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.
From Dunkerque it runs 328 km to Dunkerque; allow about 5 h 39 of riding. The stops in between: Voormalig Stadhuis met Belfort, Stadhuis, Béguinage de Bruges and Belfort. It crosses from France into Belgium - carry ID and check the toll rules. The line favours views over speed.
The tower of Dunkirk's town hall rises above the centre of a city rebuilt from the ruins of the Second World War, a brick and stone belfry that is part of the World Heritage Site of the Belfries of Belgium and France. Belfries were symbols of civic freedom in the medieval towns of Flanders and northern France, housing bells and sometimes the town's charters, and they stood as proud counterparts to church towers. Dunkirk actually has two listed belfries, the town hall tower and the separate Saint-Éloi belfry beside the church, a reminder of how much these towns valued their bells.
Read the complete Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Dunkerque write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Dunkerque is where the day begins. Next is Voormalig Stadhuis met Belfort.
Lo is one of the smallest towns in Belgium, a cluster of brick houses around a market square in the flat polders of the Westhoek, a few kilometres from the French border. Its former town hall, built in the sixteenth century in Renaissance style, has a small belfry tower, and it is part of the UNESCO-listed Belfries of Belgium and France, alongside much grander towers in Bruges, Ghent and Lille. It is a reminder that even tiny towns had civic pride and privileges worth announcing to the world.
Read the complete Voormalig Stadhuis met Belfort write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Voormalig Stadhuis met Belfort comes up about 36 km into the recorded legs. Next is Stadhuis.
Bruges is half an hour north, and the two make a good pairing, but Roeselare deserves to be taken on its own terms: a working town of some fifty-six thousand people, built on textiles, food processing and trade, with a town hall on its market square that anchors the centre. Like most Flemish towns, Roeselare grew around a market and a civic building that announced the burghers' independence from lords and bishops, and the tradition of the town hall as the symbol of local self-government is still very much alive here.
Read the complete Stadhuis write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 72 km into the recorded legs you reach Stadhuis. Next is Béguinage de Bruges.
The Princely Beguinage of Bruges, Ten Wijngaerde, is the sort of place that makes people lower their voices without being asked. White-washed houses surround a grassy courtyard planted with old trees, and in spring thousands of daffodils bloom under them. A beguinage was a community where lay women lived a religious life without taking full vows, and Flanders had many of them from the thirteenth century. This one was founded around 1245 under Margaret of Constantinople, Countess of Flanders, and the UNESCO listing of Flemish Beguinages covers it, along with Diest and others.
Read the complete Béguinage de Bruges write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Béguinage de Bruges, about halfway. Next is Belfort.
Ghent has three towers standing in a row, and the middle one is the belfry, rising over the old centre between St Bavo's Cathedral and St Nicholas' Church. Begun in the fourteenth century, it was the town's watchtower, bell tower and strongroom, where the charters granting the city its privileges were locked away. On its spire sits a gilded dragon, the city's mascot, keeping an eye on things. The belfry, with the cloth hall attached to its base, is part of the UNESCO list of belfries of Belgium and France, and you can climb it, partly by lift, for one of the best views over the rooftops, canals and spires.
Read the complete Belfort write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Belfort sits at 164 km, about halfway. Next is back through Béguinage de Bruges.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Béguinage de Bruges write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Béguinage de Bruges comes up about 216 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Stadhuis.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Stadhuis write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 256 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Stadhuis. Next is back through Voormalig Stadhuis met Belfort.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Voormalig Stadhuis met Belfort write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Voormalig Stadhuis met Belfort, late in the day. Next is Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Dunkerque.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Dunkerque write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 328 km.
Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Dunkerque → Voormalig Stadhuis met Belfort is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Voormalig Stadhuis met Belfort → Stadhuis is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Stadhuis → Béguinage de Bruges is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Béguinage de Bruges → Belfort is 52 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Belfort → back through Béguinage de Bruges is 52 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Béguinage de Bruges → back through Stadhuis is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Stadhuis → back through Voormalig Stadhuis met Belfort is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Voormalig Stadhuis met Belfort → Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Dunkerque is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.