Tour 2025,  7 - 12 August

 

Stage 1 (7 August 2025): Spiez - Gurnigel - Marly

Even before start, it was clear that i wouldn't be able to make big rides in 2025. I had twisted my ankle and torn some muscle fibres in March, and by August it still hadn't fully healed. So i decided to do most of the route with my girlfriend Angeika. Except that on the first day, i set off alone with the aim of meeting her at destination.
I first took the train to Spiez. This gave me the opportunity to do three small passes towards Amsoldingen: Egg, Büel and Bodewald. Then three, no more difficult ones, towards Wattenwil: Bodenzingen, Reckenbühl and Grimmersboden. The weather was fine and this route at the feet of the Niesen and then of the Stockhorn was a great start. Things got more serious from Wattenwil onwards. I took the small roads up to Stafelalp, then made a short detour via the Stutzegg pass. I then took a path that led me back to good forest tracks towards Gurnigelbad. There i rejoined a tarmac road, the one climbing towards the Gurnigel pass. From this pass, the road climbed and descended only slightly to Wasserscheide, the water divide between the Gürbe and Singine rivers. From there to Plaffeien, there were about 20 km of descent, interrupted only by two very slight climbs. I rode by where i had stopped during my 2022 tour and headed up towards the Berg pass, then turned west towards the Auf der Egg Pass before heading north again through the pre-Alpine landscape, via Guglera, Alterswil and Obermonten. The next pass was more challenging due to the fairly steep gradient of a gravel and dirt track. But with my tires suitable for gravel, i was able to ride through Hubel before descending towards St. Antoni and then Tafers. Climbing towards Tafers' Hospital, i reached the small Maggenberg pass, then descended towards the Galterenbach valley. All that remained was one last climb to Pierrafortscha before i could descend towards Marly. That's where i had booked a hotel room for a few nights and where Angelika was going to meet me in the early evening.

 

Stage 2 (8 August 2025): Marly - Treyvaux - Marly

As our first ride together, and with the weather looking good, i had planned a tour south of Marly. To avoid the first climb, Angelika set off a little after me in the car. She overtook me as i was climbing towards Le Mouret, and that's where we met up. We first headed towards Essert and passed through En Crosa. On the descent from this pass towards Treyvaux, we soon turned left and, as a short stretch on gravel, passed through La Challa. After joining again a road, we arrived at La Golette and continued, again towards Treyvaux. Climbing around the Combert mountain, we arrived at Le Pertet. We took advantage of the pleasant weather and the view of part of Lake Gruyère to stop in front of the Vègre d'Avau chapel. We then descended towards the La Pra plain and headed towards Le Crau, before turning east, passing through Crosa and descending to La Serbache (hamlet of La Roche). From there, we climbed gently on the road from La Gruyère to Fribourg, up to the col du Pratzey. From the sawmill near this pass, we climbed up a small forest road and then an unpaved track to Montévraz-Dessus. Once again, the beautiful weather and the view encouraged us to take a break and snap a few photos. On the descent to Le Mouret, we passed through another pass called Le Pertet.
After this loop south of Le Mouret, we headed north again to do another short loop near Sales. This allowed us to ride through one last small pass, Les Creux. Back on the main road, Angelika turned right to return to the car she had left in Le Mouret, while i began the descent towards La Gérine river and to finish the stage at our base in Marly.

 

Stage 3 (9 August 2025): Flamatt - Laupen - Schwarzenburg - Flamatt

This Saturday, a tour was organised by the Club des Cent Cols in the Sense region, between the cantons of Fribourg and Bern. As we weren't very far away, we took the opportunity to take part. However, we weren't that close to the starting point, so we drove by car to Flamatt. That's where we met up with more than 30 fellow club members. After a coffee and a chat, we all set off towards Neuenegg, where we crossed the Singine for the first time. We then climbed towards Brüggelbach before continuing via Sandgruben and descending towards Laupen to cross the Singine again. From there, a long climb interspersed with a few descents awaited us. Our peloton quickly stretched out and we lost sight of most of the participants, who were faster than us. Heading south, we first reached the Ebnet pass, which i had already crossed on my 2022 tour. After descending to the Taverna river a little downstream from Schmitten, we climbed back up towards Niedermuhren via the gentle Eggeli pass. By then, there were only three of us left, and we even split up. I let Angelika go directly to Heitenried with Michel (who had planned the tour, so there was no danger of them getting lost). For my part, i took a detour via Hangbüel, first with two steep climbs to the east. So we met again in Heitenried, from where we descended via Äbnet to cross the Singine river for the third time, on the old Sodbach bridge. This is where the longest climb of the day began, towards Pöschen and Schwarzenburg. We took our time.
Once we reached the heights of Schwarzenburg, we made a slight detour via the small Bergli pass. After a descent and a short but steep climb, we reached Mäuseboden. Turning left, we then climbed towards the church in Wahlern. We had planned to have our picnic in front of this church. After regaining our strength, we set off again on a relatively flat section, first passing through Loch, then Trüllplatz, Schnittbifang and Hubel. We reached the latter pass by making a short return trip on a gravel road. After that came a long descent interrupted only by three small climbs, the first near Steinenbrünnen, the second after crossing the impressive bridge over the Schwarzwasser river and the third in Thörishaus. Just before Flamatt, we crossed the Singine for the last time before meeting up with the other participants for a well-deserved snack.

