Why this ride
From Ronchamp it runs 339 km to Ronchamp; allow about 5 h 39 of riding. The stops in between: Fortifications of Vauban, Lac de Chalain and back through Fortifications of Vauban. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Chapelle Notre-Dame-du-Haut de Ronchamp and Lac de Chalain
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 339 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 5 h 39
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
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.
Scenic road chapters
Fortifications of Vauban → Lac de Chalain
Slow enough to look. The surface follows the shoreline, so the corners arrive where the water decided, not where an engineer did. Water arrives beside the road and stays for 88 km. The line follows the shore because there is nowhere else for it to go.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 88 km
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Chapelle Notre-Dame-du-Haut de Ronchamp
Notre-Dame-du-Haut sits on a hill above Ronchamp, at the foot of the Vosges, and it is one of the strangest and most beautiful buildings of the twentieth century. Le Corbusier designed it in the early 1950s and it was consecrated in 1955. The white walls curve and lean, the roof sweeps up like a hull or a hat, and the thick walls are pierced by small deep windows filled with coloured glass. Inside, light falls in coloured pools on the floor, and the whole room feels carved rather than built. There has been a pilgrim chapel on this hill for centuries, and the earlier church was destroyed in the war, which is what led to the commission.
Read the complete Chapelle Notre-Dame-du-Haut de Ronchamp write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Chapelle Notre-Dame-du-Haut de Ronchamp is where the day begins. Next is Fortifications of Vauban.
2. Fortifications of Vauban
Victor Hugo was born in Besançon in 1802, and so were the Lumière brothers, the pioneers of cinema, a generation later. The capital of Franche-Comté sits in a tight loop of the river Doubs, with the old town on the peninsula inside the loop and the citadel on a rock at the neck, closing the only side not protected by water. The citadel was built by Vauban, Louis XIV's great military engineer, after the French conquest of the region in the late seventeenth century, and it is one of the twelve groups of Fortifications of Vauban listed by UNESCO in 2008.
Read the complete Fortifications of Vauban write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Fortifications of Vauban comes up 91 km in. Next is Lac de Chalain.
3. Lac de Chalain
Lac de Chalain is the largest natural lake in the French Jura, a long, green-blue lake set in a valley among forested limestone cliffs, and its shores were home to farming villages built on piles thousands of years ago. The remains of these villages, preserved in the lake bed, are part of the Prehistoric Pile Dwellings around the Alps, listed by UNESCO in 2011. In the 1900s, when the lake level was lowered for a hydroelectric project, a dugout canoe and the remains of houses were found, and excavations since then have revealed a remarkable picture of life in the Neolithic.
Read the complete Lac de Chalain write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
181 km in you reach Lac de Chalain. Next is back through Fortifications of Vauban.
4. back through Fortifications of Vauban
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fortifications of Vauban write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Fortifications of Vauban, late in the day. Next is Chapelle Notre-Dame-du-Haut de Ronchamp.
5. Chapelle Notre-Dame-du-Haut de Ronchamp
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Chapelle Notre-Dame-du-Haut de Ronchamp write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Chapelle Notre-Dame-du-Haut de Ronchamp. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Chapelle Notre-Dame-du-Haut de Ronchamp to Fortifications of Vauban
Chapelle Notre-Dame-du-Haut de Ronchamp → Fortifications of Vauban is 93 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Fortifications of Vauban to Lac de Chalain
Fortifications of Vauban → Lac de Chalain is 88 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Lac de Chalain to back through Fortifications of Vauban
Lac de Chalain → back through Fortifications of Vauban is 88 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Fortifications of Vauban to Chapelle Notre-Dame-du-Haut de Ronchamp
back through Fortifications of Vauban → Chapelle Notre-Dame-du-Haut de Ronchamp is 93 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.