CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
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.
From Schaffhausen it runs 472 km to Bremgarten; allow about 7 h 55 of riding. On the way it passes Wutach Gorge scenic area, Schluchsee water stop, Todtnau forest roads and St. Blasien dome. The climbs: Staffelegg ridge road and Passwang road. It tops out at 943 m. It crosses from Switzerland into Germany - carry ID and check vignette or toll rules. Rolling hill country.
Water arrives beside the road and stays for 28 km. The line follows the shore because there is nowhere else for it to go. Slow enough to look. The surface follows the shoreline, so the corners arrive where the water decided, not where an engineer did.
Check the pass is open before you commit to it.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For 25 km this is Black Forest Panorama Route B500 South, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
30 km that neither climbs nor drops much. The road settles into the ground rather than fighting it — this is where a day makes up time without anyone trying. Third and fourth, and very little else.
Schaffhausen is the little Swiss city that wanders north of the Rhine, in a canton that pokes into Germany like a thumb, and from the border post you can hear the language change within a few kilometres. At about four hundred metres it is low country, with gentle hills, vineyards, and fields rolling towards the Black Forest.
Read the complete Schaffhausen border gate write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Schaffhausen border is where the day begins. Next is Wutach Gorge scenic area, climbing 247 m.
The Wutach is a river with an identity crisis, and that is why the gorge it cut is so spectacular. Once a headwater of the Danube, it was captured, in geological terms quite recently, by a short, steep tributary of the Rhine, and since then it has been tearing a deep trench through the limestone and granite of the southern Black Forest. The result is a gorge well over a hundred metres deep, wild and wooded, and the longest and deepest in the region. Geologists come to study the river capture; walkers come for the moss, the ferns and the sound of water.
Read the complete Wutach Gorge scenic area write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Wutach Gorge scenic area comes up about 41 km into the recorded legs. Reckon on about 2 °C colder than the valley, and more in the wind. Next is Schluchsee water stop, climbing 280 m.
The biggest lake in the Black Forest is not natural. The Schluchsee was created in the 1930s, when the valley was dammed to supply a hydroelectric scheme, flooding farms and hamlets and lifting the water level to form a long, slim lake in the high country at about 930 metres. It looks as though it has always been there, with forested hills on every side, and the older people in the villages can still remember the old landscape.
Read the complete Schluchsee water stop write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 54 km into the recorded legs you reach Schluchsee water stop. The road climbs 280 m on the way up to it, steadily. Reckon on about 4 °C colder than the valley, and more in the wind. Next is Todtnau forest roads, mostly downhill.
Todtnau sits in the Wiese valley in the southern Black Forest, and the forest roads around it are the reason people ride here. At about 650 metres, the town is tucked below the Feldberg, the highest mountain in the whole range, and the lanes that thread up through the spruce on either side belong to a landscape of steep pastures, deep side valleys and old farmsteads with their huge, low-hanging roofs.
Read the complete Todtnau forest roads write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Todtnau forest roads, early in the day at 650 m. You lose 280 m on the way down to it, steadily. Next is St. Blasien dome coffee, 41 km on.
St. Blasien is the kind of town that surprises you from a distance. You come down through spruce forest, round a bend, and there is a green copper dome of tremendous size standing over a small Black Forest town as if someone had mislaid a cathedral from a much bigger city. The dome belongs to the former Benedictine abbey church, and at roughly thirty-six metres across it is one of the largest church domes in Europe north of the Alps.
Read the complete St. Blasien dome coffee write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Food at 162 km, roughly 3 hours into the riding. Reckon on about 3 °C colder than the valley, and more in the wind. Next is Koblenz border return, mostly downhill.
Koblenz is a small Swiss town on the Rhine, and its job on this ride is simple: it is where you cross back. Across the river lies Waldshut, the German side, and the pair are connected by an old bridge that has seen centuries of toll collectors and, later, customs officers. Today the border is open and relaxed, but the habit remains of stopping here to sort out the practical things before the road home.
