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grosse scheidegg/swiss bike route #4 questions
Hello,
I am contemplating a 5 day trip to Switzerland next week. I have never biked in Switzerland before, and hence thought I would stick with the national bike routes--in paricular, bike route #4. See: http://www.myswitzerland.com/en/navp...onalRoute.html After browsing this NG and talking to some friends, I think I would like to skip one of the daily segments--the Thun-Fluelen one--and instead take the train from Thun to Lauterbrunnen, and bike from there to Grindelwald, climb Grosse Scheidegg and then end up in Meiringen. I would then take a train to rejoin route #4. I've read Jobst Brandt's reports, which seem to indicate that there is a paved road accessible to road bikes from Grindelwald over Scheidegg and into Rosenlaui. I wanted to double check with the group to make sure I was interpreting this correctly, as my Swiss map (Michelin 551) indicates what appears to be an unpaved track, not a real road. I would hate to get to Grindelwald and find out that's it's all gravel or closed or whatever! Also, any general comments from anyone who has familiarity with route #4, or the Swiss regions it cuts through, would be greatly appreciated. I am doing "credit card touring" on my road bike, and will be staying in B&B's along the way. Will I need to worry about trains being too full to accept more bikes? Advice on roads to avoid, sights not to be missed, things to pack, etc.? Thanks! Vincent. |
grosse scheidegg/swiss bike route #4 questions
Thanks for the info about Gross Scheidegg -- I've been thinking of wanting
to ride that. Roberto Divia wrote Do not take the bike paths: they make very long, unnecessary detours and are often unpaved. I was very surprised when I included a bike path in a route last year in the Engadin. At first it was smoothly paved and gentle. Then suddenly the pavement ended and there were lots of steep ups and downs on dirt -- and the dirt section was much much longer than the paved section. I was very glad when I reached the end and I got back to riding on the main road. Before that I had wondered why I was seeing so many people in Switzerland riding on mountain bikes. Vincent wrote: Advice on ... sights not to be missed? Not to be missed are the "sights" you make up for yourself. Leave time to ride to some villages not in the guidebook that you never heard of before. Ken |
grosse scheidegg/swiss bike route #4 questions
One area I found nice for making up my own route thru "unknown" villages was
in the river valley a bit south from St Margarethen -- looks like that's near the start of that official national route #4. Pleasant farm country, lots of _choices_ among little roads. For that day, I decided to stay on gentle terrain, but I could have gone up into the hills if I'd wanted. Usually I just use 1:200000 road maps for my exploring, which for that region means there are lots of little roads which are not shown on the map. There's also a very detailed 1:60000 bicycling map for the St Gallen - Appenzell region from Kummerly + Frey which shows lots of those little roads. But sometimes in Europe I find it more interesting not to know the details of the roads in advance. You have to decide what level of exploration + navigation + risk you're ready to take on. That would be my "not to be missed" experience between St Margarethen + Appenzell: wandering off the official route onto roads I chose myself. Ken |
grosse scheidegg/swiss bike route #4 questions
Ken Roberts thought the world would like to know that...
cut I was very surprised when I included a bike path in a route last year in the Engadin. At first it was smoothly paved and gentle. Then suddenly the pavement ended and there were lots of steep ups and downs on dirt -- and the dirt section was much much longer than the paved section. I was very glad when I reached the end and I got back to riding on the main road. Before that I had wondered why I was seeing so many people in Switzerland riding on mountain bikes. Was this the cycling route between Sankt Moritz and Zernez. Got that experience overthere. At the end we took of the "route" crossed a small river and caught the main road again. Martin Netherlands -- Posted by news://news.nb.nu |
grosse scheidegg/swiss bike route #4 questions
thought the world would like to know that...
Hello, I am contemplating a 5 day trip to Switzerland next week. I have never biked in Switzerland before, and hence thought I would stick with the national bike routes--in paricular, bike route #4. See: http://www.myswitzerland.com/en/navp...onalRoute.html After browsing this NG and talking to some friends, I think I would like to skip one of the daily segments--the Thun-Fluelen one--and instead take the train from Thun to Lauterbrunnen, and bike from there to Grindelwald, climb Grosse Scheidegg and then end up in Meiringen. I would then take a train to rejoin route #4. I've read Jobst Brandt's reports, which seem to indicate that there is a paved road accessible to road bikes from Grindelwald over Scheidegg and into Rosenlaui. I wanted to double check with the group to make sure I was interpreting this correctly, as my Swiss map (Michelin 551) indicates what appears to be an unpaved track, not a real road. I would hate to get to Grindelwald and find out that's it's all gravel or closed or whatever! Also, any general comments from anyone who has familiarity with route #4, or the Swiss regions it cuts through, would be greatly appreciated. I am doing "credit card touring" on my road bike, and will be staying in B&B's along the way. Will I need to worry about trains being too full to accept more bikes? Advice on roads to avoid, sights not to be missed, things to pack, etc.? Thanks! Vincent. It's a perfect track and I prefer, as others said, the Meiringen-Grindelwald direction. Don't forget to stop at Rosenlaui falls where the Sherlock Holm story took place. Martin -- Posted by news://news.nb.nu |
grosse scheidegg/swiss bike route #4 questions
Roberto Divia wrote
I would recommend to do the Simmenthal ... either Mosses pass or Pillon pass. Does it add much interesting to climb over Col de la Croix go thru Villars-sur-Ollon in addition to Col du Pillon? Or is that mostly just more work? Ken |
grosse scheidegg/swiss bike route #4 questions
thanks for the advice--it's a bit more complicated, logistically
speaking, for me to go over scheidegg from meiringen to grindelwald, but i'll see if i can't re-arrange things that way... as far as wandering around appenzell/margrethen--i'm relieved to hear there's some gentler terrain over there. i'm ending up my tour there, and it'll be my longest day, so it'll be good to have some easier options. i can't seem to find sufficiently detailed maps here in strasbourg, but will look for them once i arrive in switzerland. i agree that about finding small, quiet scenic roads--that's what i love the most about cycling. thanks! vincent. |
grosse scheidegg/swiss bike route #4 questions
thought the world would like to know that...
thanks for the advice--it's a bit more complicated, logistically speaking, for me to go over scheidegg from meiringen to grindelwald, but i'll see if i can't re-arrange things that way... as far as wandering around appenzell/margrethen--i'm relieved to hear there's some gentler terrain over there. i'm ending up my tour there, and it'll be my longest day, so it'll be good to have some easier options. i can't seem to find sufficiently detailed maps here in strasbourg, but will look for them once i arrive in switzerland. i agree that about finding small, quiet scenic roads--that's what i love the most about cycling. thanks! vincent. at least you can use http://www.swissgeo.ch/ to see some on-line detailed maps -- Posted by news://news.nb.nu |
grosse scheidegg/swiss bike route #4 questions
Le Fri, 28 Jul 2006 23:00:56 +0000, Ken Roberts a écrit :
Roberto Divia wrote I would recommend to do the Simmenthal ... either Mosses pass or Pillon pass. Does it add much interesting to climb over Col de la Croix go thru Villars-sur-Ollon in addition to Col du Pillon? Or is that mostly just more work? Ken It _is_ definitely more work ! |
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