Gravel Ride to Erlach | Gravel Health

A summer gravel loop from home: across the fields of the Grosses Moos to Ins and the Thielle canal, round to Erlach on Lake Biel and back along the shore. 52.7km on the cross bike, and one of the most recent rides on this site.

Not every ride needs a mountain. This is the kind I do most often now: an afternoon loop on the gravel tracks between the fields, a canal, a lake, and back home in under three hours. I rode it on Wednesday 30 July 2025 and summed it up in five words: "Lovely gravel Ride to Ins and Erlach."

Erlach

Erlach (Cerlier in French) is a small town at the south-western end of Lake Biel, at 433m, with about 1,400 people. Its old town is a single steep street climbing from the lake to the castle. The city walls date from the 14th century, and the only gate that survives is now part of the town hall. Parts of Erlach Castle go back to the Middle Ages, and its western main tower was built around 1500. It became the district seat in 1848 and a school in 1874.

Behind the town rises the Jolimont, a wooded hill of 603m, and in front of it the shoreline has grown. The two Jura water corrections, in 1874–82 and 1962–72, lowered the lake and widened Erlach's shore, and they also exposed the long strip of land that now joins St Peter's Island to the mainland. You can walk or cycle out along it from Erlach to the island where Rousseau stayed in 1765. The same works drained the Grosses Moos, the flat farmland that most of this ride crosses.

The RideBargen To Ins, The Thielle Canal And ErlachWednesday 30 July 2025

The route, from my GPS track. Green: start and finish in Bargen. White: the far point at the Thielle canal. Out across the Grosses Moos to Ins, round by the canal to Erlach and home along the lake through Lüscherz and Hagneck. This ride on Strava →

52.7kmDistance

312mClimbing

2h 10mMoving time

14:15–16:52Out on the road (2h 36m)

24.2km/hAverage moving speed

41.9km/hTop speed

129 / 160Heart rate, average / max (bpm)

1,800Calories

Carbon CrossBike

Mostly gravelSurface

How The Day Went

14:15 – 14:37

Out to the lakeBargen → Walperswil → Hagneck

8km

14:37 – 15:28

The Grosses MoosField tracks towards Ins

16kmgravel between the vegetable fields

15:28 – 15:45

To the canalIns → Thielle

7kmthe far point

15:45 – 16:00

StopBy the canal near Thielle

15 min

16:00 – 16:09

Into ErlachLes Traversiers → Erlach

4km

16:09 – 16:52

Home along the lakeErlach → Lüscherz → Hagneck → Bargen

17km

Water pouring over the weir under the walkway of the Hagneck power station — The weir at Hagneck, where the Aare canal drops into Lake Biel, on the ride.

Across The Grosses Moos

I set off at 14:15, out through Walperswil to Hagneck on the lake, and then turned south-west onto the gravel. The tracks across the Grosses Moos run dead straight between the vegetable fields and the drainage ditches, and on a hot July afternoon there's hardly anyone else on them. It's flat, quick riding: I averaged just over 24km/h for the whole loop.

The far point was the Thielle canal, between Lake Biel and Lake Neuchâtel, which I reached at about 15:40 after going through Ins. I stopped for a quarter of an hour there before heading north to Erlach.

A red carbon gravel bike leaning against a planter outside a busy café terrace in Erlach — The red bike outside a café in Erlach (June 2021).

Erlach And Home Along The Shore

I came into Erlach at about 16:09 and then took the shore road back east, through Lüscherz and past Hagneck, and was home in Bargen at 16:52. 52.7km in two hours ten minutes of riding.

Trees along the green shore of Lake Biel with calm water in front and the Jura behind — The shore of Lake Biel on the way home, on the ride.

Erlach is the place I come back to more than anywhere: for the coffee, for the view up the lake to the Jura, and for the beach, where Lillie can get her paws wet. A few from other visits:

A small white and tan dog lying on the pebble beach at Erlach, with paddleboarders on Lake Biel behind — Lillie on the beach at Erlach four days before this ride, 26 July 2025, with paddleboarders out on the lake.

Two cappuccinos and a croissant on a green café table by the water at Erlach — Coffee and a croissant at the lakeside in Erlach (June 2025).

The cobbled old-town street of Erlach climbing between old stone houses — Erlach's old town: one street, climbing from the lake to the castle (June 2015).

The sun setting over Lake Biel from the pebble beach at Erlach, under a big sky of cloud — Sunset from the beach at Erlach (June 2026).

A gull sitting on a wooden post by the pier at Erlach, with the Jura behind — The pier at Erlach, looking across to the Jura (August 2026).

Where It Is

Erlach (marker) at the south-west end of Lake Biel, with Ins and the Grosses Moos to the south.