Why this ride
A 258 km round trip from Gravelines - roughly 3 h 15 in the saddle. On the way it passes Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Boulogne, Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Hesdin and back through Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Boulogne.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Beffroi de Gravelines and Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Hesdin
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 258 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 15
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
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.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Beffroi de Gravelines
Gravelines sits right where the river Aa meets the Channel, between Calais and Dunkirk, and it still wears its walls. The town is wrapped in Vauban-era fortifications, a star of brick ramparts, bastions and water-filled moats that you can walk or ride around, and in the middle of it rises the belfry, one of the towers listed by UNESCO among the belfries of northern France and Belgium. It is a solid, sober tower rather than a showpiece, built to watch, warn and ring the hours for a frontier town that changed hands more than once.
Read the complete Beffroi de Gravelines write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Beffroi de Gravelines is where the day begins. Next is Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Boulogne.
2. Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Boulogne
Boulogne-sur-Mer has two faces: the busy fishing port down by the Liane estuary, the largest in France, and the Haute-Ville on the hill above, enclosed by thirteenth-century ramparts that you can walk all the way around. The belfry stands in the upper town, attached to the town hall, its lower part dating from the thirteenth century and the upper stages added later. It is one of the belfries of Belgium and France listed by UNESCO, symbols of the freedom of medieval towns, which rang their bells to call citizens to arms, to work, or to assembly. You can climb it for a view over the rooftops, the port and the Channel.
Read the complete Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Boulogne write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Boulogne comes up about 57 km into the recorded legs. Next is Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Hesdin.
3. 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.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 129 km into the recorded legs you reach Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Hesdin. Next is back through Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Boulogne.
4. back through Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Boulogne
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Boulogne write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Boulogne, late in the day. Next is Beffroi de Gravelines.
5. Beffroi de Gravelines
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Beffroi de Gravelines write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Beffroi de Gravelines. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Beffroi de Gravelines to Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Boulogne
Beffroi de Gravelines → Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Boulogne is 57 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Boulogne to Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Hesdin
Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Boulogne → Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Hesdin is 72 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Hesdin to back through Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Boulogne
Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Hesdin → back through Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Boulogne is 72 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Boulogne to Beffroi de Gravelines
back through Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Boulogne → Beffroi de Gravelines is 57 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.