Black Forest · Wutach · Schluchsee Escape

Cross the border for forest curves and cake discipline.

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Why this ride

Cross the border for forest curves and cake discipline. The best part sits around Wutach Gorge scenic area, Schluchsee water stop, Todtnau forest roads, while Schaffhausen border gate and St. Blasien dome coffee keep the day practical instead of turning it into a fuel hunt.

Roadbook

1. Schaffhausen border gate fuel · 403 m

   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.

   The old town is one of the best preserved in Switzerland, with rows of medieval houses carrying painted facades and elaborate oriel windows, the Erker, that stick out from the upper floors like glassed-in balconies. Above it, the round fortress of the Munot dominates the hill, a sixteenth-century circular bastion that you can walk right around, and the view over the Rhine and the red roofs justifies the climb. Down in the lanes there is a watch-making tradition, and the famous IWC company is based here, though you will not find a shop window as plain as the ones in Zurich.

   Just downstream, at Neuhausen, the Rhine drops over the Rheinfall, the largest plain waterfall in Europe by volume. It is not tall, only about twenty-three metres, but the sheer weight of water and the spray that rolls up in summer make a deafening, delightful show. The viewing platforms below the Laufen castle get you close enough to feel the mist, and the whole thing is a short walk from the road. It is touristy, and you should go early or late to avoid the coach parties.

   For riding, the real draw is the country north and west of the city: the road to the Wutach gorge and the Black Forest in Germany, with its curving climbs through dark spruce, and the Swiss Jura to the south and west, where quieter roads lead to Passwang. The border here is usually quick to cross, but bring a passport and remember that Switzerland needs a motorway vignette if you use the autobahn, which costs a flat annual fee and is sold at the border and at petrol stations.

   Weather swings here are mild, though fog hangs over the Rhine valley on autumn mornings, and the sun burns through by lunchtime.

2. Wutach Gorge scenic area sight · 650 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.

   The gorge is a nature reserve, and the best way to see it is on foot, on a trail that winds along the river for many kilometres. The best sections have narrow ledges, wooden walkways and short ladders, and the terrain is wet and slippery. Because the walls are steep and shaded, the microclimate is cool, and rare plants and orchids grow in the damp. Dippers and grey wagtails are among the birds on the water, though you will be lucky to see them.

   The roads around the gorge are another matter. The B315 and the lanes around Bonndorf, Löffingen and Lenzkirch pass through open plateau, forest and farmland, with long curves, easy gradients and good views, and they are among the better secondary roads in the Black Forest. The area is quiet outside summer weekends, and in autumn the larches and beeches turn gold. Watch for walkers and cyclists, and for tractors in the farming season. Near Blumberg, the Sauschwänzlebahn, a steam railway known as the Pig's Tail Railway for its looping route, runs on summer weekends over viaducts and through tunnels.

   Bonndorf, less than two kilometres away, has about seven thousand people, with petrol stations, bakeries and inns, and it is the natural base. The gorge's car parks are small and fill early in the day on sunny weekends, so arrive early. At around six hundred and fifty metres above sea level, the air is fresh, and spring can arrive late.

   Black Forest cake and a plate of smoked ham are the local rewards, and a cold beer at the end of the day is hard to resist.

3. Schluchsee water stop swim · 930 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.

   The town of Schluchsee, with about twenty-six hundred people, sits at the northern end and is a resort in every season. In summer people swim, sail, windsurf and paddle on the lake, with sandy beaches and a boat service across the water; in winter, it can freeze, and in the cold months the nearby ski lifts operate. Lenzkirch, a few kilometres away, is larger, with about five thousand people and the fuel, groceries and bakeries you will need.

   The roads around the lake are among the nicest in the southern Black Forest. They twist through spruce and fir forest, up and down the hills, with views of the water through the trees, and the surface is generally good. Traffic can be heavy at weekends, particularly in summer, and some roads have motorcycle restrictions at weekends in parts of the region, so check the signs. The Feldberg, the highest peak in the Black Forest at nearly 1,500 metres, is a short ride away.

