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: planning record, not independently verified geometry.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distances and riding times are planning figures. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
curated scenic road. Alpstein, farm country, mountain views. From Sankt Gallen it runs 52 km to Sankt Gallen; allow about 57 min of riding. It goes by way of Appenzell and Wildhaus. The highest point is about 1,300 m. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For 11 km this is Grand Tour of Switzerland, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Check the pass is open before you commit to it.
Appenzell and Schwagalp Loop point 1 sits at 0 km, early in the day. Next is Appenzell and Schwagalp Loop point 2.
Every year on the last Sunday in April, the people of Appenzell Innerrhoden gather in the main square, men and women, many with a ceremonial sword or a bayonet at the hip, and vote with raised hands. The Landsgemeinde is one of the last open-air assemblies of its kind in Switzerland, and it takes place in the middle of this small town, which has been the capital of the half-canton for centuries. Women only gained a vote at the cantonal level here in 1990, after a federal court ruling, which tells you something about how conservative the valley is, and also how proud.
Read the complete Appenzell write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Appenzell and Schwagalp Loop point 2 comes up 13 km in. Next is Appenzell and Schwagalp Loop point 3.
Wildhaus is the village where Huldrych Zwingli was born, and that makes it, quietly, one of the cradles of the Swiss Reformation. Zwingli, who became the leader of the Protestant movement in Zürich and died in battle in 1531, was born in 1484 in a farmhouse here, and the small timber building still stands, now a museum. It is a modest place, a wooden house with low ceilings and small windows, and it gives a feel for the mountain farming community from which the reformer came.
Read the complete Near Wildhaus write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
26 km in you reach Appenzell and Schwagalp Loop point 3. Next is Appenzell and Schwagalp Loop point 4.
Wildhaus is the village where Huldrych Zwingli was born, and that makes it, quietly, one of the cradles of the Swiss Reformation. Zwingli, who became the leader of the Protestant movement in Zürich and died in battle in 1531, was born in 1484 in a farmhouse here, and the small timber building still stands, now a museum. It is a modest place, a wooden house with low ceilings and small windows, and it gives a feel for the mountain farming community from which the reformer came.
Read the complete Near Wildhaus write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Appenzell and Schwagalp Loop point 4, late in the day. Next is Appenzell and Schwagalp Loop point 5.
Appenzell and Schwagalp Loop point 5 sits at 52 km, late in the day.