Why this ride
A 148 km round trip from Aire-sur-la-Lys - roughly 2 h 47 in the saddle. It goes by way of Terril n°10, Cité d’Auchy, Cité Crombez and back through Cité d’Auchy. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Aire-sur-la- and Cité Crombez
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 148 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 47
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. 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 l’Hôtel de Ville d’Aire-sur-la-
Aire-sur-la-Lys is the kind of small French town that rewards a slow walk with no plan. Its belfry rises from the eighteenth-century town hall on the Grand Place, an elegant classical building topped by a tall tower with a lantern and a carillon, and it is part of the UNESCO listing of belfries of Belgium and France. Across the square stands the Bailliage, a richly decorated Renaissance building from around 1600, with arches, carved figures and a little loggia, which once housed the guard and the town's officials. A few streets away, the great collegiate church of Saint-Pierre, built in a flamboyant Gothic style, rises above the rooftops.
Read the complete Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Aire-sur-la- 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 d’Aire-sur-la- is where the day begins. Next is Terril n°10.
2. Terril n°10
In the western part of the Nord-Pas de Calais mining basin, around Bruay-la-Buissière, Divion and Marles-les-Mines, the horizon is shaped by terrils, the spoil heaps left by more than two centuries of coal mining. Terril number 10 is one of them, a dark cone of shale and waste rock that has slowly turned green as birch, broom and grasses have colonised it. The basin, with its pits, cités, railway lines and spoil heaps, was listed by UNESCO in 2012 as an evolving cultural landscape, recognising both the industrial history and the lives of the hundreds of thousands of miners who worked here.
Read the complete Terril n°10 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Terril n°10 comes up 26 km in. Next is Cité d’Auchy.
3. Cité d’Auchy
Rows of identical brick houses with small gardens, laid out in straight lines or gentle curves, each with its own vegetable plot and outhouse: the cité at Auchy-les-Mines is a textbook example of the miners' housing built by mining companies in northern France. The companies provided homes, schools, churches and shops, both to attract workers and to control them, and the cités, with their distinctive layouts and architecture, are a central part of the World Heritage listing of the Nord-Pas de Calais Mining Basin.
Read the complete Cité d’Auchy write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
51 km in you reach Cité d’Auchy. Next is Cité Crombez.
4. Cité Crombez
Cité Crombez is a miners' settlement at Noyelles-Godault, on the eastern edge of Hénin-Beaumont, in the heart of the old coal basin between Lens and Douai. Built by the mining company to house its workers, it has the classic layout of brick houses, gardens and straight streets, and it is part of the Nord-Pas de Calais Mining Basin World Heritage site. Today it is a quiet residential area, surrounded by shopping centres, motorways and the remains of heavy industry.
Read the complete Cité Crombez write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Cité Crombez, about halfway. Next is back through Cité d’Auchy.
5. back through Cité d’Auchy
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cité d’Auchy write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Cité d’Auchy sits at 103 km, about halfway. Next is back through Terril n°10.
6. back through Terril n°10
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Terril n°10 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Terril n°10 comes up 128 km in. Next is Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Aire-sur-la-.
7. Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Aire-sur-la-
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Aire-sur-la- 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 d’Aire-sur-la- closes the day.
Leg by leg
Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Aire-sur-la- to Terril n°10
Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Aire-sur-la- → Terril n°10 is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Terril n°10 to Cité d’Auchy
Terril n°10 → Cité d’Auchy is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cité d’Auchy to Cité Crombez
Cité d’Auchy → Cité Crombez is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cité Crombez to back through Cité d’Auchy
Cité Crombez → back through Cité d’Auchy is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cité d’Auchy to back through Terril n°10
back through Cité d’Auchy → back through Terril n°10 is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Terril n°10 to Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Aire-sur-la-
back through Terril n°10 → Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Aire-sur-la- is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
More motorcycle rides nearby
- Cité Crombez and Beffroi de Bergues · 250 km
- Cité Bruno and Beffroi de Bergues · 251 km
- Terril 244 and Cité Crombez · 148 km
- Terrils 87 et 92 and Beffroi de Bergues · 248 km