   Cake is a serious matter here. The Black Forest cherry gateau, Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte, is served in every cafe, along with smoked ham and the sharp local cherry brandy, kirsch. A slice and a coffee on the lake shore is a classic way to end a day. The water stays cool even in August, but swimmers are rewarded with clean water and a lovely setting. Early autumn, when the beeches colour and the mist hangs over the lake, is a particularly good season.

4. Todtnau forest roads scenic · 650 m

   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.

   The riding is the best sort of Black Forest riding: not about speed but about rhythm. Roads here were laid down along streams and ridges, so they pitch, bend and twist, tight hairpins followed by long straight bits where the trees close overhead and the light turns green. The surface is generally good, but patched in places after winter, and in shaded corners you may find damp or pine needles even in July. Traffic is mostly local, plus cyclists, who are numerous and often climbing slowly, and tourists. Weekends are busy, and the best hours are early morning or early evening, when the valleys are quiet and the smell of cut grass and resin hangs in the air.

   Todtnau is a proper town of about five thousand, so fuel and food are easy. It built its name on winter sports as much as anything: skiing in the Black Forest has a long history, and the area claims some of the earliest ski clubs and lifts in Germany. Nearby, the Todtnau waterfall tumbles down a rock face and is among the taller falls in the country, a short walk from the road. In the town itself, the cafes serve Black Forest cake, which here is not a tourist gimmick but a point of local pride, made with kirsch from the valley's orchards.

   The forest also carries older history. Silver and other ores were mined on these slopes in the Middle Ages, and the scattered hamlets and chapels grew from that wealth and from the work of farmers who lived on poor, steep land. If you stop on a quiet lane, listen: cowbells, running water, and the odd chainsaw, a reminder that forestry is still the economy.

5. St. Blasien dome coffee food · 770 m

   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.

   The abbey itself goes back to the early Middle Ages, a monastery founded in the Albtal in a clearing so remote that the monks had to make everything themselves. Over the centuries it became rich and powerful, and in 1768 a fire destroyed most of it. The abbot of the time chose to rebuild on a grand scale, with a French architect designing a neoclassical rotunda that was completed in 1783. Today the buildings house a well-known boarding school run by Jesuits, and the church is open to visitors; the interior is plain white and calm, which is a relief after the busy Baroque of so many Alpine churches.

   The town sits at around 770 metres in a high valley, and it has long been a health resort, valued for its clean air and quiet. With about four thousand people it has enough shops, bakeries and cafes to make a proper coffee stop, and the square in front of the dome is a pleasant place to sit with a bike in sight.

   The roads in and out are what you hope for in this region: climbing through dark forest, passing small reservoirs and meadows, with fast sweepers on the open stretches and tighter work near the valley floor. In winter they are often snowy, and ice lingers in the shade. Late spring and early autumn are the best times, when the forest is bright and the tourists are fewer.

6. Koblenz border return fuel · 318 m

   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.

   The setting is flatter and gentler than the Black Forest you have just left. The Rhine here is wide and green and moves with a quiet weight, and not far upstream the Aare joins it, bringing the waters of half of central Switzerland to the party; the rivers meet near Koblenz in a confluence that does not look like much from the road but is among the most important in the country. Downstream, the Klingnau reservoir is an internationally recognised bird reserve, where herons, ducks and, in winter, huge flocks of migrants gather on the shallows.

   For riders the point is fuel. Waldshut-Tiengen, a town of twenty thousand, has everything, and Klingnau, a few minutes down the valley, has a pretty little old town with a medieval look. Switzerland requires a vignette to use its motorways, so if you plan to take the fast road home rather than the lanes, check that you have one.

   The roads around Koblenz are mostly practical rather than thrilling: river roads, commuter lanes, the occasional slow farm vehicle. But the evening light on the Rhine can be lovely, and in the late afternoon the quiet water and the old bridge make a good pause before the final run home. Keep your passport or ID with you, because spot checks still happen.

7. Back to Schaffhausen finish · 403 m

   Back to Schaffhausen closes the day.

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