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 251 km round trip from Chens-sur-Léman - roughly 4 h 56 in the saddle. It goes by way of Immeuble Clarté, Le Crêt de Chatillon, Baie de Châtillon and Littoral de Tresserve. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,000 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It crosses from France into Switzerland - carry ID and check vignette or toll rules.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 19 km this is Jura Crest Scenic Road, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
On the French shore of Lake Geneva, just across the border from Switzerland, the village of Chens-sur-Léman sits among fields and woods above the water. Along its shoreline, at places such as Tougues and Les Grèves, the remains of prehistoric pile dwellings lie in the shallow water, and they are part of the Prehistoric Pile Dwellings around the Alps World Heritage site. On calm days, when the water is clear and low, it is sometimes possible to see the stumps of ancient wooden piles sticking out of the lakebed, a quiet reminder of the people who lived here thousands of years ago.
Read the complete Littoral de Chens-sur-Léman write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Littoral de Chens-sur-Léman is where the day begins. 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 comes up about 19 km into the recorded legs. Next is Le Crêt de Chatillon.
The Crêt de Châtillon is the summit of the Semnoz, the long wooded mountain that rises above the western shore of Lake Annecy, and from the top, at around 1,700 metres, the view on a clear day is one of the finest in the French Alps: the whole lake below, the Bauges and the Aravis around, and, to the east, Mont Blanc in all its glory. Sites with names like Châtillon and Les Mongets along this shore preserve the remains of villages built on the edge of the lake thousands of years ago.
Read the complete Le Crêt de Chatillon write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 71 km into the recorded legs you reach Le Crêt de Chatillon. 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, about halfway. Next is Littoral de Tresserve.
The Lac du Bourget is the largest natural lake entirely in France, a long blue trough in the Savoie Prealps, and the shore at Tresserve, just south of Aix-les-Bains, is one of the quiet places to see it. Beneath the water here lie the remains of prehistoric lake dwellings, villages of timber houses built on piles along the shore thousands of years ago. The site is part of the UNESCO-listed Prehistoric Pile Dwellings around the Alps, a series of more than a hundred settlements in six countries. There is nothing to see above the surface, but knowing it is there changes the way you look at the reeds and shallows.
Read the complete Littoral de Tresserve write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Littoral de Tresserve sits at 123 km, about halfway. 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 comes up about 142 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Le Crêt de Chatillon.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Le Crêt de Chatillon write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 184 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Le Crêt de Chatillon. 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, late in the day. Next is Littoral de Chens-sur-Léman.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Littoral de Chens-sur-Léman write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 251 km.
Littoral de Chens-sur-Léman → Immeuble Clarté is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Immeuble Clarté → Le Crêt de Chatillon is 52 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Le Crêt de Chatillon → Baie de Châtillon is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Baie de Châtillon → Littoral de Tresserve is 15 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Littoral de Tresserve → back through Baie de Châtillon is 15 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Baie de Châtillon → back through Le Crêt de Chatillon is 42 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Le Crêt de Chatillon → back through Immeuble Clarté is 50 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Immeuble Clarté → Littoral de Chens-sur-Léman is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.