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 428 km round trip from Steckborn - roughly 6 h 49 in the saddle. The stops in between: Robenhausen, Riedmatt, Halbinsel and Burgäschisee Ost. It crosses from Germany into Switzerland - carry ID and check vignette or toll rules. The line favours views over speed.
For about 52 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.
This part of the ride is 46 km of Halbinsel → Burgäschisee Ost.
When the water of the Untersee, the western arm of Lake Constance, was unusually low in the winter of 1853 to 1854, people around the Swiss and German shores noticed wooden posts sticking out of the mud. They were the remains of prehistoric pile dwellings, villages built on the lakeshore thousands of years ago, and the find sparked a wave of research and a craze for lake-dwelling romance across Europe. Wangen, on the German shore of the Untersee, was one of the first sites studied, and Wangen-Hinterhorn belongs to the World Heritage inscription for prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps, though there is nothing to see above the water.
Read the complete Wangen-Hinterhorn write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Wangen-Hinterhorn is where the day begins. Next is Robenhausen.
In 1858 a local man named Jakob Messikommer began digging in the peat bog at Robenhausen, on the southern end of the Pfäffikersee in the Zurich Oberland, and he spent decades uncovering a remarkably rich Neolithic pile-dwelling settlement. His finds, from stone axes to woven textiles and charred bread, travelled to museums around the world and helped make Swiss lake dwellings famous. Today Robenhausen is one of the components of the UNESCO Prehistoric Pile Dwellings around the Alps, though what remains lies underground in a protected wetland.
Read the complete Robenhausen write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Robenhausen comes up about 70 km into the recorded legs. Next is Riedmatt.
Zug has a reputation as one of the wealthiest places in Switzerland, a small canton of low taxes, glass office blocks and companies registered by the hundred. But beneath the surface, quite literally, lies a much older story. Along the shores of Lake Zug, archaeologists have found the remains of Neolithic and Bronze Age villages built on piles in the shallow water and marshy ground, and Riedmatt, near the border between Steinhausen, Cham and Zug, is one of the sites included in the Prehistoric Pile Dwellings around the Alps World Heritage listing. As with most such sites, there is nothing visible on the surface; the remains are preserved in the waterlogged ground.
Read the complete Riedmatt write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 122 km into the recorded legs you reach Riedmatt. 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, about halfway. 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 sits at 173 km, about halfway. 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 comes up about 261 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Riedmatt.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Riedmatt write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 309 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Riedmatt. Next is back through Robenhausen.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Robenhausen write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Robenhausen, late in the day. Next is Wangen-Hinterhorn.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Wangen-Hinterhorn write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 428 km.
Wangen-Hinterhorn → Robenhausen is 70 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Robenhausen → Riedmatt is 52 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Riedmatt → Halbinsel is 48 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Halbinsel → Burgäschisee Ost is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Burgäschisee Ost → back through Halbinsel is 45 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Halbinsel → back through Riedmatt is 48 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Riedmatt → back through Robenhausen is 51 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Robenhausen → Wangen-Hinterhorn is 69 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.