 

Stage 4 (10 August 2025): Marly - St. Ursen - Rechthalten - Marly

On the agenda for this Sunday was a short trip east of Marly, in the German-speaking part of the canton of Fribourg/Freiburg. Angelika drove to Giffers and i cycled there. We soon left the village behind us and headed north, finding ourselves in a landscape of farms, fields and pastures that would dominate the entire stage. After descending into the Fromattbach valley, we climbed up the other side to Hermisberg, but then descended again, crossed the same brook further downstream and climbed up to the Christisberg chapel. After descending back by the same route, we took the road leading to Römerswil and then turned right towards Tasberg. From the bottom of the valley, we climbed up the Fromattbach brook via a small road and then a path. After crossing the brook, we found a wider track, but it was quite a steep climb up to Obertasberg. From this pass, we were able to continue on a tarmac road, then head east to Zbindenmühle, where i had already been three days earlier. But this time we were riding in the other direction, south towards Holzgasse. We could have taken a detour via the road, but we took a shortcut, a track through the fields. A little further on, we reached the Steingrueba pass. All that remained was to head back towards Giffers. But shortly before Rechthalten, we made a detour through a passage between two hills: Bergli. There used to be a path there, but it no longer exists and for a short stretch you have to cut across the meadows. After Rechthalten, we descended into a small valley and then climbed back up towards Grübli, in the upper part of Giffers. All that remained for me to do was to ride down towards Marly, while Angelika had to drive back by car.

 

Stage 5 (11 August 2025): Marly - Orsonnens - Châtel-St-Denis

The Châtel-St-Denis region was the destination for the fifth stage. Once again, Angelika could shorten the trip by taking the car... and so could i, but only on the way back. I thus set off well ahead of her. I had to choose whether to go left of the Gibloux like the motorway, or right. I chose the right, but without going as far west as the railway line. First i had to cross the Sarine, which meant going downhill and then uphill again, in this case towards Grangeneuve. After that, it was fairly flat until Orsonnens, after which i had to climb a little to get from the Glâne valley to the Gruyère area. And then it became almost flat again, even though i still had to cross the water divides to the Broye river (at Es Leyvrés) and to the Veveyse river (at Es Boux). The weather was fine, and i was making good time to meet Angelika in Châtel-St-Denis. We had found a place to park near the centre and met up there. But the parking time limit was a little too short, so we went back the way i had come and left the car at the Lussy sports complex.
Together, we first headed north, passing through Es Boux again. But then we turned towards Maracon, then towards Remaufens, passing through Haut d'Ecot, with a stretch on a gravel road. After rejoining the main road, we headed towards Châtel-St-Denis, which we crossed in the direction of Les Paccots. The road then became steep. Shortly after the campsite, we took a small road on the right, part of which was very steep in the forest. This took us to the pass La Challa. It was midday when we got there and the hardest part was behind us. We descended by the same route. But shortly after rejoining the road to Les Paccots, we left it again to go over the small Pertet pass. After descending to below the motorway, we immediately climbed back up towards the north-east to reach Le Collet. After descending again, we passed through Le Crau, an almost imperceptible pass but still on the watershed between Veveyse and Broye, and therefore between the Mediterranean and the North Sea. We completed the loop by cycling to Lussy and then drove back to Marly.

 

Stage 6 (12 August 2025): Marly - Domdidier - Grolley - Marly

As there were still a few small passes to do north-west of Fribourg, it was the perfect opportunity. I headed towards the centre of Fribourg, crossing first the Sarine via the Pérolles bridge, which was undergoing construction work this summer. I passed by the station, then climbed towards Givisiez and descended to Belfaux. That's where the climb to the Rosières pass began, unfortunately on a road with fairly heavy traffic, including lorries. I didn't stop at the pass because i'd have another opportunity to do so. Our meeting with Angelika was in Grolley, so i continued in that direction. When i arrived, she was just taking her bicycle out of the car. The first thing we did together was precisely to climb the Rosières pass. We took the opportunity to do a mini loop rather than a simple forth and back. And above all, i was able to congratulate Angelika on passing her thousandth pass!
Still being careful because of the many cars and lorries, we set off again towards the north-west in the direction of Misery. On the descent, we had to take a small road on the left to cross the valley floor at La Voissaine. The climb up the other side was steep at first, but then it got easier as we reached the Col d'Oleyres in the village of the same name. We then took the road to Avenches, but before we got there we turned left onto the field road that goes over the Larret pass. We rejoined the tarmac road to descend towards the Pré-Mermoud farm, from where we cycled towards Domdidier. In the middle of the town, we took the road on the left towards Eissy and then Russy. To return to Grolley via Léchelles, we had one last pass to cross, the Longeraye pass. From Grolley, we split up again as i wanted to return to Marly by bicycle, taking the same route as on the way there.

PS / 31.12.2025