Passwang II

July 31, 2013

Map Link

Dan had made some alterations to my Shoei, hoping that it would give me more than 1 hour’s worth of comfort. I felt obligated to test it out so I could appreciate his efforts. I didn’t have a lot of time so I did a quick jaunt over Passwang Pass, and then took a friend’s suggestion of then going east along Ruta de la Scheulte, another pass through the Jura Mountains.

It was a quite ride with very little traffic and I spent a good amount of time lolly gagging. The weather was perfect – as long as I kept moving – and the landscape was verdant. Oh, and the roads weren’t too bad, either. I found it amazing that roads such as this exist within 30 minutes of my house.

null


It’s important to stay on your side of the lane

While coming through a narrow forested valley, in the middle of nowhere, I came across a chapel. There were no other buildings around, no where to really park other than a small gravel shoulder on the other side of the road, and the door was wide open. I had to check it out.

There wasn’t a build date that I could find, but I did read that it had been renovated in 1985. Judging from the peeling paint and cobwebs, I think that was the last time anyone took any care of the place. However, the plastic flowers and white linens looked nice and inviting. I could imaging a small wedding taking place here on a quiet Sunday afternoon.

Shortly after leaving the chapel I stopped to check the GPS. I had ridden beyond my planned halfway point and it was time to head home. I set the GPS for “home” and looked at the route and travel time. I then added a via point that would take me back the way I’d come and it only added 15 minutes. There really wasn’t a question at that point of which direction I’d take. I turned the bike around and enjoyed the roads and scenery once again.

One bonus to riding in the other direction is that you sometimes see things that were previously hidden by hills or trees. On today’s ride, the return route revealed two castles sitting high on their hills, previously hidden from view by trees.

Perhaps another day I will go back and inspect them more closely. I eventually ran out of rural roads and was shunted back onto the main routes. But even those are relatively enjoyable.

One comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.