Why this ride
150 km from Aire-sur-la-Lys to Aire-sur-la-Lys, about 2 h 50 of riding. It goes by way of Cité de Rimbert, Beffroi de Béthune, Fosse n°5 and Paysage et ensemble miniers des Pinchonval.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Aire-sur-la- and Paysage et ensemble miniers des Pinchonval
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 150 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 50
- 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 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 Cité de Rimbert.
2. Cité de Rimbert
West of Béthune, the coalfield starts to run out of flat land. The first chalk hills of Artois rise around Auchel and Cauchy-à-la-Tour, and the pit villages climb their slopes in neat rows of brick. The Cité de Rimbert is one of these, built by the mining company of Marles to house its workers, and it belongs to the long necklace of sites in the UNESCO-listed mining basin. Its houses, gardens and straight streets are a textbook example of company planning, with every family given a home, a vegetable plot and a short walk to the pit.
Read the complete Cité de Rimbert write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Cité de Rimbert comes up about 17 km into the recorded legs. Next is Beffroi de Béthune.
3. Beffroi de Béthune
The belfry of Béthune has been standing in the middle of the Grand Place since the fourteenth century, and it has survived more than most of the buildings around it. In 1918 the town centre was almost completely destroyed by German shelling, and the square was rebuilt in the 1920s in a mix of Flemish and Art Deco styles, with tall, ornate façades in brick and stone around the old tower. The belfry, a symbol of the town's ancient freedoms, is part of the UNESCO listing of belfries of Belgium and France, and climbing its stairs gives a fine view over the rooftops and the flat land around.
Read the complete Beffroi de Béthune write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 38 km into the recorded legs you reach Beffroi de Béthune. Next is Fosse n°5.
4. Fosse n°5
Douvrin, Billy-Berclau and Wingles form a little triangle of brick towns at the northern edge of the Lens coalfield, and the old pit known as Fosse n°5 sits among them. It is not a famous site and does not need to be: its value lies in being one of the many pieces that make up the mining landscape UNESCO listed in 2012, a network of pits, housing estates, slag heaps, railways and public buildings stretching for over a hundred kilometres across the north of France. Seen from the saddle, the area is a patchwork of cités, fields, canals and newer industrial estates, with the occasional terril breaking the skyline.
Read the complete Fosse n°5 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Fosse n°5, about halfway. Next is Paysage et ensemble miniers des Pinchonval.
5. Paysage et ensemble miniers des Pinchonval
The flat coalfield of northern France has one real hill near Liévin, and on top of it stand two tall white pylons carved with figures of grief. This is Vimy Ridge, taken by the Canadian Corps in April 1917, and the Canadian National Vimy Memorial looks out over the mining country below. Down on the plain, in Avion and Liévin, Pinchonval is a cité, a miners' housing estate of brick houses and gardens, and with dozens of other sites it makes up the Nord-Pas de Calais Mining Basin, a World Heritage Site since 2012.
Read the complete Paysage et ensemble miniers des Pinchonval write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Paysage et ensemble miniers des Pinchonval sits at 74 km, about halfway. Next is back through Fosse n°5.
6. back through Fosse n°5
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fosse n°5 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Fosse n°5 comes up about 94 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Beffroi de Béthune.
7. back through Beffroi de Béthune
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Beffroi de Béthune write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 112 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Beffroi de Béthune. Next is back through Cité de Rimbert.
8. back through Cité de Rimbert
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cité de Rimbert write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Cité de Rimbert, late in the day. Next is Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Aire-sur-la-.
9. 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
The route ends here after 150 km.
Leg by leg
Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Aire-sur-la- to Cité de Rimbert
Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Aire-sur-la- → Cité de Rimbert is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cité de Rimbert to Beffroi de Béthune
Cité de Rimbert → Beffroi de Béthune is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Beffroi de Béthune to Fosse n°5
Beffroi de Béthune → Fosse n°5 is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fosse n°5 to Paysage et ensemble miniers des Pinchonval
Fosse n°5 → Paysage et ensemble miniers des Pinchonval is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Paysage et ensemble miniers des Pinchonval to back through Fosse n°5
Paysage et ensemble miniers des Pinchonval → back through Fosse n°5 is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Fosse n°5 to back through Beffroi de Béthune
back through Fosse n°5 → back through Beffroi de Béthune is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Beffroi de Béthune to back through Cité de Rimbert
back through Beffroi de Béthune → back through Cité de Rimbert is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cité de Rimbert to Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Aire-sur-la-
back through Cité de Rimbert → Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Aire-sur-la- is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.