Fribourg Canton, Rossens.
Summary sheet:
Distance: 40km.
Elevation gain: 543m.
Cycling time: 2h 35min.
Access: Car, bus.
Parking: Parking at Route du Barrage - 46.719204, 7.110871
Bus: Stop at Rossens FR, Village.
A lovely day trip with a number of stops, many view points and lots of animals! It was our first cycling trip with the toddler trailer and both (the trailer and the route) proved to be great ideas. Lake Gruyère is the largest artificial lake in Switzerland. We met quite a few cyclists and many animals such as cows, donkeys, horses, sheep, hens.
There were a few picnic spots / opportunities on the way. We decided to picnic and rest for a longer time at the Southern part of the lake, just next to a cycling route. Alek loved throwing little stones into the water.
We combined a few different cycling routes to create the loop around the lake: no: 62 (North), no. 4 (West), no. 59 (South and East). Majority of the route was on tarmac, apart from a very short section covered in small stones. The roads differed between small, quiet one way routes and 2 lane roads (which were more busy).
Starting from the dam, the route begins with an elevation gain (what a good warm up!). The rest of the path tends to go up and down as rolling hills. The busiest part of the road was around Le Bry, but soon it diverts up hill to quieter roads and lovely views. Most of the Eastern part of the loop also follows a 2 lane road, but it seems much wider and less busy than the road in Le Bry. In Corbières, we followed a short path with stones to joined a quiet small road with more view points. We managed this small section with a baby trailer and with one road bike without any issues.
Cycling paths no: 62 (North), no. 4 (West), no. 59 (South and East) are shown in detail on SchweizMobil website here. More information about lake Gruyère can be viewed on MySwitzerland website here. Information about the region can be viewed on La Gruyère website here. More about Rossens Dam can be read on Torpille website here.
