Why this ride
From Peseux it runs 217 km to Peseux; allow about 3 h 38 of riding. It goes by way of Port-Conty, Les Grèves, Spitz and Strandboden. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 950 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Les Graviers and Strandboden
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 217 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 38
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
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.
Scenic road chapters
Jura Crest Scenic Road
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 14 km this is Jura Crest Scenic Road, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 14 km
- Named road
- Jura Crest Scenic Road
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Les Graviers
Auvernier is a wine village with its feet in the water. Its old stone houses, cellars and narrow lanes climb from the shore of Lake Neuchâtel into vineyards, and the lake bed just off its little harbour holds the remains of prehistoric villages. Les Graviers is one of the sites in the UNESCO listing of prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps, where archaeologists have found the traces of Neolithic and Bronze Age settlements, with wooden piles, tools, pottery and food remains preserved in the lake mud. Many of the finds from the region are displayed at the Laténium, a superb archaeology museum by the lake at Hauterive, on the other side of Neuchâtel.
Read the complete Les Graviers write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Les Graviers is where the day begins. Next is Port-Conty.
2. Port-Conty
Under the shallow water off Port-Conty lie the remains of villages that were built on stilts more than five thousand years ago, and you will see none of them from the shore. The site, near Saint-Aubin-Sauges on the north-western side of Lake Neuchâtel, is one of the many locations in the UNESCO listing of prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps. Archaeologists have found posts, tools, pottery and remains of food preserved in the lake mud, painting a picture of Neolithic and Bronze Age communities who farmed, fished and built their houses along the water's edge.
Read the complete Port-Conty write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Port-Conty comes up about 14 km into the recorded legs. Next is Les Grèves.
3. Les Grèves
Reeds, mostly. That is the first thing you notice when you roll down to Les Grèves on the southern shore of Lake Neuchâtel: a soft wall of reed and willow between the fields and the water, with the Jura sitting long and blue on the far side of the lake. This stretch between Portalban, Gletterens and Chevroux belongs to the Grande Cariçaie, the biggest lakeshore marsh in Switzerland, and it only exists because people once moved an entire lake level.
Read the complete Les Grèves write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 69 km into the recorded legs you reach Les Grèves. Next is Spitz.
4. Spitz
On the southern shore of the Murtensee, just west of the medieval town of Murten, a little point of land juts into the water at Greng, and here, beneath the shallows, archaeologists found the posts of prehistoric lake villages. Greng-Spitz is one of the Swiss sites in the UNESCO group of prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps, and while there is nothing to see but reeds, water and the occasional marker, it is pleasant to know that people lived on this shore some five thousand years ago.
Read the complete Spitz write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Spitz, about halfway. Next is Strandboden.
5. Strandboden
Erlach sits at the south-western tip of Lake Biel, a little Bernese town of one steep street climbing to a castle, with vineyards on the slope behind and reed beds and beaches along the shore below. The flat ground by the water, the Strandboden, is where archaeologists have found traces of prehistoric lakeside villages, part of the network of pile dwelling sites around the Alps inscribed by UNESCO in 2011. Five or six thousand years ago farmers built their houses here on posts at the water's edge, and the waterlogged mud preserved timbers, tools, seeds and even textiles in astonishing detail.
Read the complete Strandboden write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Strandboden sits at 67 km, about halfway. Next is back through Spitz.
6. back through Spitz
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Spitz write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Spitz comes up about 129 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Les Grèves.
7. back through Les Grèves
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Les Grèves write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 148 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Les Grèves. Next is back through Port-Conty.
8. back through Port-Conty
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Port-Conty write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Port-Conty, late in the day. Next is Les Graviers.
9. Les Graviers
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Les Graviers write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 217 km.
Leg by leg
Les Graviers to Port-Conty
Les Graviers → Port-Conty is 14 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Port-Conty to Les Grèves
Port-Conty → Les Grèves is 55 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Les Grèves to Spitz
Les Grèves → Spitz is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Spitz to Strandboden
Spitz → Strandboden is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Strandboden to back through Spitz
Strandboden → back through Spitz is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Spitz to back through Les Grèves
back through Spitz → back through Les Grèves is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Les Grèves to back through Port-Conty
back through Les Grèves → back through Port-Conty is 54 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Port-Conty to Les Graviers
back through Port-Conty → Les Graviers is 14 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
More motorcycle rides nearby
- En Praz des Gueux and Les Graviers · 220 km
- Lavaux and Burgäschisee Ost · 342 km
- Spitz and Port-Conty · 148 km