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.
395 km from Cognin to Cognin, about 6 h 46 of riding. It goes by way of Baie de Châtillon, Les Marais de Saint-Jorioz, Immeuble Clarté and Stations de Morges. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,100 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. 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.
Water arrives beside the road and stays for 38 km. The line follows the shore because there is nowhere else for it to go — slow enough to look. The surface follows the shoreline, so the corners arrive where the water decided, not where an engineer did.
For about 52 km this is Route des Grandes Alpes, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it. Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast.
Motorboats are banned on the Lac d'Aiguebelette, and on a calm summer morning you notice the difference straight away: rowers sliding across water so still it mirrors the wooded slopes above, swimmers heading out from small beaches, and no engine noise beyond the occasional car on the shore road. The lake, in Savoie just west of Chambéry, is one of the largest natural lakes in France, and its clean water is among the warmest of the alpine lakes in summer. It hosted the World Rowing Championships in 2015.
Read the complete Lac d’Aiguebelette write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Lac d’Aiguebelette is where the day begins. Next is Baie de Châtillon.
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 comes up about 43 km into the recorded legs. Next is Les Marais de Saint-Jorioz.
Lake Annecy is often called the cleanest lake in Europe, and on a summer day its water is such a startling shade of turquoise that it looks retouched. The lake fills a long valley among the limestone mountains of Haute-Savoie, with the town of Annecy at its northern end, and its western shore, around Saint-Jorioz, is a flat area of reeds and meadows, the Marais de Saint-Jorioz, where prehistoric people built villages on piles. The remains are part of the Prehistoric Pile Dwellings around the Alps, listed by UNESCO in 2011, and lie hidden under the water and the marshes.
Read the complete Les Marais de Saint-Jorioz write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 90 km into the recorded legs you reach Les Marais de Saint-Jorioz. 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.
Immeuble Clarté, about halfway. 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 sits at 187 km, 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 comes up about 249 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Les Marais de Saint-Jorioz.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Les Marais de Saint-Jorioz write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 306 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Les Marais de Saint-Jorioz. Next is back through 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.
back through Baie de Châtillon, late in the day. Next is Lac d’Aiguebelette.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Lac d’Aiguebelette write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 395 km.
Lac d’Aiguebelette → Baie de Châtillon is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Baie de Châtillon → Les Marais de Saint-Jorioz is 47 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Les Marais de Saint-Jorioz → Immeuble Clarté is 55 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 Les Marais de Saint-Jorioz is 57 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Les Marais de Saint-Jorioz → back through Baie de Châtillon is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Baie de Châtillon → Lac d’Aiguebelette is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.