is gentle and the history is anything but. The village sits on the low Izhora Upland southwest of St Petersburg, between Krasnoe Selo and the coast road at Lomonosov, and the palace that gives the estate its name looks down over a chain of spring-fed ponds and a slow, wooded park. It was here, in July 1762, that the freshly deposed Emperor Peter III was held after his wife Catherine seized the throne, and here that he died a few days later under circumstances nobody at court cared to explain. Catherine became "the Great"; Ropsha became a footnote with a chill on it.
Read the complete The Palace and Park Ensemble of the Villag write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The Palace and Park Ensemble of the Villag is where the day begins. Next is Krasnoe Selo.
2. 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 comes up about 13 km into the recorded legs. Next is The Monastery Troitse-Sergieva Pustin.
3. The Monastery Troitse-Sergieva Pustin
On the southern shore of the Gulf of Finland, between St Petersburg and Peterhof, the old road runs past a string of palaces and estates that the Russian elite built in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries to be near the sea and the court. Among them, near Strelna, stands the Trinity-Sergius Hermitage, a monastery founded in the eighteenth century as a dependency of the great Trinity Lavra of St Sergius near Moscow. It is part of the wide UNESCO listing of St Petersburg's historic centre and the monuments around it.
Read the complete The Monastery Troitse-Sergieva Pustin write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 31 km into the recorded legs you reach The Monastery Troitse-Sergieva Pustin. Next is Volkhonskoe Highway.
4. Volkhonskoe Highway
The Volkhonskoe Highway is not a scenic mountain road but a historic route on the southern edge of Saint Petersburg, running out from the city towards Gorelovo and the old road to Krasnoye Selo. It belongs to the network of eighteenth and nineteenth century highways that linked the capital with the imperial residences and military camps to the south and west, and it is included in the wider protected area of the historic centre of Saint Petersburg and its related monuments. What you see today is a mix of suburban growth, open fields and stretches of tree-lined road, with the ghosts of history underneath.
Read the complete Volkhonskoe Highway write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Volkhonskoe Highway, about halfway. Next is Historical Centre of the Village of Streln.
5. Historical Centre of the Village of Streln
Strelna is where Peter the Great first looked at the Gulf of Finland from the south shore and decided that his new capital needed a country palace worthy of Versailles. He began a residence here in the early eighteenth century, before settling on Peterhof, a few kilometres to the west, and the estate was later developed by his daughter Elizabeth and then given to the Grand Duke Konstantin, whose name it still bears in the Konstantinovsky Palace. In the 2000s the palace was restored and today it is used for state receptions and conferences, with the grounds open to visitors on a part-time basis. The historic centre of the village is a small area of old streets near the shore.
Read the complete Historical Centre of the Village of Streln 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 Village of Streln sits at 69 km, about halfway. Next is back through Volkhonskoe Highway.
6. back through Volkhonskoe Highway
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Volkhonskoe Highway write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Volkhonskoe Highway comes up about 81 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through The Monastery Troitse-Sergieva Pustin.
7. back through The Monastery Troitse-Sergieva Pustin
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete The Monastery Troitse-Sergieva Pustin write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 97 km into the recorded legs you reach back through The Monastery Troitse-Sergieva Pustin. Next is back through Krasnoe Selo.
8. back through Krasnoe Selo
Return visit. Read the place description above.
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
back through Krasnoe Selo, late in the day. Next is The Palace and Park Ensemble of the Villag.
9. The Palace and Park Ensemble of the Villag
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete The Palace and Park Ensemble of the Villag 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 129 km.
Leg by leg
The Palace and Park Ensemble of the Villag to Krasnoe Selo
The Palace and Park Ensemble of the Villag → Krasnoe Selo is 13 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Krasnoe Selo to The Monastery Troitse-Sergieva Pustin
Krasnoe Selo → The Monastery Troitse-Sergieva Pustin is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
The Monastery Troitse-Sergieva Pustin to Volkhonskoe Highway
The Monastery Troitse-Sergieva Pustin → Volkhonskoe Highway is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Volkhonskoe Highway to Historical Centre of the Village of Streln
Volkhonskoe Highway → Historical Centre of the Village of Streln is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Historical Centre of the Village of Streln to back through Volkhonskoe Highway
Historical Centre of the Village of Streln → back through Volkhonskoe Highway is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Volkhonskoe Highway to back through The Monastery Troitse-Sergieva Pustin
back through Volkhonskoe Highway → back through The Monastery Troitse-Sergieva Pustin is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through The Monastery Troitse-Sergieva Pustin to back through Krasnoe Selo
back through The Monastery Troitse-Sergieva Pustin → back through Krasnoe Selo is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Krasnoe Selo to The Palace and Park Ensemble of the Villag
back through Krasnoe Selo → The Palace and Park Ensemble of the Villag is 13 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.