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: planning record, not independently verified geometry.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distances and riding times are planning figures. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
A 180 km round trip from Gravelines - roughly 3 h 06 in the saddle. It goes by way of Beffroi de l’église St-Eloi de Dunkerque, Landhuis met Belfort, Stadhuis met Belfort and Stadshal met Belfort. It crosses from France into Belgium - carry ID and check the toll rules.
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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Beffroi de Gravelines is where the day begins. Next is Beffroi de l’église St-Eloi de Dunkerque.
The belfry of Saint-Éloi stands alone, which is odd for a church tower. It was originally attached to the church, but after fires and rebuilding in earlier centuries, a street was cut between them, and the tower became a separate landmark. Today it is one of the belfries of Belgium and France listed by UNESCO, and its carillon plays tunes across the centre of Dunkirk, including a local song. You can climb to the top for views over the port, the city and the North Sea.
Read the complete Beffroi de l’église St-Eloi de Dunkerque write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Beffroi de l’église St-Eloi de Dunkerque comes up about 25 km into the recorded legs. Next is Landhuis met Belfort.
Veurne's market square is one of the most complete in Flanders, and the old Landhuis, with its belfry rising behind it, is the reason. The Landhuis was the seat of the castellany, the regional administration that governed the surrounding countryside, and its belfry is part of the group of Belgian and French belfries protected by UNESCO. Around the square stand the town hall, the old meat hall and a row of gabled houses, many dating back to the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, when Veurne was under Spanish rule, which explains the stepped gables and ornate facades.
Read the complete Landhuis met Belfort write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 52 km into the recorded legs you reach Landhuis met Belfort. Next is Stadhuis met Belfort.
Diksmuide was almost wiped from the map in the First World War. The town stood right on the front line along the Yser, and from 1914 to 1918 it was pounded into rubble, along with its town hall, belfry and church. In October 1914, the Belgian army halted the German advance by opening the sluices at Nieuwpoort and flooding the low-lying plain, creating a watery barrier that held for four years. After the war, the town was rebuilt in the old style, with the town hall and belfry carefully reconstructed on the market square, and the belfry is now part of the UNESCO listing of the belfries of Belgium and France.
Read the complete Stadhuis met Belfort write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Stadhuis met Belfort, about halfway. Next is Stadshal met Belfort.
Nieuwpoort's cloth hall and belfry look medieval, and in a sense they are: they follow the design of the thirteenth-century originals. But almost everything you see was rebuilt after the First World War, when the town was reduced to rubble. Nieuwpoort lay at the northern end of the Western Front, where the River Yser reaches the sea, and in October 1914 the Belgians made a decision that changed the course of the war. By opening the sluices of the canals and the river at high tide, they flooded the low-lying land between Nieuwpoort and Diksmuide, creating a barrier of water that stopped the German advance. The front line stayed there for four years, and the town was shelled into ruins. The belfry is part of the UNESCO listing of belfries of Belgium and France.
Read the complete Stadshal met Belfort write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Stadshal met Belfort sits at 90 km, about halfway. Next is back through Stadhuis met Belfort.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Stadhuis met Belfort write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Stadhuis met Belfort comes up about 108 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Landhuis met Belfort.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Landhuis met Belfort write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 128 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Landhuis met Belfort. Next is back through Beffroi de l’église St-Eloi de Dunkerque.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Beffroi de l’église St-Eloi de Dunkerque write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Beffroi de l’église St-Eloi de Dunkerque, late in the day. Next is Beffroi de Gravelines.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Beffroi de Gravelines write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 180 km.
Beffroi de Gravelines → Beffroi de l’église St-Eloi de Dunkerque is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Beffroi de l’église St-Eloi de Dunkerque → Landhuis met Belfort is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Landhuis met Belfort → Stadhuis met Belfort is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Stadhuis met Belfort → Stadshal met Belfort is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Stadshal met Belfort → back through Stadhuis met Belfort is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Stadhuis met Belfort → back through Landhuis met Belfort is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Landhuis met Belfort → back through Beffroi de l’église St-Eloi de Dunkerque is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Beffroi de l’église St-Eloi de Dunkerque → Beffroi de Gravelines is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.