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.
452 km round from Chur - plan on about 7 h 54 of riding. The climbs: Julierpass high road, Albula Pass railway country, Flüelapass high section and Lukmanier pass road. It tops out at 2,383 m. Lenzerheide Pass, Albula Pass, Fluela Pass and Lukmanier Pass are subject to seasonal closure - check it is open before you set off. It is a high-mountain day.
The ground tilts up and stays tilted for 31 km. 882 m of it, taken steadily rather than in one wall — a steady rhythm suits this better than bursts. The height arrives whether you hurry or not.
Check the pass is open before you commit to it.
The last of the trees go and the road runs out onto open ground. The summit sits at 2383 m, and what surrounds it is rock, weather and distance. Cold comes early up here and stays late. Ride it with something in reserve: the summit is not the end of the work, only the middle of it.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For 30 km this is Grand Tour of Switzerland, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
The valley floor is behind you and the road starts working for its height at about 7.5%. Corners stack above one another where the ground allows nothing straighter — first and second gear more often than not. Look through each corner to the next one and let the engine do the holding.
34 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.
At 593 metres, in a wide bend of the Rhine valley, Chur makes a strong claim to be the oldest town in Switzerland, with traces of settlement going back thousands of years and a Roman presence from the first century BC. It has been the seat of a bishop since late antiquity, and the bishop's court, with its cathedral, sits on a terrace above the old town. Down below, the narrow streets and squares of the Altstadt, with painted houses, fountains and arcades, are a pleasant place to wander after a morning in the saddle.
Read the complete Chur write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Chur is where the day begins. Next is Lenzerheide balcony road, climbing 882 m.
Lenzerheide is a high, wide valley south of Chur, a broad saddle of meadow, forest and small lakes at about 1,475 metres. The twin villages of Lenzerheide and Valbella have fuel, cafes and shops, and Chur, a little more than fourteen kilometres north, has everything else.
Read the complete Lenzerheide balcony road write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Lenzerheide balcony road comes up 48 km in. The road climbs 882 m on the way up to it, steadily. Reckon on about 6 °C colder than the valley, and more in the wind. Next is Julierpass high road, climbing 809 m.
The Julier is one of the oldest crossings in the Alps, and the summit at 2,284 metres still carries two stumps of stone columns beside the road, thought to be the remains of a Roman shrine. The Romans pushed a road over the pass in the first century, and ever since the route has linked the Oberhalbstein valley with the Engadin, carrying merchants and pilgrims between Chur and the Bergell and the passes south. A small lake sits near the top and a handful of buildings, but there is not much else, and it can be bleak and windy.
Read the complete Julierpass high road write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
2284 m, and the road stops climbing. The road climbs 809 m on the way up to it, steadily. Reckon on about 11 °C colder than the valley, and more in the wind. At this height the road is a summer one: snow gates can stay shut into June and shut again in October. Next is Albula Pass railway country.
The Albula Pass is the road, but the railway is the star. At 2,315 metres the pass links the Engadine with the Albula valley and Chur, and it is shadowed by the Rhaetian Railway's Albula line, which climbs through spiral tunnels, over viaducts and under the mountain in the Albula tunnel. UNESCO put this line and the Bernina line on the World Heritage list in 2008, and on a clear day you can watch the red trains from the road.
Read the complete Albula Pass railway country write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The high point of this section, 2315 m up. Reckon on about 12 °C colder than the valley, and more in the wind. Next is Flüelapass high section.
The scenery is stark: bare rock, screes, snow patches and a handful of small, dark lakes, with the Flüela Wisshorn and the Schwarzhorn rising on either side. Davos, the highest town of its size in the Alps, is ten and a half kilometres away, and Zernez about twelve.
Read the complete Flüelapass high section write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Flüelapass high section tops the climb at 2383 m. Nothing on this route is higher. Next is Davos food and weather check, mostly downhill.
Davos sits at about 1,560 metres in a long, high valley in eastern Graubünden, and it claims to be the highest city in Europe, which depends on how you count. It has about eleven thousand people and has been a health resort since the nineteenth century, when the dry mountain air was prescribed for tuberculosis, and a sanatorium culture grew up here. Thomas Mann, who visited his wife during her treatment in 1912, based his novel The Magic Mountain on the experience, and the expressionist painter Ernst Ludwig Kirchner moved to the valley and spent his last years working in the hills.
Read the complete Davos food and weather check write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Davos food and weather check is where this day stops to eat. You lose 823 m on the way down to it, steadily. Reckon on about 7 °C colder than the valley, and more in the wind. Next is Landquart return, mostly downhill.
Landquart is a railway junction that turned into a town, and a good place to understand how Graubünden ties together. The village lies on the floor of the Rhine valley, a few kilometres north of Chur, at the mouth of the Landquart river, which comes down from the Prättigau and the high passes of the east. It is the point where the Rhaetian Railway, the narrow-gauge line that climbs to Davos and St. Moritz, leaves the main line, and the red trains wait at the platform beside the big Swiss ones. At 523 metres, it is low, mild and often warm, a contrast to the high Alps that lie ahead.
