Wiggertal–Glaubenberg

A route with two elements: a pleasant roll from the Aare to the Kleine Emme and then really strenuous and steep over the Glaubenbergpass. The lower Wiggertal with the mostly quiet waters of the Wigger, the busy motorway and wide fields where Britnau storks occasionally stalk around hunting for frogs. Lovely old lanes in Zofingen’s old town take you back to the Middle Ages.

A gentle trip up valley on the Wigger flood dam, taking a look at a tiny vineyard or hunting for grass snakes swimming in the Ettiswiler pond for variety. Large farmsteads line the route to the St. Ottilien pilgrims’ chapel, Ruswil is bypassed to the east and then a sudden downhill to the rushing Kleine Emme. Just after Werthenstein, a demanding ascent passing lonely farmsteads. You are in Entlebuch, a UNESCO biosphere reserve: a moorland landscape with an incredible wealth of flora and fauna.

The route becomes a pass road, winding up over the Glaubenbergpass (1543 m), a marshy primeval landscape. Last views of the Alps of Central Switzerland before the fast downhill to Sarnen, cantonal capital with its attractive village square.