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: 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.
A 224 km round trip from Peseux - roughly 3 h 52 in the saddle. On the way it passes Bahnhof, Old City of Berne, Burgäschisee Ost and back through Old City of Berne. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,000 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. The line favours views over speed.
For about 35 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.
This part of the ride is 40 km of Emmental Panorama Road.
The shore of Lake Neuchâtel, on the Swiss side, is lined with vineyards, and at the foot of them sits a thin strip of beach and reeds called La Saunerie, near the village of Auvernier. Four or five thousand years ago people lived here in houses raised on piles over the shallows, fishing, hunting, farming and keeping cattle, and the waterlogged mud preserved the timbers, tools, textiles, seeds and even bread that most archaeological sites would have lost. Together with more than a hundred similar places around the Alps, La Saunerie is part of the UNESCO listing of Prehistoric Pile Dwellings, and the underwater site is not meant to be visited, only protected, though the shore and the museum nearby tell the story.
Read the complete La Saunerie write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
La Saunerie is where the day begins. Next is Bahnhof.
The label says only "Bahnhof", which is a nicely Swiss joke, because the real attraction here is not a station at all but the south shore of Lake Biel between Täuffelen, Gerolfingen and Lüscherz. This is the Seeland, a low, fertile plain between the lakes, and the villages along the shore are surrounded by vegetable fields, orchards and vineyards on the gentle slopes. Like the shores of Lake Neuchâtel to the south, this lake edge was home to prehistoric pile-dwelling villages, and several sites around Lake Biel form part of the UNESCO listing of prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps. The finds, from pottery to wooden tools, tell of farming communities that lived here thousands of years ago.
Read the complete Bahnhof write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Bahnhof comes up about 35 km into the recorded legs. Next is Old City of Berne.
Bern does not shout. The Swiss capital sits on a sandstone spur in a tight loop of the green Aare, with six kilometres of arcaded streets that let you walk the whole old town in the rain without getting wet. It was founded in 1191 by Duke Berthold V of Zähringen, and legend says he named it after the first animal he killed hunting nearby, a bear. The bears have been the town's mascots ever since, and a few still live in the BärenPark down by the river at the end of the Nydeggbrücke.
Read the complete Old City of Berne write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 72 km into the recorded legs you reach Old City of Berne. Next is Burgäschisee Ost.
Burgäschisee is a small, quiet lake on the border between the cantons of Bern and Solothurn, surrounded by reeds, woods and farmland. It would be easy to ride past without noticing, but it holds a secret: along its shores, archaeologists have found the remains of Neolithic villages built on piles, dating back more than five thousand years. The eastern shore site, Burgäschisee Ost, is one of the components of the Prehistoric Pile Dwellings around the Alps World Heritage site, listed by UNESCO in 2011. There is nothing much to see on the surface, as the remains lie underwater or in the soft ground, but the peaceful setting makes it easy to imagine the wooden houses, canoes and fishing nets of those early farmers.
Read the complete Burgäschisee Ost write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Burgäschisee Ost, about halfway. Next is back through Old City of Berne.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Old City of Berne write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Old City of Berne sits at 149 km, about halfway. Next is back through Bahnhof.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Bahnhof write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Bahnhof comes up about 189 km into the recorded legs. Next is La Saunerie.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete La Saunerie write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
La Saunerie closes the day.
La Saunerie → Bahnhof is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Bahnhof → Old City of Berne is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Old City of Berne → Burgäschisee Ost is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Burgäschisee Ost → back through Old City of Berne is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Old City of Berne → back through Bahnhof is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Bahnhof → La Saunerie is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.