Walk, talk & ride
The Watchmaker's Crossing: St-Ursanne → Romainmôtier in five stages
Cross the Jura's watch country by gravel, from hermit abbey to Cluniac priory, across borders and along the Doubs and famous bog land
A story of Time, and Borders & beliefs
Our signature crossing links three medieval monk towns: St-Ursanne, the hermit-abbey on the Doubs; Morteau, Cluny's priory in french watch country; and Romainmôtier, one of Cluny's oldest. Five riding days of 30–45 km string together the Gruère boardwalks, the watch farms of the Franches Montagnes, the UNESCO watch towns of La Chaux-de-Fonds and Le Locle, an engraved rock/border on the crossing into France, the Voie Verte rail-path into the absinthe capital, and the high bogs of Frasne and Remoray — before the crossing home over the Mont d'Or. Both ends have a station; shorter versions end after three days — and a 4-day variant swaps the close for our Hollard "Two Crossings", for a luxury oldest-border-stone finale.
This ride tells the Jura's whole story at the pace of a gravel bike — and it begins and ends with monks: St-Ursanne grew around a 7th-century hermitage on the Doubs; Romainmôtier around one of Switzerland's oldest monastic foundations.
The days follow the region's own story: the long farmhouses of the watch farms, where farmers spent the snowbound winters making watch parts by window light; the watch-case story, told at Saignelégier, where the craft still lives; Rudis Sylva's founder Paysan Horloger trail — twenty kilometres of watch-farm country around Les Bois, the village whose old Latin name gave the name to the watch brand that revived the Paysan Horloger concept — telling the full story he and 3 historians retraced.
The International watch museum and the UNESCO grid streets of La Chaux-de-Fonds; and Daniel Jeanrichard, the farm boy who ended Geneva's monopoly and put watchmaking in farmhouse windows, told on the ground where he was born and at his statue in Le Locle.
Day 3 crosses into France the watch way — past a rare border stone, four coats of arms engraved directly into the rock, three carving generations from 1704 to 1819 — to Morteau, a watch town on the Doubs with a Cluniac past, then the voie verte, the old railway turned gentle gravel, into Pontarlier, the french absinthe capital, for a good dinner.
The last two days are the lakes-and-bogs close — bogs, lakes and the last light on the water. Same mountain, two worlds — five days that tell the Jura the long way, with farm cheese and Michelin-starred tables on the way.
PROGRAMME
Day 1 — St-Ursanne → the Étang de la Gruère → Le Noirmont (≈40 km, +≈1,000 m). Overnight Le Noirmont — optional dinner at Maison Wenger, the old 1904 station hotel, two Michelin stars.
Day 2 — The «Sur les traces du Paysan Horloger» loop from Le Noirmont (20 km) → train and/or gravel ride to La Chaux-de-Fonds and Le Locle (≈10-20 km riding). Overnight at a 1785 watchmaker's house — breakfast on a watchmaker's bench in the old atelier.
Day 3 — Le Locle → Morteau → Pontarlier (≈50 km, +≈400 m — of which 20 km on smooth Voie verte gravel (the old railway path)). Overnight Pontarlier — esquisite dinner at Bistrot Gourmand «Pourquoi Pas».
Day 4 — Pontarlier → Frasne and the Grand Marais → the Remoray bogs → Malbuisson and lake (≈35 km, +≈250 m). Overnight Malbuisson — optional dinner at the Michelin-starred Le Bon Accueil.
Day 5 — Malbuisson → Col de la Petite Échelle into Switzerland → Romainmôtier (≈35 km, +≈650 m — estimates). Train home from Croy-Romainmôtier.
Variants:
3-day version ends on Day 3 — stop at Morteau and return by the ligne des horlogers, the watchmakers' railway, to La Chaux-de-Fonds, or ride the full day into Pontarlier and take the train home to Vallorbe. And if the museums eat Day 2, the short train hop La Chaux-de-Fonds → Le Locle shortens the stage.
4-day version: swap the close for the Hollard "Two Crossings": Day 3 rides on from Morteau over borne 70's crest, down the Areuse banks via Môtiers to the night at Le Tillau (≈60 km from Le Locle — the ≈15-minute train Le Locle → Morteau shortens it), and Day 4 follows the 1553 stones to Romainmôtier — Ride 6's luxury finale, its sauna night and Le Tillau four stars experience included; the ride becomes 4 days, 3 nights.
Gear list
Rainproof backpacking material
Personal belongings and medication, telephone
Tick repellent
Gravel hiking shoes allowing for hiking portions
Biking clothes and a full replacement set once off the bike. Waterproof and adapted to the temperatures and weather conditions. A second pair of padded cycling shorts
Pants and rainproof jacket
If not waterproof: provide additional protection against rain. Evt. umbrella
Sunglasses, sun cream, hat, possibly a pair of light gloves
1 liter of water minimum, 2 liters maximum to carry with you or on your bike
Snacks, dried fruit, etc.
The ride (public version) is confirmed as soon as the minimum number of participants is reached.
The ride may be adapted in case of extreme weather conditions.
Payment: upfront with bank transfer. Cancellations within 10 days of the start: 100% of the fee; 11–30 days before: 50%.
Services included
Full guiding services by a professional Mountain leader with Swiss federal diploma
Presentation of the various themes during the activities
Explanations about the region, its nature and landscape
Observations of fauna, flora, geology. We will discuss various aspects related to biodiversity and the history of our planet in relation with the themes
Half board lodging & picnics (3 star bookings)
Reservations and logistics
Not included
Public transportation, transportation to and from meeting / departure points
Bike rental
1st day picnic; snacks, beverages outside meals, alcoolic drinks. Optional high-end restaurants in the evenings
More chapters of this story
History hike
Jura neuchâtelois
The Green Fairy's Valley - Val de Travers
1 day
A one-day walk down the Val-de-Travers that follows the Green Fairy through her exile, her cradle and her rebirth. The day starts in Môtiers, absinthe capital and the village where Rousseau spent his exile. From there we enter the forêt jardinée, the forest that Henry Biolley rescued from clear-cutting in 1881, home of the Sapin Président — at 58 metres the tallest tree in Switzerland, germinated around 1744, when absinthe was still just a remedy. Then to Couvet, where a doctor's medicinal elixir became the world's most famous — and most forbidden — drink. The day ends with a visit to a working distillery and a tasting.
A story of Borders & beliefs, and time
