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.
From Abbeville it runs 201 km to Abbeville; allow about 3 h 38 of riding. The stops in between: Beffroi de Rue, Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Hesdin, Terril 244 and back through Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Hesdin. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Abbeville stands on the river Somme a few kilometres before it widens into its famous bay, and the town has the air of a place that has been knocked about and picked itself up. Much of the old centre was destroyed by bombing in May 1940, in the German advance, and rebuilt in a plain, solid style after the war. The belfry, part of the town hall complex, belongs to the group of belfries of France and Belgium that UNESCO lists, and it stands as a symbol of the town's medieval privileges.
Read the complete Beffroi d’Abbeville write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Beffroi d’Abbeville is where the day begins. Next is Beffroi de Rue.
Rue is a small town of three thousand people that used to be a seaport, and the belfry in the middle of it is one of the reasons it still feels more important than its size suggests. Over centuries the Baie de Somme silted up and the sea pulled back, leaving Rue stranded a few kilometres inland among salt meadows and polders, but the stone tower that once watched the harbour still stands over the square. It is part of the group of belfries of Belgium and northern France on the UNESCO list, symbols of civic freedom built by towns that wanted the world to know they governed themselves.
Read the complete Beffroi de Rue write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Beffroi de Rue comes up about 28 km into the recorded legs. Next is Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Hesdin.
Hesdin is a small market town in the green valley of the Canche, in the Pas-de-Calais, and it owes its existence to an act of destruction. The original town, a few kilometres upstream, was razed in 1553 by the forces of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, and a new fortified town was built here the following year as a strongpoint on the frontier between France and the Habsburg Netherlands. The grid of streets and the large market square still follow that plan. On the square stands the town hall, a former palace of the Habsburg governors, with a beautifully carved Renaissance balcony from which proclamations were read, and its belfry is part of the UNESCO list of belfries in Belgium and France.
Read the complete Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Hesdin write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 67 km into the recorded legs you reach Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Hesdin. Next is Terril 244.
Way out at the western tip of the coalfield, near the villages of Mametz and Norrent-Fontes, Terril 244 marks the place where coal mining reached its limit. Beyond it, the land belongs to farmers, and the next towns, Aire-sur-la-Lys and Saint-Omer, have more to do with canals, marshes and markets than with mines. The heap stands as a solitary landmark in the fields, smaller than the giants further east, and its green-covered slopes blend into the landscape. It is one of the outlying components of the Nord-Pas de Calais Mining Basin listed by UNESCO, a reminder that the coalfield stretched for over a hundred kilometres from the Belgian border to here.
Read the complete Terril 244 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Terril 244, about halfway. Next is back through Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Hesdin.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Hesdin write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Hesdin sits at 145 km, about halfway. Next is back through Beffroi de Rue.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Beffroi de Rue write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Beffroi de Rue comes up about 174 km into the recorded legs. Next is Beffroi d’Abbeville.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Beffroi d’Abbeville write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Beffroi d’Abbeville closes the day.
Beffroi d’Abbeville → Beffroi de Rue is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Beffroi de Rue → Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Hesdin is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Hesdin → Terril 244 is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Terril 244 → back through Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Hesdin is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Hesdin → back through Beffroi de Rue is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Beffroi de Rue → Beffroi d’Abbeville is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.