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CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE

Sumpf and Hurden Rosshorn

Plan this ride

Recorded distance
155 km
Riding-time estimate
2 h 55
Journey
Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis

The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. 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.

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Why this ride

From Cham it runs 155 km to Cham; allow about 2 h 55 of riding. The stops in between: Vorder Au, Technikum, Rorenhaab and Hurden Rosshorn. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,200 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available.

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

  1. 1. Sumpf

    Zug-Sumpf was a Bronze Age village on the northern shore of Lake Zug, near the mouth of the river Lorze between Cham and Steinhausen, and the waterlogged ground preserved wooden floors, posts and objects for over three thousand years. Excavations in the twentieth century recovered pottery, bronze tools and even remains of food, and the site sits on the World Heritage list as part of the prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps. Some of the finds are displayed in the museum of prehistory in Zug. Today the site lies under modern buildings and meadows, and only the name, which means swamp, recalls its watery origin.

    Read the complete Sumpf write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    Sumpf is where the day begins. Next is Vorder Au.

  2. 2. Vorder Au

    The Au peninsula pokes out into Lake Zurich like a green thumb, and at its tip, Vorder Au, the shallow water hides traces of villages built on piles thousands of years ago. It is one of the Swiss sites in the UNESCO listing of prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps, though as with most of them, the archaeology lies under the lake bed and is protected rather than displayed. What you see is a wooded little hill with a castle-like house, vineyards running down to the water, reed beds and a small harbour.

    Read the complete Vorder Au write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    Vorder Au comes up 18 km in. Next is Technikum.

  3. 3. Technikum

    Students at the technical university in Rapperswil study engineering on a lakeside campus, and beneath the shoreline in front of their buildings lie the remains of villages that people built on piles thousands of years ago. The site, named after the old Technikum, as the college was long known, is one of the prehistoric pile dwelling sites around Lake Zurich included in the UNESCO listing of 2011. Nothing is visible, but the idea that this shore has been home to people for so long gives a different perspective to a stroll along the promenade.

    Read the complete Technikum write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    36 km in you reach Technikum. Next is Rorenhaab.

  4. 4. Rorenhaab

    The winter of 1853 to 1854 was so dry that the water in Lake Zurich fell to an unusually low level, and at Obermeilen, on the eastern shore, villagers extending their land into the lake found rows of wooden piles sticking out of the mud, along with pottery, bone tools and stone axes. The antiquarian Ferdinand Keller studied the finds and concluded that they came from prehistoric villages built on platforms over the water, and his reports launched the pile dwelling craze that swept through Europe in the nineteenth century. Rorenhaab, at Obermeilen, is that very site, and it is part of the pile dwellings around the Alps listing inscribed by UNESCO in 2011.

    Read the complete Rorenhaab write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    Rorenhaab, about halfway. Next is Hurden Rosshorn.

  5. 5. Hurden Rosshorn

    Where Lake Zurich narrows to a waist between Rapperswil and Hurden, a low peninsula runs out from the Schwyz shore, and at its tip, the Rosshorn, the remains of prehistoric lakeside villages lie beneath the shallow water. People lived here in the Neolithic and Bronze Ages, in houses built on wooden piles, and they also built some of the earliest known bridges across the narrows. The site is one of the prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps that UNESCO listed in 2011, a group of sites that has given archaeologists a remarkably detailed view of everyday life thousands of years ago, preserved in the mud of lakes and moors.

    Read the complete Hurden Rosshorn write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    Hurden Rosshorn sits at 71 km, about halfway. Next is back through Rorenhaab.

  6. 6. back through Rorenhaab

    Return visit. Read the place description above.

    Read the complete Rorenhaab write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    back through Rorenhaab comes up 89 km in. Next is back through Technikum.

  7. 7. back through Technikum

    Return visit. Read the place description above.

    Read the complete Technikum write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    107 km in you reach back through Technikum. Next is back through Vorder Au.

  8. 8. back through Vorder Au

    Return visit. Read the place description above.

    Read the complete Vorder Au write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    back through Vorder Au, late in the day. Next is Sumpf.

  9. 9. Sumpf

    Return visit. Read the place description above.

    Read the complete Sumpf 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 155 km.

Leg by leg

Sumpf to Vorder Au

Sumpf → Vorder Au is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

Vorder Au to Technikum

Vorder Au → Technikum is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

Technikum to Rorenhaab

Technikum → Rorenhaab is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

Rorenhaab to Hurden Rosshorn

Rorenhaab → Hurden Rosshorn is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

Hurden Rosshorn to back through Rorenhaab

Hurden Rosshorn → back through Rorenhaab is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

back through Rorenhaab to back through Technikum

back through Rorenhaab → back through Technikum is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

back through Technikum to back through Vorder Au

back through Technikum → back through Vorder Au is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

back through Vorder Au to Sumpf

back through Vorder Au → Sumpf is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

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