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.
A one-way ride of 44 km, Thun to Lauterbrunnen - roughly 50 min in the saddle. The stops in between: Spiez and Interlaken. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 2,150 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
For about 14 km this is Lake Thun and Lauterbrunnen Route, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it — expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast.
18 km on Grand Tour of Switzerland.
Thun is a town that looks as if someone designed it for a postcard and then forgot to charge for it. The Aare river flows out of the lake through the middle of town in a fast, clear, turquoise channel, past wooden covered bridges and old mills, and above it all stands the castle, a twelfth-century keep with four corner turrets built by the Zähringen dukes, its tall tower visible from many angles. At the foot of the castle hill is the Obere Hauptgasse, a street with raised pavements above the shops, which gives the town centre a quirky, two-level look. With over forty thousand people, Thun has all the services you could want.
Read the complete Thun write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Thun is where the day begins. Next is Spiez.
Spiez occupies a promontory on the south shore of Lake Thun, and it has the kind of position that makes you think the founders knew exactly what they were doing. A castle stands on a spur above the water, with a Romanesque church beside it, vineyards on the slope behind, and a bay below with sailing boats, a harbour and a lakeside promenade. Beyond the lake, the pyramid of the Niesen rises to the south, and the great white mass of the Bernese Alps fills the horizon to the east.
Read the complete Spiez write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Spiez comes up about 14 km into the recorded legs. Next is Interlaken.
Interlaken means between the lakes, which is exactly where it sits: a flat strip of land on the Aare, wedged between Lake Thun and Lake Brienz, with the Bernese Oberland piled up behind. On a clear day the Jungfrau fills the end of the main avenue, and visitors line up to take pictures of that view across the green lawn of the Höhematte, where paragliders land.
Read the complete Interlaken write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 32 km into the recorded legs you reach Interlaken. Next is Lauterbrunnen.
The first thing about Lauterbrunnen is the walls. The valley floor is flat and green, a little under a kilometre wide, and on both sides the limestone rises almost vertically for several hundred metres, as if a giant had cut the mountain with a spoon. That is what a glacier does, and this one did it thoroughly. Water falls off the cliffs in dozens of places, which gives the valley its name, meaning loud fountains, and there are said to be some seventy-two waterfalls within its length.
Read the complete Lauterbrunnen write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Lauterbrunnen closes the day.
Thun → Spiez is 14 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Spiez → Interlaken is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Interlaken → Lauterbrunnen is 12 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.