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.
A 369 km round trip from Sankt Gallen - roughly 7 h 35 in the saddle. On the way it passes Konstanz-Hinterhausen, Bleiche 2-3, Unteruhldingen-Stollenwiesen and Insel Werd. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 950 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It crosses from Switzerland into Germany - carry ID and check vignette or toll rules. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
41 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 34 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.
In the centre of St Gallen, a city in north-eastern Switzerland between Lake Constance and the Appenzell hills, the twin towers of a baroque cathedral rise above a wide square, and beside them stands one of the oldest and most beautiful libraries in the world. The Abbey of St Gall was founded in the eighth century on the site where the Irish monk Gallus had settled in the early seventh century, and it became one of the great centres of learning in medieval Europe. The abbey precinct was listed by UNESCO in 1983.
Read the complete Abbey of St Gall write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Abbey of St Gall is where the day begins. Next is Konstanz-Hinterhausen.
There is nothing to see at Konstanz-Hinterhausen, and that is precisely the point. Below the surface of Lake Constance, along the shore near the city, lie the remains of prehistoric pile dwellings: wooden posts, floors, pottery and food remains preserved in the mud for thousands of years. They are part of the Prehistoric Pile Dwellings around the Alps, a World Heritage site that spans six countries and over a hundred locations. Archaeologists dive to study them, but the rest of us have to make do with the view of the lake and a bit of imagination.
Read the complete Konstanz-Hinterhausen write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Konstanz-Hinterhausen comes up 38 km in. Next is Bleiche 2-3.
Arbon sits on the Swiss shore of Lake Constance, in the canton of Thurgau, and just outside the town, on land that was once lake shore, lies one of the most remarkable prehistoric sites in Europe. At Arbon-Bleiche, archaeologists excavated a Neolithic village of wooden houses built on the edge of the lake around 3400 BC. Because the wood was preserved in waterlogged ground, tree rings allowed the village to be dated almost to the year: it was built, lived in for about fifteen years and then destroyed by fire. The finds, from pottery and tools to textiles and food remains, gave a detailed picture of how these early farmers lived, and Arbon counts among the Swiss sites in the Alpine pile-dwelling inscription of 2011. There is nothing to see at the site itself, which is now under buildings and fields; the finds are displayed in the Thurgau archaeological museum in Frauenfeld.
Read the complete Bleiche 2-3 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
76 km in you reach Bleiche 2-3. Next is Unteruhldingen-Stollenwiesen.
Unteruhldingen is where most people first meet the prehistoric lake dwellers of the Alps, thanks to the Pfahlbaumuseum, an open-air museum of reconstructed houses on stilts standing in the shallow water of Lake Constance. It started in the 1920s and has been adding houses ever since, and walking along the wooden walkways between thatched huts gives you a vivid idea of village life thousands of years ago. The real archaeological sites, like Stollenwiesen just offshore, lie underwater, a series of settlements preserved in lake mud and listed by UNESCO in 2011 as part of the Prehistoric Pile Dwellings around the Alps.
Read the complete Unteruhldingen-Stollenwiesen write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Unteruhldingen-Stollenwiesen, about halfway. Next is Insel Werd.
Where the Rhine leaves Lake Constance at Stein am Rhein, a group of small islands sits in the river, connected to the shore by a wooden footbridge, and on the largest, Werd, stands a small chapel surrounded by trees and water. It was here, in 759, that Saint Otmar, the first abbot of St Gallen, died in exile after falling foul of powerful local nobles, and the island has been a place of pilgrimage ever since. Long before Otmar, people lived here too: the islands and the surrounding shores are among the Prehistoric Pile Dwellings around the Alps, a World Heritage site, and excavations have found traces of settlements from the Neolithic onwards.
Read the complete Insel Werd write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Insel Werd sits at 151 km, about halfway. Next is back through Unteruhldingen-Stollenwiesen.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Unteruhldingen-Stollenwiesen write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Unteruhldingen-Stollenwiesen comes up 189 km in. Next is back through Bleiche 2-3.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Bleiche 2-3 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
227 km in you reach back through Bleiche 2-3. Next is back through Konstanz-Hinterhausen.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Konstanz-Hinterhausen write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Konstanz-Hinterhausen, late in the day. Next is Abbey of St Gall.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Abbey of St Gall write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 369 km.
Abbey of St Gall → Konstanz-Hinterhausen is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Konstanz-Hinterhausen → Bleiche 2-3 is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Bleiche 2-3 → Unteruhldingen-Stollenwiesen is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Unteruhldingen-Stollenwiesen → Insel Werd is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Insel Werd → back through Unteruhldingen-Stollenwiesen is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Unteruhldingen-Stollenwiesen → back through Bleiche 2-3 is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Bleiche 2-3 → back through Konstanz-Hinterhausen is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Konstanz-Hinterhausen → Abbey of St Gall is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.