You could ride past the Inkwilersee a dozen times without noticing it. It is a small, shallow lake tucked into a fold of farmland right on the line between the cantons of Bern and Solothurn, ringed with reeds and alders, with a tiny wooded island near its middle. That island is the reason for the label: beneath its trees and in the mud around it lie traces of prehistoric lakeside settlement, enough to earn the Inkwilersee a place among the Alpine pile-dwelling sites on the World Heritage list.
There is nothing to see of the old villages, so do not come expecting stilts and thatch. What you get is a quiet, slightly secret lake, the kind of place locals cycle to on a summer evening for a swim. Because it is shallow it warms up early in the season, and on a hot July afternoon the water feels more like a bath than a Swiss lake. Herons stalk the reed beds, coots fuss about near the shore, and in spring the frogs are loud enough to hear over an idling engine.
The riding is classic Swiss Mittelland: smooth, narrow country roads looping between farms, orchards and woods, with gentle rises and the long blue line of the Jura to the north. It is not dramatic, but it is relaxing, and there are plenty of ways to string together villages without touching the motorway. Watch your speed in the villages, where limits drop sharply and cameras are common, and keep an eye out for tractors and cyclists on the narrow lanes.
Within a few minutes are some good stops. Wangen an der Aare has a covered wooden bridge across the river and a compact little old town. Herzogenbuchsee is a market town with a handsome church on its hill. Further afield, Solothurn, the baroque city on the Aare, is one of the most beautiful small towns in the country and has a strange obsession with the number eleven, which shows up in its churches, fountains and clocks.
Herzogenbuchsee, about three and a half kilometres away, is the nearest town with fuel, cafés and shops. Subingen and Wangen also have the basics. There is a small parking area by the lake and a path around the shore that takes perhaps half an hour on foot, a good way to work the stiffness out of your legs before the next leg.