Stats from Schweizmobil: Moudon (510m)-Villars.le.Comte (765m)-Lucens (500m)-Moudon: 24km long, +600m gain. (https://schweizmobil.ch/en/cycling-in-switzerland/route-472).
Octobre 2023
This mild and sunny October weekend called for a little bike tour in the Broye valley (Canton Vaud), along a route that I had not yet explored.
Route 472 starts & ends in Moudon (crossed also by Route 44:01), easily reached by a regional train. But before setting off, I browsed the small alleyways of the old town.
Like many hilly medieval towns, Moudon has an upper section overlooking the valley and a Lower Town, crossed by the river Broye. The Upper Town has a very interesting architectural landscape, with rows of small townhouses . Most of the old houses and patrician buildings date from the 16th – 18th centuries.
Although probably not a well-known historical town, Moudon flourished during medieval times and was ruled first by the Counts of Savoy (14th century) then by Berne and finally Vaud. But its traces date even further back to Roman times, thanks to its location on a strategic road used to connect Aventicum (Avenches) to Martigny to the Col du Grand Saint-Bernard and finally to Rome.
Notable buildings in the village are the Château de Rochefort (16th century) on the uppermost part of the town, housing the Musée du Vieux-Moudon; and the Gothic church of Saint-Etienne (13th to 17th century), with important artifacts, in the Lower Town.
After this brief sightseeing , the ride start climbing up to its highest point of Villars-le-Comte. The high road provides a beautiful panorama on the Savoy Alps (the Dents du Midi is well visible) and Bernese Alps, though the weather became very cloudy by now. All around here is a hilly countryside, with forests and farmland.
A long descent brings me to Lucens, another medieval town at the bottom of the valley along the river Broye. Here I’m drawn to the spectacular perched castle that once belonged to Adrian Conan Doyle, son of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (yes, the village has its very own Sherlock Holmes museum).
Lucens Castle is still private but can be hired for events nowadays.
Leaving Lucens, the road passes next to an eye catching 1000 years old Romanesque church (Church of Curtilles) , frequented in the past by pilgrims walking the St. James’s Way/ Via Jacobi (one of ways to Santiago de Compostela).
From here, the return route takes again some uphill roads before finally descending back through the forest to Moudon.
Links to Introduction and other regional routes:
bikeswitzerlandblog 