Info:       

Swiss Tourism
608 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10020

Web:
www.myswitzerland.
com

Phone:
800-100-2003

Swiss Mobility
Finkenhubelweg 11, PO Box 8275
3001 Bern, Switz.

Web:
www.switzerland
mobility.org

Phone:
+41 (0) 31 307 47 40

Swiss Trails
Chlupfstrasse 8
8165 Oberweningen
Switz.

Web:
www.swisstrails.ch

Phone:
+41 (0) 44 450 24 34

Pedaling Through Switzerland                                                             

by Mitch Kaplan
photos by Mitch Kaplan

Let’s do the classic word-association test: I say "Switzerland." You say?

Mountains. Watches. Chocolate. Cheese.

But, wait—I say "Swiss Mobility" and "Swiss Slow-Up."

Okay, I know those last two need come clarification.

Swiss Mobility: Adventurous touring of Switzerland on a nationwide network of trails laid out for biking, hiking, mountain biking, in-line skating or canoeing.

Slow-Up: Events in which roads are closed to cars so that people can travel a 30-plus kilometer circular course on anything that’s human-powered and has wheels.

Mobility                    

I joined several press members to road test Swiss Mobility by bike. Timing allowed the Slow-Up to become a logically illogical end to the tour.

Mobility’s trails reach far and wide. They're universally marked with consistent signage. The paths are laid out to accommodate all levels of challenge. Long and hilly. Short and flat. Everything in between.

And, as if that's not well enough thought out, the whole system can be coordinated with the public transit system—trains, busses, ferries—which already operates with clichéd Swiss precision. Buy a SwissPass for easy transport, entry to some 400 museums countrywide, and free travel for kids ages 6-15 traveling with a parent.

Ride the transport of choice to your departure point, grab rental equipment (if you need it) at the terminal there, pedal/skate/paddle to your daily destination, and bunk for the night in any accommodation from luxe to guest house.

Do it again the next day. If you set it up with the affiliated tour operator Swiss Trails, they’ll have your luggage carted for you. It was waiting for us upon our arrival at each hotel nightly.


I was a bit nervous. I hadn't ridden a bicycle in at least ten years. But, I was smart enough to buy some bike shorts before I left home. Best to pad an unconditioned bottom.

We embarked from the rail station at Solothurn. Our bikes were waiting for us. Sturdy, reliable and seemingly brand new hybrids. My route of choice had been the Metterlands—the Midlands—Switzerland's relatively flat agricultural country. Perfect for a guy who was out of practice. Those who want to test their mettle in the mountains can find those kinds of routes, too.

We immediately found ourselves on a packed dirt path that followed the contours of the Aare River. Elevation gains were absolutely minimal. The pedaling was easy.

The sun shone, the river flowed, and we easily made our way to Biel, home to Swatch watches. Along the way, a stork manned a nest high on a farmyard roof; a swan family swam downstream with military precision; a young couple lolled along the river bank.

We next embarked for Neuchatel, an ancient little city on the banks of Lake Neuchatel. From Biel, we rode among cows, sheep and the occasional horse. For a while, we followed now a canal, part of a system opened in 1880 for "water correction" that reduced the water level of the region's three lakes by three meters, drying large wetland tracts to be transformed into farms. And allowing boats to travel freely among the lakes.

We stopped at a farm. Lindenhof, a working farm, is an eco-award winning campground, where Hindrik and Liselotte Van der Veer raise vegetables, and RVers and tenters vacation and play in the nearby lake. Hindrik and Liselotte welcomed us with homemade apple juice and croissants served under blossoming cherry trees.

It might’ve been nice to stay, but we peddled on. It being Saturday, the paths were busy with families skating and cycling, and weekend warrior bike racers working on speed and distance.

As we passed through a nature preserve, a strange sound filled the air. What the heck? The call of the cuckoo was coming from high in the trees. Holy cow—I always thought a cuckoo bird was a Swiss clock makers' invention.

We detoured off the marked track to ride the boat to Ile St-Peter for an elegant lunch at St. Petersinel, a winery/restaurant/hotel. A pair of horses grazed outside the window as we ate.


Onwards through another nature preserve, alongside a highway, through a few more farms and finally to the Lake Neuchatel shoreline. There, we stopped "for a coffee" at a delightful terrace set along the water. Such a Swiss thing to do. Nearby, young children drove mini race cars on a tiny Grand Prix course. Guess they didn’t want to pedal.

Neuchatel's population numbers 32,000. It seemed much larger. Built into a steep hillside, it maintains a medieval core, complete with narrow cobbled streets, steep stairways, tall masonry walls, and a Gothic church and castle sitting high on the hillside.

It’s also a university town, and home to one of Switzerland’s major football (soccer) teams. A home game was beginning as we cycled into town. The streets ran over with fans arriving for the match, and the police forced us to detour around the stadium.

The final day began with a ferry excursion across the lake. On the opposite shore, we faced a critical choice: go over the hill or around it? Having faced no serious climbs as yet, we chose to take the Mont Vully challenge.

We left the national path for one maintained by the canton (the Swiss version of a state). Straight up the hill it went through cultivated fields. Only a 100-meter’s elevation gain, but no switchbacks. That’s steep. Then into a small town, where the right turn leading to Lake Murten was police guarded. No car traffic allowed down that way—this was the road to the Slow-Up.

We lost those 100 meters at a high-speed coast. And then everything changed. After nearly three days of cycling through bucolic, flat landscapes given to agriculture and lined by rivers, canals and lakes, we’d joined the vast flow of Slow-Uppers. It was a veritable human lazy river on wheels; 50,000 rolling, pedaling folks.

The Slow-Up              

People of all kinds. Young ones. Old ones. Big ones. Little ones. Skinny ones. Chubby ones. People riding bicycles, in-line skates, scooters, skateboards, roller skates, tandem bikes. People walking. People running. People skating while talking on cell phones. Children on attach-a-bikes whirling their little legs to keep apace with dad's pedaling. Young lovers rolling along hand-in-hand. Racing cyclists weaving like mad broken-field running halfbacks among the hordes.

Bands playing at the roadside. Impromptu picnic areas selling sausage and pommes-frites. Makeshift, roadside, outdoor cafes filled with people sipping Rivella, the national soda; dining on sausages and Gateau de Vully, the regional cake.

We finally reached Avanches a few hours later, our final destination. Crowds of people sat on a stone wall while tunes from an oompah band and a jazz band mixed in the air. I went to investigate. Behind the wall lay a genuine Roman amphitheater. Amazing. I’d ridden far enough to travel fifteen or twenty centuries in time.