
In St. Petersburg, perhaps the last warm days of summer. A good way to conduct them really is to arrange a small bicycle passage. The editor of the Paper and cyclist Nikita Pakharev prepared five routes in the north of the Leningrad region.
Inside is a guide through thick spruce forests, a real desert, an old Finnish hydroelectric station and an abandoned military airfield. And also a bonus route not without risk to perish in a swamp or meet a wild boar.
Material about cycling massacres is also available in PaperamApp - our application with classrooms on the map of the city 🚲
You can download the application here .
Travel time: 3 hours (without halts)
This average route starts from the Roshchino railway station. The most convenient way to get to her is to sit in the morning train from the Finland station.
Opposite the station there is a small chain store where you can buy water and food for a picnic on the road. First, you have to drive a little along the asphalt road with a little traffic, and then turn onto the forest road, which will lead you into another reserve zone - the Gladyshevsky reserve through the Lindulovskaya Grove.
About the 19th kilometer of the journey will be a large and usually empty beach where you can arrange a picnic and swim. From there it remains 10 kilometers to the desert-there are large sandy dunes in the middle of the forest, a lot of pines and a very beautiful moss of green-gray color. There is always a lot of blueberries around the desert.
Be sure to get on the highest marching desert in Cannelieri and from there go to the railway station.
Travel time: 3 hours 30 minutes (without halts)
This is a bicycle route that runs through a reserve with a difficult name “Vyaryamynselkia ridge”. It begins in the village of Petyayarvi, where you can also get on a morning train from the Finland Station. In the village itself, it is not densely with shops, so it is better to buy water and food for a picnic in St. Petersburg.
The route begins with a forest road, which at the first kilometers will lead to the old Finnish hydroelectric power station. After it, the route begins to loop along a few lakes - Berestovoye, Pearl and Tuchkovo. On one of them you can arrange a picnic and swim.
After the lakes, the road will lead to an old and destroyed Finnish mill, and behind it a long and heavy rise will begin, which will lead to the village of Michurinskoye, where you have to drive along a slightly lively highway.
After a few kilometers, the highway will lead you to a beautiful hilly field, on which an old and spreading pine grows. After the field-a long and dynamic road through the forest, which leads to the end point of the route-the village of Razdolier and the station platform 79th kilometer.
Travel time: 4 hours (without halts)
The longest but most “fast” collection route, which begins in the village of Kirillovskoye. You can get to the village by morning train , also from the Finland station.
The Kirillovskoye station has two small chain stores in which you can buy food and water on the road, another store is 5 kilometers after the start of the route.
The first 6 kilometers will have to drive along a lively asphalt road. Sometimes you can overtake your wagons, so be careful and try to go to the sidelines when they approach - it is better to lose a little time, but to be safe.
On the 7th kilometer, the route goes from the highway to the forest road-it will bring you to an abandoned Finnish brick factory, which continued to operate until the 80s of the twentieth century, as well as to two small lakes.
On the 11th kilometer, the route takes you to a small secret beach on a deep lake, which only local residents and some cottage owners know about. There you can swim, arrange a small picnic or just take beautiful photos and go further on a perfectly asphalt road to another beach on the same lake. There, most likely, there will be a lot of summer residents and Petersburgers who came to rest.
Further, the route leads along the lake along a quiet dirt road to the Starozoborg Highway, along which 3 kilometers have to drive before getting to the next dirt road, which leads to an abandoned military airfield.
The loud story of the assault on the aircraft, captured by terrorists - the family of the musicians of the Ovechkin, is associated with the Subemevo airfield. On March 8, 1988, Ninel Ovechkin and her ten children, seven of whom were the popular Irkutsk jazz ensemble "Seven Simeons", captured a plane that followed Irkutsk to Leningrad. On board the Tu-154 there were 76 passengers. Ovechkins demanded to fly abroad, but the crew deceived them and instead of the Finnish cat landed in Dotiene. Having discovered the substitution, the older brothers shot the stewardess, mother and each other. As a result of the assault, the aircraft died and several passengers were injured.
The airfield will be the last interesting point in the route - after it it is necessary to drive 13 kilometers to the Gavrilovo railway station to sit on the train to St. Petersburg.
Travel time: 2 hours 30 minutes (without halts)
The route closest to St. Petersburg, which begins and ends in the Lakhta Center area. You can buy water and food on the way to Lahta.
The route runs through the forest along the Primorsky highway and goes to a small lake, which was formed on the site of the old quarry. It is probably not worth swimming in it, but you can try.
After the quarry, the route goes along a wide path to the village of Lisiy Nose, and from there - along the picturesque coast of the Gulf of Finland through the reserve "Northern coast of the Neva Bay" back to the city. On the way there will be a small beach where you can also arrange a picnic and enjoy the water view.
Travel time: 7 hours (without halts)
The route begins at Lembolovo station - you can get there by train from the Finland station. The route is long and complex, so you should leave in the early morning. There will be no shops on the way, so it is worth buying water and food in advance. It is better to take more water.
The route goes through spruce forests and a huge hilly field along which country roads are laid. In the late spring and summer, raps and coltsfoot bloomed on the field, and in July-Ivan tea. Sometimes here you can meet grazing horses.
After the field, the road goes through forests and marshy areas to Ladoga and the territory of Morozovsky forestry. There are almost no people there, but there is always an empty large beach on the shore of the lake and a high probability of meeting wild animals - wild boars, moose, martens and even bears.
After Ladoga - again the forest path, and then 15 kilometers along the old Finnish road laid out by cobblestones.



















What else to read: