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.
122 km from Reinach to Reinach, about 2 h 19 of riding. It goes by way of Halbinsel, Kehrsiten and back through Halbinsel. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,250 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 41 km this is Lake Lucerne Axenstrasse, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Five thousand years ago, people were building houses on stilts at the edge of lakes across the Alps, and then the lakes rose, buried the houses and kept them almost perfectly in the mud. The remains of these pile dwellings, found in the nineteenth century when a drought lowered the water, include posts, tools, textiles, food and even bread, and they gave archaeologists an extraordinary view of Stone Age and Bronze Age life. A hundred and eleven of the sites, in six countries, were listed by UNESCO in 2011, and the Swiss share is the largest.
Read the complete Prehistoric Pile Dwellings around the Alps write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Prehistoric Pile Dwellings around the Alps is where the day begins. Next is Halbinsel.
At the northern tip of Lake Sempach, near the little town of Sursee in the canton of Lucerne, a small peninsula pushes into the water, and on and around it lie the remains of prehistoric lakeside settlements, part of the World Heritage site of the Prehistoric Pile Dwellings around the Alps. Nothing remains visible above ground, but under the water and in the wet soil of the shore, piles and objects have survived for thousands of years, telling the story of farmers and fishermen who lived here long before the Romans. Today, the shore is a quiet area of reeds, meadows and paths, popular with walkers and cyclists.
Read the complete Halbinsel write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Halbinsel comes up about 20 km into the recorded legs. Next is Kehrsiten.
Kehrsiten is a small settlement on the southern shore of Lake Lucerne, at the foot of the Bürgenstock, a steep, forested ridge that juts out into the lake, and it feels almost cut off from the rest of Switzerland. A narrow road follows the shore from Stansstad, squeezed between the rocks and the water, and ends here; beyond, the cliffs of the Bürgenstock drop straight into the lake. For most visitors, Kehrsiten is the place where the boat from Lucerne stops and the Bürgenstock funicular begins, climbing steeply through the forest to the resort on top, which has been welcoming guests since the late nineteenth century.
Read the complete Kehrsiten write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 61 km into the recorded legs you reach Kehrsiten. Next is back through Halbinsel.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Halbinsel write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Halbinsel, late in the day. Next is Prehistoric Pile Dwellings around the Alps.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Prehistoric Pile Dwellings around the Alps write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Prehistoric Pile Dwellings around the Alps. That is the ride.
Prehistoric Pile Dwellings around the Alps → Halbinsel is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Halbinsel → Kehrsiten is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Kehrsiten → back through Halbinsel is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Halbinsel → Prehistoric Pile Dwellings around the Alps is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.