Why this ride
A 126 km round trip from Erlach - roughly 1 h 59 in the saddle. The stops in between: Les Graviers, Stations de Concise, La Saunerie and back through Stations de Concise.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Strandboden and La Saunerie
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 126 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 1 h 59
- 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
Grand Tour of Switzerland
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 23 km this is Grand Tour of Switzerland, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 23 km
- Named road
- Grand Tour of Switzerland
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. 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 is where the day begins. Next is Les Graviers.
2. 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 comes up about 23 km into the recorded legs. Next is Stations de Concise.
3. Stations de Concise
In the late 1990s, engineers working on a new stretch of railway along the northern shore of Lake Neuchâtel ran into something unexpected near the village of Concise: layer upon layer of prehistoric settlement, preserved in the waterlogged ground. Over several years, archaeologists uncovered thousands of wooden piles, pottery, tools and food remains from villages that had been built and rebuilt on the shore over many centuries in the Neolithic and Bronze Age. The site is now part of the World Heritage list of pile dwellings around the Alps, though there is little to see above ground today.
Read the complete Stations de Concise write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 43 km into the recorded legs you reach Stations de Concise. Next is La Saunerie.
4. La Saunerie
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.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
La Saunerie, about halfway. Next is back through Stations de Concise.
5. back through Stations de Concise
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Stations de Concise write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Stations de Concise sits at 101 km, about halfway. Next is back through Les Graviers.
6. back through 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
back through Les Graviers comes up about 102 km into the recorded legs. Next is Strandboden.
7. Strandboden
Return visit. Read the place description above.
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 closes the day.
Leg by leg
Strandboden to Les Graviers
Strandboden → Les Graviers is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Les Graviers to Stations de Concise
Les Graviers → Stations de Concise is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Stations de Concise to La Saunerie
Stations de Concise → La Saunerie is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
La Saunerie to back through Stations de Concise
La Saunerie → back through Stations de Concise is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Stations de Concise to back through Les Graviers
back through Stations de Concise → back through Les Graviers is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Les Graviers to Strandboden
back through Les Graviers → Strandboden is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
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