Pilatus is a mountain with a legend, and the road that skirts its flank gives you a different view of it than the one from Lucerne. The peak, 2,128 metres at its highest, is a jagged limestone ridge with a long, flat top that looks, from the north, like a sleeping dragon. Medieval stories said that the spirit of Pontius Pilate haunted the mountain's lake, and the authorities of Lucerne banned climbing it for centuries, in case the disturbance brought a storm. The name may in fact come from an old word for a cloud-covered mountain, but the legend is better.
Above you, the cogwheel railway that climbs Pilatus from Alpnachstad is the steepest in the world, with a gradient of up to forty-eight per cent, and has been running since 1889. Gondolas and cable cars also run from Kriens, and a visit to the summit gives a vast view over Lake Lucerne and the central Alps. In clear weather the display of peaks and lakes is magnificent.
Riding the lanes around the mountain is a pleasure of a quieter kind. The road toward Glaubenberg climbs from Sarnen and Alpnach through moorland and spruce forest, a landscape of raised bogs and wet meadows that is protected moorland next to the Entlebuch biosphere reserve, with long, open curves, little traffic and a surface that is usually good. The pass at Glaubenberg, at about fifteen hundred metres, is a lovely road to ride on a weekday morning. In spring, the high sections can have snow or mud, and cows wander freely, so keep an eye out.
For fuel, Hergiswil, about four kilometres away, and Alpnach have stations and supermarkets, and the shore of Lake Lucerne has restaurants. Hergiswil is also known for its glass factory, where you can watch glassblowers at work.
Look for the view of Pilatus from the south in the evening, when the setting sun lights the cliffs a deep red.