Why this ride
307 km from Pavlovsk to Pavlovsk, about 4 h 54 of riding. It goes by way of The Monastery Troitse-Sergieva Pustin, The Datcha of the Hospital, Izhorsky Bench and S.K.Grieg's Estate «Sans Ennui». It suits an unhurried touring pace.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Yu.P.Samoilova's Villa and S.K.Grieg's Estate «Sans Ennui»
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 307 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 4 h 54
- 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 39 km this is Saint Petersburg Imperial Shore, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 39 km
- Named road
- Saint Petersburg Imperial Shore
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Yu.P.Samoilova's Villa
Countess Yulia Samoilova is the sort of figure that the nineteenth century produced in numbers: rich, independent, beautiful, fond of artists and impatient with convention. She was a society woman who spent much of her life abroad, especially in Italy, and who is remembered in Russian painting as the muse of a famous artist. A villa on the southern edge of Saint Petersburg's estates bears her name, and it sits in the quiet country between Pavlovsk and Gatchina, in a landscape of old parks, small rivers and pine woods.
Read the complete Yu.P.Samoilova's Villa write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Yu.P.Samoilova's Villa is where the day begins. Next is The Monastery Troitse-Sergieva Pustin.
2. 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
The Monastery Troitse-Sergieva Pustin comes up about 37 km into the recorded legs. Next is The Datcha of the Hospital.
3. The Datcha of the Hospital
Somewhere between Bolshaya Izhora and Lomonosov, along the southern shore of the Gulf of Finland, stood a summer house known as the Datcha of the Hospital. The name suggests one of the many country retreats built along this coast in the nineteenth century, when the road west from St Petersburg was lined with the estates of the aristocracy, merchants and institutions. Few of these houses survive intact, and the exact remains of this one are hard to pin down; it is better to take it as a pause on one of the most historic stretches of shore in Russia.
Read the complete The Datcha of the Hospital write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 76 km into the recorded legs you reach The Datcha of the Hospital. Next is Izhorsky Bench.
4. Izhorsky Bench
South of St Petersburg, the flat marshy plain of the Neva lowland suddenly steps up onto a limestone plateau. Geologists call the edge a glint or bench, and here, near Russko-Vysotskoye and Kipen, it forms a low but noticeable escarpment, the northern edge of the Izhora plateau. It is one of the natural features included in the wide UNESCO listing of St Petersburg and its surroundings, which recognises not only palaces and canals but the landscape the city was built against.
Read the complete Izhorsky Bench write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Izhorsky Bench, about halfway. Next is S.K.Grieg's Estate «Sans Ennui», 36 km on.
5. S.K.Grieg's Estate «Sans Ennui»
Samuel Greig was a Scottish naval officer from Inverkeithing who rose to become an admiral in Catherine the Great's navy, and in 1788 he fought the Battle of Hogland against the Swedes in the Gulf of Finland, a few weeks before dying of fever at Reval. He is the S.K. Greig of the label, Samuil Karlovich in Russian style, and an estate on this coast called Sans Ennui is associated with the family, French for without boredom, a charming name for a country house. The site lies near Bolshaya Izhora, west of Lomonosov, where the land is flat, wooded and close to the water, and the Izhora river flows toward the gulf.
Read the complete S.K.Grieg's Estate «Sans Ennui» write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
S.K.Grieg's Estate «Sans Ennui» sits at 141 km, about halfway. Next is back through Izhorsky Bench.
6. back through Izhorsky Bench
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Izhorsky Bench write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Izhorsky Bench comes up about 190 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through The Datcha of the Hospital.
7. back through The Datcha of the Hospital
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete The Datcha of the Hospital write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 230 km into the recorded legs you reach back through The Datcha of the Hospital. Next is back through The Monastery Troitse-Sergieva Pustin.
8. 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
back through The Monastery Troitse-Sergieva Pustin, late in the day. Next is Yu.P.Samoilova's Villa, 35 km on.
9. Yu.P.Samoilova's Villa
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Yu.P.Samoilova's Villa 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 307 km.
Leg by leg
Yu.P.Samoilova's Villa to The Monastery Troitse-Sergieva Pustin
Yu.P.Samoilova's Villa → The Monastery Troitse-Sergieva Pustin is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
The Monastery Troitse-Sergieva Pustin to The Datcha of the Hospital
The Monastery Troitse-Sergieva Pustin → The Datcha of the Hospital is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
The Datcha of the Hospital to Izhorsky Bench
The Datcha of the Hospital → Izhorsky Bench is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Izhorsky Bench to S.K.Grieg's Estate «Sans Ennui»
Izhorsky Bench → S.K.Grieg's Estate «Sans Ennui» is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
S.K.Grieg's Estate «Sans Ennui» to back through Izhorsky Bench
S.K.Grieg's Estate «Sans Ennui» → back through Izhorsky Bench is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Izhorsky Bench to back through The Datcha of the Hospital
back through Izhorsky Bench → back through The Datcha of the Hospital is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through The Datcha of the Hospital to back through The Monastery Troitse-Sergieva Pustin
back through The Datcha of the Hospital → back through The Monastery Troitse-Sergieva Pustin is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through The Monastery Troitse-Sergieva Pustin to Yu.P.Samoilova's Villa
back through The Monastery Troitse-Sergieva Pustin → Yu.P.Samoilova's Villa is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.