Arc jurassien

A pedal over two Jura chains from Ste-Croix into the remote La Brévine high valley, windswept and raw even in summer. In contrast, the cave world of Col-des-Roches: the subterranean streams once served the mills. Famous watch companies line the main street in Le Locle, and splendid pocket watches are displayed in the Watch Museum. La Chaux-de-Fonds was rebuilt to a geometric pattern after a fire in 1764.

On to the Freiberge, an impressive landscape with horses and cows on wide pastures, enormous umbrella pines and isolated farmsteads with thick walls. Over Mont Soleil, passing wind generators and solar panels to Tramelan. The face of the Jura is everchanging. Affter the high plateau the landscape is shaped by hills and remote valleys. Moutier, the district capital of the Bernese Jura, lies on the bank of the Birs. The route follows the railway up to Gänsbrunnen, the language changes, still visible in the place name Welschenrohr.

Thal in the Solothurn region lies between two Jura chains and was once the home of a flourishing ceramic industry. Fortresses and ruins guard the entrance to the valley at Balsthal. The Romans actually left cart tracks at Oberen Hauenstein. In Baselbiet the Kettenjura becomes the Tafeljura and the first cherry trees appear, a feast for the senses. The valley of the Frenke widens out and you reach the cantonal capital of Liestal.