CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
383 km from Trier to Trier, about 5 h 32 of riding. The stops in between: Völklingen Ironworks, Place Stanislas and back through Völklingen Ironworks. It crosses from Germany into France - carry ID and check the toll rules. The line favours views over speed.
Constantine built big. The Aula Palatina, which the Romans called the basilica, was the throne hall of the emperor's palace in Trier in the early fourth century, and it is still the largest single-room space to survive from antiquity. It is a plain brick box nearly seventy metres long, about twenty-seven wide and thirty-three high, with a huge apse at the end and tall windows set in two rows, and when it was finished it must have been dazzling, with marble on the walls, mosaics on the floor and heating under the floor. An emperor sitting at one end would have appeared tiny to petitioners entering from the far end, which was the idea.
Read the complete Aula Palatina write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Aula Palatina is where the day begins. Next is Völklingen Ironworks.
Rust, soot and colossal machinery: the Völklingen Ironworks is a cathedral of heavy industry, and walking through it is an overwhelming experience. Founded in 1873 and developed by the Röchling family into one of the largest iron producers in Europe, the works produced pig iron from 1883 until 1986, when the blast furnaces were shut down. Instead of being demolished, the complex was preserved, and in 1994 it became the first industrial monument from the heyday of heavy industry to be listed by UNESCO. Today visitors can climb the blast furnaces, walk through the huge blowing engine hall, and explore the coking plant and the ore storage, much of which has been taken over by nature, with birch trees and wild plants growing among the steel.
Read the complete Völklingen Ironworks write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Völklingen Ironworks comes up about 77 km into the recorded legs. Next is Place Stanislas.
Place Stanislas in Nancy is the work of a king without a kingdom. Stanislas Leszczyński, twice king of Poland and father-in-law of Louis XV, was given the Duchy of Lorraine in 1737 as a consolation prize, and he spent the rest of his life rebuilding its capital. The great square that bears his name, laid out in the 1750s by the architect Emmanuel Héré, links the old medieval town with the newer quarter, and it is one of the most harmonious public spaces in Europe. Pale stone buildings with curved corners stand around a wide cobbled space, and a statue of the duke stands in the middle.
Read the complete Place Stanislas write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 190 km into the recorded legs you reach Place Stanislas. Next is back through Völklingen Ironworks.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Völklingen Ironworks write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Völklingen Ironworks, late in the day. Next is Aula Palatina.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Aula Palatina write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Aula Palatina. That is the ride.
Aula Palatina → Völklingen Ironworks is 77 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Völklingen Ironworks → Place Stanislas is 113 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Place Stanislas → back through Völklingen Ironworks is 112 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Völklingen Ironworks → Aula Palatina is 80 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.