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: planning record, not independently verified geometry.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distances and riding times are planning figures. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
218 km from Estavayer-le-Lac to Estavayer-le-Lac, about 3 h 46 of riding. On the way it passes Dorfstation, Old City of Berne, Burgäschisee Ost and back through Old City of Berne. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,000 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. The line favours views over speed.
For about 35 km this is Grand Tour of Switzerland, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it — expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast.
The ride follows Emmental Panorama Road for 40 km.
The label is simply Village, which tells you the scouts did not have a better name, so this entry is really about the shore of Lake Neuchâtel between Estavayer-le-Lac and Cortaillod. Here the lake is wide and calm, a long sliver of water set between the Jura mountains to the northwest and the rolling Fribourg country to the southeast. The southern shore is special. A broad belt of reeds, marsh and woodland runs along it, known as the Grande Cariçaie, which is the largest lakeshore wetland in Switzerland and a refuge for many birds, dragonflies and amphibians.
Read the complete Village write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Village is where the day begins. Next is Dorfstation.
The south shore of Lake Biel is a gentle place of reeds, vineyards on the far bank and farmland stretching back towards the Seeland plain, and at Lüscherz, one of the small lakeside villages, the remains of a prehistoric pile-dwelling settlement lie in the shallows. Dorfstation, as the site is known, is part of the transnational World Heritage Site of Prehistoric Pile Dwellings around the Alps, inscribed in 2011. Neolithic and Bronze Age farmers built their houses on wooden piles along the shore, and the waterlogged ground preserved timbers, tools, textiles and food remains for thousands of years.
Read the complete Dorfstation write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Dorfstation comes up about 35 km into the recorded legs. Next is Old City of Berne.
Bern does not shout. The Swiss capital sits on a sandstone spur in a tight loop of the green Aare, with six kilometres of arcaded streets that let you walk the whole old town in the rain without getting wet. It was founded in 1191 by Duke Berthold V of Zähringen, and legend says he named it after the first animal he killed hunting nearby, a bear. The bears have been the town's mascots ever since, and a few still live in the BärenPark down by the river at the end of the Nydeggbrücke.
Read the complete Old City of Berne write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 69 km into the recorded legs you reach Old City of Berne. Next is Burgäschisee Ost.
Burgäschisee is a small, quiet lake on the border between the cantons of Bern and Solothurn, surrounded by reeds, woods and farmland. It would be easy to ride past without noticing, but it holds a secret: along its shores, archaeologists have found the remains of Neolithic villages built on piles, dating back more than five thousand years. The eastern shore site, Burgäschisee Ost, is one of the components of the Prehistoric Pile Dwellings around the Alps World Heritage site, listed by UNESCO in 2011. There is nothing much to see on the surface, as the remains lie underwater or in the soft ground, but the peaceful setting makes it easy to imagine the wooden houses, canoes and fishing nets of those early farmers.
Read the complete Burgäschisee Ost write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Burgäschisee Ost, about halfway. Next is back through Old City of Berne.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Old City of Berne write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Old City of Berne sits at 145 km, about halfway. Next is back through Dorfstation.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Dorfstation write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Dorfstation comes up about 183 km into the recorded legs. Next is Village.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Village write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Village closes the day.
Village → Dorfstation is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Dorfstation → Old City of Berne is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Old City of Berne → Burgäschisee Ost is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Burgäschisee Ost → back through Old City of Berne is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Old City of Berne → back through Dorfstation is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Dorfstation → Village is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.