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 294 km round trip from Châtillon - roughly 4 h 50 in the saddle. The stops in between: Secteur des Mongets, Immeuble Clarté, Stations de Morges and back through Immeuble Clarté. It crosses from France into Switzerland - carry ID and check vignette or toll rules. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 52 km this is Route des Grandes Alpes, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
At the northern tip of the Lac du Bourget, the largest natural lake entirely in France, the shore curves into a shallow bay below the village of Châtillon and its castle. In the shallows, divers and archaeologists have found the remains of prehistoric lake villages, and the Baie de Châtillon is one of the French sites included in the UNESCO listing of prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps. The castle, perched on a rocky hill above the bay, was the seat of local lords in the Middle Ages and has a commanding view over the lake.
Read the complete Baie de Châtillon write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Baie de Châtillon is where the day begins. Next is Secteur des Mongets.
Sevrier, on the western shore of Lake Annecy, is home to an unusual industry: bells. The Paccard foundry, which has been casting bells since the late eighteenth century and moved to Sevrier in the 1980s, has made bells for churches and carillons all over the world, and its museum explains how they are designed, cast and tuned. It is a curious contrast to the quiet lakeshore just below the village, where the Secteur des Mongets marks the remains of a prehistoric village built on the edge of the lake, now under water. It is one of the sites included in the World Heritage listing of the Prehistoric Pile Dwellings around the Alps, and divers have found wooden piles, pottery and tools in the lake bed.
Read the complete Secteur des Mongets write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Secteur des Mongets comes up about 43 km into the recorded legs. Next is Immeuble Clarté.
In 1932, while most of Geneva was building in stone, Le Corbusier put up an apartment block made almost entirely of steel and glass. The Immeuble Clarté, in the Eaux-Vives district on the east side of the city, was revolutionary for its time: a prefabricated steel frame, huge windows that flood the apartments with light, duplex flats with double-height living rooms and a structure that allowed flexible layouts. The name means clarity, and the building lives up to it. Since 2016 it has been part of the UNESCO listing of the architectural work of Le Corbusier, alongside the Villa Savoye, the Unité d'Habitation and other buildings on several continents.
Read the complete Immeuble Clarté write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 95 km into the recorded legs you reach Immeuble Clarté. Next is Stations de Morges.
On a calm morning the lake off Morges is as flat as polished pewter, with the Savoy Alps on the far shore and Mont Blanc floating above them, and it is hard to believe that anyone ever had to fight for this view. Yet people have been living right here for millennia. Just off the shore, in the shallow water near the town, lie the remains of prehistoric villages built on piles, the Stations de Morges, one of the Swiss components of the UNESCO Prehistoric Pile Dwellings around the Alps. Divers and archaeologists have mapped wooden posts and objects from the Bronze Age, but from the shore you will see only water, swans and the occasional paddleboarder.
Read the complete Stations de Morges write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Stations de Morges, about halfway. Next is back through Immeuble Clarté.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Immeuble Clarté write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Immeuble Clarté sits at 191 km, about halfway. Next is back through Secteur des Mongets.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Secteur des Mongets write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Secteur des Mongets comes up about 252 km into the recorded legs. Next is Baie de Châtillon.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Baie de Châtillon write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Baie de Châtillon closes the day.
Baie de Châtillon → Secteur des Mongets is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Secteur des Mongets → Immeuble Clarté is 52 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Immeuble Clarté → Stations de Morges is 52 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Stations de Morges → back through Immeuble Clarté is 52 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Immeuble Clarté → back through Secteur des Mongets is 53 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Secteur des Mongets → Baie de Châtillon is 42 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.