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.
Out of Bern, one way: 77 km, roughly 1 h 36 in the saddle. On the way it passes Burgdorf, Lutzelfluh and Langnau im Emmental. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,500 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
21 km through ground somebody thought worth listing. The road passes it rather than bypassing it — speed drops and stays down. Park rather than crawl through.
For about 12 km this is Emmental Panorama Road, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it. Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast.
Bern is the odd capital, one that never calls itself a capital: the Swiss federal government sits here but the official term is federal city. It is also one of the best places in the country to park a bike and walk, because the old town fills a tight loop of the Aare river, with the water running green and fast on three sides far below the bridges. UNESCO put the medieval centre on its list in 1983, and the sandstone arcades along the main streets, about six kilometres of them in total, mean you can shop in the rain without an umbrella.
Read the complete Bern write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Bern is where the day begins. Next is Burgdorf.
Burgdorf looks like what a Swiss town ought to look like, and has the good sense not to make a fuss about it. A hilltop castle of pale stone stands above the old town, rooflines step down the slope, and the river Emme runs below in a green gorge. It is a town of nearly fifteen thousand people, and the gateway to the Emmental, the hill country of canton Bern that gave its name to the most famous Swiss cheese.
Read the complete Burgdorf write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Burgdorf comes up about 25 km into the recorded legs. Next is Lutzelfluh.
Lützelflüh is the sort of Emmental village that would be forgotten by everyone except that a pastor once lived here and wrote about it. Jeremias Gotthelf served as the parish priest from the 1830s until his death in the 1850s, and his novels about farmers, cheesemakers and stubborn families gave the valley its literary identity. You will see his name on the church, the museum and half the brochures, and for once the fuss is deserved: read one of his books and the green, rolling hills around you start to look like a stage set for a very old argument over inheritance.
Read the complete Lutzelfluh write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 34 km into the recorded legs you reach Lutzelfluh. Next is Langnau im Emmental.
Langnau is the unofficial capital of the upper Emmental, and it behaves like one. There is a proper town centre, a railway station with trains to Bern and Lucerne, a hockey arena where the SCL Tigers play to a loyal, noisy crowd, and a Friday morning when the cattle market and the shops bring the surrounding farms in to town. With nearly nine thousand residents, it is the largest place on this road, which makes it the obvious spot for fuel, groceries and a sit-down meal before the valley gets more remote.
Read the complete Langnau im Emmental write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Langnau im Emmental, late in the day. Next is Entlebuch.
Entlebuch gave the world a dog. The Entlebucher Sennenhund, a small, sturdy, tricolour herding breed, was developed in these valleys to drive cattle on the steep pastures, and the village is proud of it. The surrounding region is a UNESCO biosphere reserve, recognised in 2001, a landscape of moors, wooded ridges and green pasture, where the Kleine Emme river runs down from the Alps toward Lucerne.
Read the complete Entlebuch food stop write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Finish at Entlebuch. That is the ride.
Bern → Burgdorf is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Burgdorf → Lutzelfluh is 9 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Lutzelfluh → Langnau im Emmental is 12 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Langnau im Emmental → Entlebuch is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.