Read the complete Landquart return gate write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
285 km in you reach Landquart return. You lose 1037 m on the way down to it, steadily. Next is back to Chur.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Chur write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at back to Chur. That is the ride. Next is Chur.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Chur write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Next is Lukmanier pass road, climbing 1322 m.
The Lukmanier Pass is the gentlest of the great crossings between the Rhine valley and Ticino, and at 1,915 metres it is also one of the lowest, which explains why it has been used for so long. Its lack of steepness made it a trade and pilgrim route well before the Gotthard became passable, and the monastery of Disentis on the north side owed much of its influence to the traffic.
Read the complete Lukmanier pass road write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Lukmanier pass road tops the climb at 1915 m. The road climbs 1322 m over at least 64 km before it, steadily. Reckon on about 9 °C colder than the valley, and more in the wind. High enough to hold ice in the shaded corners early and late in the year. Next is Andermatt, mostly downhill.
Andermatt sits in a high, flat valley called the Urseren, at 1,444 metres, where four of the great Swiss passes meet. The Gotthard heads south to Ticino, the Oberalp runs east toward Graubünden, the Furka climbs west to the Valais, and the road north follows the Reuss down through a gorge to Lake Lucerne. People have crossed here for at least eight hundred years, ever since the Devil's Bridge was thrown across the gorge to make the Gotthard route practical, and the village has served travellers and soldiers ever since.
Read the complete Andermatt base reset write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
A break here. You lose 471 m on the way down to it, steadily. Next is Oberalppass high road, climbing 600 m.
The Oberalp is the pass that links Andermatt in the Urseren valley with Disentis in the Surselva, and at 2,044 metres it is the road's high point and a historic watershed. Just above the summit, the little Lake Toma is regarded as the source of the Rhine, the river that eventually runs through Germany and the Netherlands and into the North Sea. A short walk up from the car park gets you to the lakeshore, where a plaque marks the spot.
Read the complete Oberalppass high road write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
You top out at 2044 m here. The road climbs 600 m on the way up to it, steadily. Reckon on about 10 °C colder than the valley, and more in the wind. Next is Disentis food stop, mostly downhill.
Disentis is the monastery town of the upper Rhine valley, and the Benedictine abbey that dominates it is one of the oldest in Switzerland, founded, according to tradition, around the year 700 by a wandering monk called Sigisbert with help from a local landowner. The current buildings are mostly baroque, with a huge church and an extensive cloister, and the monks still teach at the school attached to it. The village sits at 1,130 metres where the Medelser Rhine meets the Vorderrhein, and it has the compact feel of a place that was important long before the tourist trade arrived.
Read the complete Disentis food stop write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Food at 570 km, roughly 11 hours into the riding. You lose 914 m on the way down to it, steadily. Reckon on about 4 °C colder than the valley, and more in the wind. Next is Vorderrhein valley flow, mostly downhill.
Ilanz calls itself the first town on the Rhine, and in a river that runs a thousand kilometres to the North Sea that is a neat claim to hold. It sits in the Surselva at 650 metres, a small, practical place of about two thousand people, where the Vorderrhein valley widens and the Lugnez valley comes in from the south. Fuel, bakeries and a supermarket are all here. Laax, the ski resort village, is a few kilometres up the slope, and Flims lies beyond it.
Read the complete Vorderrhein valley flow write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Vorderrhein valley flow comes up 618 km in. You lose 480 m on the way down to it, steadily. Next is Back to Chur.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Chur write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 452 km.
Chur fuel gate → Lenzerheide balcony road climbs about 882 m in 31 km. This is the part worth slowing down for - look through the bends and use the pull-offs.
Lenzerheide balcony road → Julierpass high road climbs about 809 m in 72 km. This is the part worth slowing down for - look through the bends and use the pull-offs.
Julierpass high road → Albula Pass railway country is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Albula Pass railway country → Flüelapass high section is 47 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Flüelapass high section → Davos food and weather check drops about 823 m over 24 km. Brakes and eyes forward; the views are behind the corners, not in them.
Davos food and weather check → Landquart return gate drops about 1037 m over 65 km. Brakes and eyes forward; the views are behind the corners, not in them.
Landquart return gate → back to Chur is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Chur fuel gate → Lukmanier pass road climbs about 882 m in 147 km. This is the part worth slowing down for - look through the bends and use the pull-offs.
Lukmanier pass road → Andermatt base reset drops about 471 m over 41 km. Brakes and eyes forward; the views are behind the corners, not in them.
Andermatt base reset → Oberalppass high road climbs about 600 m in 15 km. This is the part worth slowing down for - look through the bends and use the pull-offs.
Oberalppass high road → Disentis food stop drops about 914 m over 34 km. Brakes and eyes forward; the views are behind the corners, not in them.
Disentis food stop → Vorderrhein valley flow drops about 480 m over 64 km. Brakes and eyes forward; the views are behind the corners, not in them.
Vorderrhein valley flow → Back to Chur is 60 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.