Chasseral: The High Point of the Home Loop

The biggest day out from home: round Lake Biel, up through the vineyards and over the Plateau de Diesse to the top of the Chasseral road at 1,565m, then down to Lignières and back along the lake. 101km, and one wheel wobble at 70km/h I'd rather forget.

Chasseral is the ridge you see from almost everywhere around the Bern lakes: a long green wall on the far side of Lake Biel with a tall white mast on top. From home in Bargen it's the obvious big ride, and on Monday 20 August 2018 I put it together with a 100km loop of the lake. A bit about the mountain first, then the ride.

Chasseral

At 1,606m, Chasseral is the highest summit in the canton of Bern outside the Alps, and the northernmost and easternmost peak in the Jura above 1,500m. It stands on its own, too: it's one of the most topographically isolated mountains in Switzerland, which is why the view from the top is so big. On a clear day it takes in the Jura, the whole Swiss Plateau and the Alps beyond, and as far as the Vosges and the Black Forest. Closer in, you look straight down on Lake Biel, with Lake Neuchâtel and Lake Murten beyond.

The mast that marks the top from miles away is the Swisscom transmitter tower, about 120m tall. Just below it is the Hôtel Chasseral, with a bus stop for the walkers, and that's where the road ends. Roads come up from both sides: from St-Imier in the valley to the north, and from the Lake Biel side through Nods, which is the way I went. In winter the pass road is closed to cars, and the weather up there is a different country from the lakes: the long-term average high at the summit station is just 7.4°C.

The lake at the bottom has its own story. Lake Biel is 15km long, at 429m, and its shape today is partly man-made: in 1878 the river Aare was diverted into it at Hagneck to stop the Seeland flooding. On the north shore the vineyards of Twann and Ligerz run straight down to the water, and St Peter's Island, where Jean-Jacques Rousseau lived for a few months in 1765, sits off the southern end.

The RideBargen, Lake Biel And Up The ChasseralMonday 20 August 2018

The route, from my GPS track. Green: start and finish in Bargen. Red: the top of the Chasseral road. Anticlockwise: along the lake to Nidau, the north shore to Twann, up to Nods and the top, then down through Lignières and La Neuveville and home past Erlach. This ride on Strava →

101.4kmDistance

1,451mClimbing

1,565mHighest point (top of the road)

431mLowest point (Lake Biel)

4h 30mMoving time

11:13–16:39Out on the road (5h 26m)

22.5km/hAverage moving speed

70.2km/hTop speed

135 / 163Heart rate, average / max (bpm)

2,165Calories

26°CAverage temperature

The BeastBike (as named in Strava)

How The Day Went

11:13 – 12:29

Round the east end of the lakeBargen → Hagneck → Nidau → Twann

32kmflat, 430–460mwarm-up

12:29 – 13:11

Up from the lakeTwann → the vineyards → Nods

10km437m → 865m+430m

13:11 – 13:20

Breather in NodsPlateau de Diesse, 865m

9 min

13:20 – 14:21

The Chasseral roadNods → the top

11km865m → 1,565m+700m6% average

14:22 – 14:30

At the topBelow the tower, 1,565m

8 minthree lakes

14:30 – 14:51

Down to LignièresThe wheel wobble at 70km/h

15km1,556m → 787m70.2km/h top speed

14:52 – 15:18

Stop in Lignières787m

27 min

15:18 – 15:44

Down to the lakeLignières → La Neuveville → Erlach

12km787m → 447m

15:44 – 16:38

Home along the south shoreErlach → Lüscherz → Siselen → Bargen

22kmflat

Round The Lake

I set off from Bargen at 11:13 on a hot day, 26°C on average for the ride. The first hour and a quarter is the warm-up: west through Siselen to Hagneck, where the Aare pours into the lake, then along the south shore through Sutz-Lattrigen to Nidau at the top end of the lake by about 12:07, and round onto the north shore towards Twann.

A carbon road bike leaning against a long stone water trough beside the lakeside road at Tüscherz — 12:22 on the day, at Tüscherz on the north shore, a couple of kilometres before the climb starts.

Up Through The Vineyards To Nods

The climbing starts at Twann at about 12:29, straight up out of the lake through the vineyards that cover the north shore. In about 10km it takes you from 437m to 865m, past Les Moulins and onto the Plateau de Diesse, a wide, open shelf of farmland between the lake and the mountain. I had a short breather in Nods at 13:11.

A narrow road through the vineyards above Ligerz, looking down to Lake Biel and St Peter's Island — The vineyard roads above Ligerz and Twann, on another ride in June 2015. The climb out of the lake goes up through these.

Green fields on the Plateau de Diesse under a big blue sky, with the long wooded Chasseral ridge behind — On the ride: the Plateau de Diesse, with the Chasseral ridge still to come.

The Chasseral Road

From Nods it's the real climb: about 11km and 700m up to the top of the road at 1,565m, below the tower, at around 6% on average. I was there at 14:21, three hours and eight minutes after leaving home, and stopped for a few minutes to take in the view. In my own words, this was "a first up the Chasseral this year", stuck onto a 100km ride for good measure.

The red-and-white Swisscom transmitter tower at the top of Chasseral against a blue sky — The tower at the top, on the ride.

Yellow Swiss hiking signposts at the top of Chasseral pointing to Nods, Lignières, La Neuveville and other places — The signposts at the top. Every way off it is downhill.

Deep snow at the top of Chasseral under a bright winter sun, with walkers and a sea of cloud below — The same summit in winter, on New Year's Day 2020, when the road is closed to cars and the lakes sit under a sea of cloud.

The Descent, And The Wobble

The way down is the fast bit: 15km and nearly 800m of descent to Lignières in about 20 minutes. It was nearly the end of the day in a different way. My note from the ride says it all: "A great day out apart from the wheel wobble on the way down at 70kph. Could have been a disaster....." The top speed on the record is 70.2km/h, so that's exactly where it happened. I stopped in Lignières for nearly half an hour afterwards, which I think was needed: a coffee, with the Garmin showing three and a quarter hours of riding.

A glass mug of milky coffee next to a Garmin bike computer and a cycling helmet, in black and white — The Lignières stop: coffee and the Garmin, after the wobble.

From Lignières it's downhill again to La Neuveville on the lake at 15:27, then the flat run home along the south shore: past the old abbey at St Johannsen, through Erlach at 15:44 and Lüscherz, and back into Bargen at 16:38. 101.4km in all, with 1,451m of climbing.

A Garmin bike computer showing 4 hours 29 minutes, 101.4km, 2,165 calories and 1,451m of ascent — Back home: the Garmin at the end, 101.4km and 1,451m.

Where It Is

Chasseral (marker) above the north shore of Lake Biel. Bargen is off to the east, beyond the south shore.