CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. 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.
169 km from Sitten to Sitten, about 2 h 07 of riding. It goes by way of The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier, Petite villa au bord du lac Léman, Lavaux and back through Lavaux. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 2,250 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available.
For 64 km this is Grand Tour of Switzerland, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it — expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast.
Check the pass is open before you commit to it.
Water arrives beside the road and stays for 1 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.
Sion is the capital of the Valais, the Swiss canton that runs along the upper Rhône between two walls of high mountains, and it is dominated by two hills. On one, the ruins of the Tourbillon castle crown the rock, and on the other, the fortified church of Valère holds what is said to be the oldest playable pipe organ in the world, dating from around the fifteenth century. You climb to it by a steep stone lane, and in summer the organ is used for a festival. The two hills rise straight out of the town and give Sion a theatrical appearance, like a backdrop for something medieval.
Read the complete Sion write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Sion is where the day begins. Next is The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier.
On the shore of Lake Geneva at Corseaux, just west of Vevey, stands a low white house, long and narrow, with a single strip window running along its lakeside facade. It looks modest, almost plain, but it is one of the key buildings of modern architecture. Le Corbusier, born in La Chaux-de-Fonds in the Swiss Jura, designed it in the early 1920s for his parents, and the Villa Le Lac, also called the Petite Maison, was an early demonstration of his ideas: a ribbon window framing the view, a roof garden, an open plan. Since 2016 it has been part of the UNESCO World Heritage site of the Architectural Work of Le Corbusier, which includes seventeen sites in seven countries.
Read the complete The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier comes up 19 km in. Next is Petite villa au bord du lac Léman.
In the 1920s Le Corbusier built a house for his parents on the shore of Lake Geneva, and he called it, a little ruefully, the little house, la petite maison. It stands at Corseaux, just east of Vevey, and it is tiny, only about sixty square metres of living space on a strip of garden between the railway and the water. The design is a manifesto in small. A single long window frames the lake and the mountains of Savoy like a painting, the garden wall has a table and a window cut into it, and every cupboard and corner has a purpose. His mother lived there into her nineties, and he wrote a little book about it. The house is part of the UNESCO listing of his works, and it can be visited in the season, with timed guided tours.
Read the complete Petite villa au bord du lac Léman write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
At least 49 km in you reach Petite villa au bord du lac Léman. Next is Lavaux.
From the shore of Lake Geneva the vineyards of Lavaux climb almost vertically, terrace upon terrace, held up by stone walls, to villages perched on the slopes above. Monks from Cistercian abbeys began shaping these hillsides in the Middle Ages, and generations of winegrowers have rebuilt the walls ever since, carrying soil back up when rain washes it down. The result is one of the most striking wine landscapes in the world, stretching about thirty kilometres between Lausanne and Montreux, and listed by UNESCO in 2007. Locals like to say that the vines here enjoy three suns: the one in the sky, its reflection off the lake and the warmth stored in the stone walls.
Read the complete Lavaux write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Lavaux, about halfway. Next is Lavaux.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Lavaux write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Lavaux sits at 75 km, about halfway. Next is back through Lavaux.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Lavaux write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Lavaux comes up 94 km in. Next is back through Petite villa au bord du lac Léman.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Petite villa au bord du lac Léman write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
113 km in you reach back through Petite villa au bord du lac Léman. Next is back through The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier, late in the day. Next is Sion.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Sion write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 169 km.
Sion → The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier is 66 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Petite villa au bord du lac Léman → Lavaux is 9 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Lavaux → back through Petite villa au bord du lac Léman is 9 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier → Sion is 66 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.