Why this ride
A 367 km round trip from Peterhof - roughly 5 h 56 in the saddle. The stops in between: Northern battery No. 3, Terioki, Fort «Seraya Loshad» and back through Terioki. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
The Palace and Park of the Znamenskaya Dat and Fort «Seraya Loshad»
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 367 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 5 h 56
- 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
Water arrives beside the road and stays for 25 km. The line follows the shore because there is nowhere else for it to go — slow enough to look. The surface follows the shoreline, so the corners arrive where the water decided, not where an engineer did.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 40 km
- Named road
- Saint Petersburg Imperial Shore
Saint Petersburg Imperial Shore
For about 52 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
- 52 km
- Named road
- Saint Petersburg Imperial Shore
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. The Palace and Park of the Znamenskaya Dat
South-west of Saint Petersburg, along the shore of the Gulf of Finland, the land is a continuous belt of imperial estates. Peterhof is the best known, with its gilded fountains and long terraces, but behind it and around it is a countryside of parks, dachas and country palaces built by the imperial family and the aristocracy from the eighteenth century onward. Znamenka was one of these. The name comes from the Znamenie, the Sign, and the estate had a palace and a park that served as a summer residence, laid out in the landscape style that was fashionable in the nineteenth century.
Read the complete The Palace and Park of the Znamenskaya Dat 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 of the Znamenskaya Dat is where the day begins. Next is Northern battery No. 3, 33 km on.
2. Northern battery No. 3
Kotlin Island is only about twelve kilometres long and rarely more than a kilometre or two wide, and every metre of its northern shore was given over to guns. A numbered battery like this one is the sort of thing that appears on a map as a dull label and turns out to be a lump of overgrown concrete and earth, with ammunition stores half buried in the ground and a view across a shallow, pewter-coloured sea. Kronstadt, four or five kilometres away, was founded by Peter the Great in the first years of the eighteenth century to keep Swedish ships out of the new capital's approaches, and the fortifications grew in layers for the next two hundred years.
Read the complete Northern battery No. 3 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Northern battery No. 3 comes up about 40 km into the recorded legs. 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
about 92 km into the recorded legs you reach Terioki. Next is Fort «Seraya Loshad».
4. Fort «Seraya Loshad»
Along the southern shore of the Gulf of Finland, west of Saint Petersburg, a low strip of pine forest and sand runs for kilometres between the road and the sea. Fort Seraya Loshad, the Grey Horse, stands in this coastal country, eleven kilometres from the village of Lebyazhye, among a group of forts built for the defence of the capital and the naval base at Kronstadt.
Read the complete Fort «Seraya Loshad» write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Fort «Seraya Loshad», 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 131 km, about halfway. Next is back through Northern battery No. 3, 33 km on.
6. back through Northern battery No. 3
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Northern battery No. 3 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. 3 comes up about 320 km into the recorded legs. Next is The Palace and Park of the Znamenskaya Dat.
7. The Palace and Park of the Znamenskaya Dat
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete The Palace and Park of the Znamenskaya Dat 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 of the Znamenskaya Dat closes the day.
Leg by leg
The Palace and Park of the Znamenskaya Dat to Northern battery No. 3
The Palace and Park of the Znamenskaya Dat → Northern battery No. 3 is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Northern battery No. 3 to Terioki
Northern battery No. 3 → Terioki is 52 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Terioki to Fort «Seraya Loshad»
Terioki → Fort «Seraya Loshad» is 88 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fort «Seraya Loshad» to back through Terioki
Fort «Seraya Loshad» → back through Terioki is 100 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Terioki to back through Northern battery No. 3
back through Terioki → back through Northern battery No. 3 is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Northern battery No. 3 to The Palace and Park of the Znamenskaya Dat
back through Northern battery No. 3 → The Palace and Park of the Znamenskaya Dat is 47 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.