Read the complete Koblenz border return write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Koblenz border return is the fuel stop for this leg. You lose 452 m on the way down to it, steadily. Next is Back to Schaffhausen.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Schaffhausen border gate write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back to Schaffhausen closes the day. Next is Bremgarten old bridge.
Bremgarten is a medieval town on a bend, and the bend is the whole point. The river Reuss, fast, green and cold from the Alps, loops in a tight horseshoe here, and the old town is built inside the loop, on a spur of land that makes it nearly an island. Its medieval lords chose the site for its defensibility and built walls, gates and towers around it. Some of the towers still stand, and steep lanes run from them down to the water.
Read the complete Bremgarten old bridge write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
You start here, at 386 m. Next is Staffelegg ridge road, climbing 235 m.
The Staffelegg is a modest pass, 621 metres, but it deserves more credit than the number suggests. It crosses the folded ridges of the Jura between the Aare valley at Aarau and the Fricktal beyond, and the road that climbs it from Küttigen is one of those quiet Swiss crossings that locals use daily and visitors rarely notice. That is its charm.
Read the complete Staffelegg ridge road write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The high point of this section, 621 m up. Next is Passwang road, climbing 322 m.
Passwang is a Jura crossing at 943 metres between Balsthal in the Solothurn canton and the Baselland valleys to the north. It is a proper mountain road in miniature, and for many riders it is the highlight of this part of Switzerland, because it packs good bends, long views and quiet forest into a short distance. The road leaves Balsthal through the Gäu and the gorge of the Klus, then climbs through Mümliswil in a series of rising bends toward the saddle.
Read the complete Passwang road write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Passwang road tops the climb at 943 m. The road climbs 322 m on the way up to it, steadily. Nothing on this route is higher. Next is Solothurn food stop, mostly downhill.
Solothurn has a habit of making visitors ask why they have not come sooner. It sits on the Aare at the foot of the Jura, about fifteen thousand people living in what is probably the best-preserved Baroque town in Switzerland, and for a couple of centuries it was the seat of the French ambassador to the Confederation. That gave the place a refinement out of proportion to its size: grand townhouses, fountains in every square, and a cathedral built in the eighteenth century in pale Ticinese style, dedicated to Saint Ursus.
Read the complete Solothurn food stop write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
A break here. You lose 513 m on the way down to it, steadily. Next is Hallwilersee water stop.
Hallwilersee is one of the quieter lakes of the Swiss Plateau, a long, narrow stretch of water in the Aargau hills some forty kilometres south-west of Zürich, lying in the Seetal valley at roughly four hundred and fifty metres. It lacks the drama of the lakes near the Alps, but it has a gentle beauty that appeals to those who prefer a slower pace: green meadows, orchards, small harbours and a swimming beach on each shore. In summer, rowing boats and paddle boards dot the surface.
Read the complete Hallwilersee water stop write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Hallwilersee water stop, late in the day at 449 m. Next is back to Bremgarten old bridge.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Bremgarten old bridge write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back to Bremgarten old bridge closes the day.
Schaffhausen border gate → Wutach Gorge scenic area is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Wutach Gorge scenic area → Schluchsee water stop is 13 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Schluchsee water stop → Todtnau forest roads is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Todtnau forest roads → St. Blasien dome coffee is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
St. Blasien dome coffee → Koblenz border return drops about 452 m over 28 km. Brakes and eyes forward; the views are behind the corners, not in them.
Koblenz border return → Back to Schaffhausen is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Back to Schaffhausen → Bremgarten old bridge is 74 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Bremgarten old bridge → Staffelegg ridge road is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Staffelegg ridge road → Passwang road is 64 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Passwang road → Solothurn food stop drops about 513 m over 40 km. Brakes and eyes forward; the views are behind the corners, not in them.
Solothurn food stop → Hallwilersee water stop is 70 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Hallwilersee water stop → back to Bremgarten old bridge is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.