Sisikon is a thin line of houses between a mountain and a lake, which is exactly how most of Lake Uri works. The water, the deepest and most dramatic arm of Lake Lucerne, is squeezed between steep rock walls, and there is barely room for a road, a railway and a village. The Axenstrasse, one of the oldest built mountain roads in Switzerland, was blasted out of the cliff face in the 1860s to link Schwyz with Uri, and it has been clinging to the rock ever since.
The road is a mix of open views and short dark tunnels, with galleries that protect it from rockfall. It is narrow, has no real shoulders, and many motorists treat it as a shortcut, so traffic can be dense. But it is a beautiful piece of riding, with the lake glinting through the openings and the sound of the engine echoing off the rock. Take it slowly. The corners are gentle and the surface is generally good, but the limit is monitored and the road can be closed after rockfalls or storms, so check ahead.
This is the heart of Swiss national mythology. A little to the south is the Tellskapelle, a chapel on the shore at the place where, according to legend, William Tell leapt from the boat of the tyrant Gessler. And across the water is the Rütli meadow, where the first Swiss confederates are said to have sworn their oath in 1291. Friedrich Schiller's play, written in 1804, shaped how people imagine these events, and the whole shore is treated as sacred ground.
Sisikon has a small harbour and a camp site, and a couple of places to eat, often serving fresh lake fish. Fuel is not reliable in the village, so use Brunnen or Ingenbohl, about six kilometres away, or Flüelen at the south end. The föhn wind, a warm dry wind from the south, can arrive suddenly, changing the lake from calm to choppy and making the air uncannily clear. The mountains look closer and the colours deeper.
Early morning is best, before the day trippers and the tour buses. In autumn the light slants low across the water and the rock walls glow.