L'Areuse–Emme–Sihl

The green fairy (absinth) still hovers over the Val de Travers, both route and Areuse push dramatically through a gorge before views opens up to Lac de Neuchâtel. The bustling old-town district of Neuchâtel is watched over by a one-thousand-year-old castle. In Seeland, rows of vegetables in all shades of green stand in black soil. After idyllic Wohlensee you reach the Swiss capital of Bern with its historic UNESCO old town, federal government building and milling crowds on the Bärenplatz.

The mostly peaceful Emme nourishes the riverside woodlands where golden oriels pipe. You are in the Emmental, staid farming country, where Gotthelf once had to read the riot act to obstinate locals. Passing Trachselwald Castle, the route climbs to Huttwil, flashpoint of the 1653 Peasants’ War. A goods train rattles along, carrying gravel away from the bed of the Napf. The Burgrain Farming Museum shows the laborious task of working the land. The town hall in Sursee is impressive, the waters of the Sempachersee silver and the Chilchbüehl, a long-forgotten early Roman church, captivating.

Fruit trees, dairy farming, pig breeding and farm dogs alternate, soon you reach Hochdorf in Seetal before sweeping over the Lindenberg into Freiamt in Canton Aargau and alongside the railway line to Zug. Towering office-blocks are strangling the charming old town but Zuger Kirschtorte (kirsch cake) is still delicious. The route winds north alongside the Sihl on the edge of the lonely Sihlwald wilderness, and on through the urban sprawl to Zurich.