Pastoral scene from the bus stop cum library on the way up to the Col

I started subscribing to the Cyclist earlier this year, really enjoy reading their articles about the wonderful European cycling routes they go on as well as historical anecdotes of great riders. So when I opened the current issue and saw the ‘Big Ride’ was in Switzerland just down the road from us, I thought we should try it out – in a modified manner.

The ride they did was anticlockwise from Aigle, up the Col de la Croix via Bex, then down to Les Diablerets before climbing the Col du Pillon and doing a big loop of Gstaad and Moulins before climbing the Col du Mosses and back down to Aigle. They did it in one (long) day just under 120km and about 2,500m of ascent. 

Looking at the map, and given we are a tad older, on mountain bikes and wil panniers we decided to break the ride into two halves and overnight at Saanen. I also thought that going clockwise would be an easier route, which having done the ride I still hold to be the case – and more pleasurable.

The drive down to Bex (per Google Maps) would take about an hour, the morning looked to start off cool and then warm up so we decided that as long as we had started our ride by 9:30 we would have the best of the weather. We stopped off to change into our cycling kit at the St Barnard services, in retrospect there is a small rest area a couple of km along where we could have stopped instead. As the change machine was out of change we had to duck through the kiddie barrier to get into the toilets. Felt like a real criminal. See below for a screen show of our photos from the day

After a couple of photos to mark the start of our ride we were off and running on a very well maintained bike path to Aigle. Lovely way to get warmed up. Then the route proper started. My key memories are:

  • Beautiful views of the Aige Chateau over the vineyards as we entered the town.
  • Fun first 10km (better than I expected) along the Rhone and through the fields and railway lines to get to Aigle.
  • Giving up the opportunity for a coffee and breakfast at Aigle – glad I had make some P’butter sarnies to tide us over to the Col.
  • Lots of traffic on the road out of Aigle. Quite stressful as the cars / trucks/motor bikes are passing and I need not to wobble on slopes of 7 – 8%!
  • Feeling low on energy and wondering if I could complete our tour or even get to the summit of our first pass.
  • Gradually the traffic disappeared so that on the final few km up to Col du Mosses there was nothing to speak of.
  • P’butter sarnie stop about halfway up which was very welcome. Also a stop at an e-bike charging station where there was a water trough to fill up our bottles and cool down our heads, as well as a community library!
  • Beautiful church on the outskirts of Mosses.
  • Very tasty apricot tart and coffee at the Col. I had fancied a bowl soup but this was a very good alternative.
  • great surface to descend on down to Château-d’Œx enjoying a descent with very little traffic and lovely views as we transitioned from the mountains, into woods and then pastureland.
  • Great decision not to go with the Cyclist route along R11, but head off onto a minor road on the south side of the river through farmland. Really enjoyed this section of the valley up to Gstaad.
  • Great detour up through the village of Rougemont. I think the route took us this way due to roadworks on the main road but as Mike said this was one of the prettiest small villages we have cycled through.
  • Having a coffee in the main square of Saanen, then getting supplies for our picnic supper before the kick in the tail – our climb up to the hotel.

Our hotel was 1.5km and 150m up a steep hill above the village. It had started off as a Santorium for TB patients, then became a treatment center for blind patients and 3 years ago was bought by some investors to turn into a 5 star hotel. However at the moment they are happy to use it as a ‘cheap’ pop up funky hotel ( hotel link ).

Great place to stay. We had a beautiful view the length of the valley – why had it clouded over! A sheltered balcony, chilled bottle of Valois wine to go with our picnic and best of all comfy pillows/bed and a good night’s sleep. I would stay there again for as long as it remains open and good value.

See below for a map of our route