Adventure on the Herzroute: from Lausanne to Laupen on a FLYER e-bike.
As the project manager in the FLYER Experience Team, Gina organises and coordinates activities and excursions every day for visitors to the FLYER factory in Huttwil. Gina decided to go on her own e-bike adventure during her spring holiday by riding her FLYER from Lausanne to Huttwil.
Gina, her best friend Janine, and Gina’s mother, Beatrice, planned the daring adventure together. “A certain amount of preparation work had to be done before we set off”, says Gina.
“Planning the routes and daily distances to be covered was relatively easy, since we decided to stick to the Herzroute ("heart route") most of the time. My mother and I brought our own e-bikes along, and Janine rented a FLYER for a week from our rental station in Huttwil.”
Packing wasn’t at all easy, however, as the group had to decide whether to take panniers, bicycle baskets, rucksacks – or all three. Gina, Beatrice and Janine ultimately decided on the latter, and on a cool Sunday morning in mid-May, the three of them got on a train to Lausanne. They had already checked their e-bikes at the SBB ticket office two days earlier and were therefore able to pick up the bikes at the station after arriving in Lausanne.
Day 1: From sunny Lausanne to Romont – the town of knights.
After arriving in Lausanne, there is a 50-kilometre ride to Romont that includes an altitude difference of 880 metres. The route extends along Lake Geneva through a series of vineyards. The views of the vineyard terraces in Lavaux (which are a UNESCO World Heritage site) and the surrounding Lake Geneva region all the way to the High Alps are simply breathtaking. On a clear day you can see everything from Mont Blanc to the Jet d’eau fountain in Geneva. The route then turns off towards Broye, over quiet roads and through vast forests, and before heading towards Oron, via the romantic town of Rue. The latter is not much bigger than a bicycle parking area, which is why it calls itself “The smallest town in Europe”.
“Our batteries ran out of power right before we got to Romont – and just as we were about to start a steep incline”, Gina explains. “Because we were travelling with our own e-bikes, we couldn’t exchange the batteries at the replacement stations on the Herzroute, but each of us had taken a spare battery along, so we were able to manage the situation”. Gina had already booked accommodation for the first night via airbnb.com. Exhausted, but nevertheless happy to have completed the first leg of their journey, the three e-bikers arrived in Romont – the former town of knights – in the evening.
Day 2: From Romont through historical small towns, and then on to Laupen.
The journey on the second day took Gina, Janine and Beatrice through beautiful rapeseed fields. A look in the rearview mirror revealed a view of Romont more impressive than any picture postcard. On the road to Murten, the Herzroute passes through Avenches, once a proud Roman city of more than 20,000 inhabitants, and also the old capital of Helvetia. “On the way we were looking for a traditional fish restaurant, but we couldn’t find one so ended up at a Turkish place that just happened to be serving fresh Fischknusperli (fish goujons)”, Gina says with a laugh.
When you take a long trip on an e-bike, you obviously need to be able to improvise. That’s also one of the reasons the three cyclists decided to recharge their batteries in a grocery store, where they also bought food and other supplies. After 63 kilometres, an altitude difference of 650 metres and a good deal of headwind, they had completed the second leg of the journey. The exhausted e-bikers were greeted with drinks and aperitif snacks when they arrived at the inn they had booked to stay at – gast&hof Bärfischenhaus in Rosshäusern..
There wasn’t much time to relax, however, as the very next day Gina, Janine and Beatrice hopped on their bikes and headed towards Thun. They still had to complete four more legs to reach their destination in Huttwil.
