This 200-kilometre day tour, which mainly comprises side roads, focuses on culinary delights...

Katja Lysser has recently been enjoying every free minute on her new Indian FTR 1200, and of course on this "Gniesser- und Mischtstock-Tour", as she affectionately calls her. "This is not about winding as many kilometres as possible as fast as possible. We drive on many side roads and sometimes with 50 or 60 instead of 80. But in between you can smell a manure stick or freshly mown hay." We meet Katja in the speedo bar in the Moto Center Thun in Steffisburg. This is the motorbike meeting point in the region. Katja: "We are here regularly. You always meet motorbike drivers and quickly get into conversation."

"Merängge", we are coming! Merengue? Öhm, no, Bernese people don't talk about dancing, but about the deliciously sweet speciality Meringue, also called meringue. In Oppligen, we plunge into the hills and mountains of the Emmental, in order to move for a while only on asphalted third-class roads. In a steady up and down, that partly almost reminds of a roller coaster ride, we pass stately farms and idyllic farmhouses. When we reach Affoltern in the Emmental, two culinary highlights invite us to take a short break in Mätteli-Beck and in the show dairy. Katja: "Here we always get off our bikes, because there are so many cuddly things".

Willisauer Ringli and Katja's insider tip

Our way leads us further over Sumiswald, where every two years the famous biker party of the Töffclub Deadriders attracts thousands of bikers (next time again 2020), to Willisau. From here, of course, come the famous Willisauer Ringli, which were launched as such in the middle of the 19th century by Heinrich Maurer-Peyer from Schmidrued AG. In the middle of the old town of Willisau in the so-called "original house", where the "Amrein Café Chocolatier" is located today and where owner Michael Renggli still produces the sweet but hard pastry according to the Maurer-Peyer recipe with a historic machine from 1933. Furthermore, the Ringli are also produced on a large industrial scale by the Hug company - we pass the factory shop, which offers a view into the bakery through a window, directly on our way to Glaubenberg.

The Glaubenberg Pass, which follows soon afterwards and can be driven at a much faster speed than the previous small roads, is probably well known, but perhaps not so much that in addition to the "Passhöchi Beizli" and the large Berghotel Langis, there is also the idyllic mountain restaurant Schwendi-Kaltbad, situated in lush meadows, with its charm of alpine huts. "I often plan a route with the aim of eating up here," says Katja. We also treat ourselves to a late lunch here, which is no problem because the kitchen is open all the time. And cheese lover Katja runs at the thought of her beloved "Glaubenbergsteak" (a pork steak poured over with fried cheese and hutlik potatoes) again this time the water in the mouth together ...

Well strengthened we start from here into the second half of the tour, which consists of classical, always charming motorcycle stages: Glaubenberg-Sarnen-Giswil-Glaubenbielenpass (Panoramastrasse)-Escholzmatt-Schallenbergpass ...

Text: Dimitri Hüppi
Photos: D. Hüppi, Schwendi cold bath team
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