Why this ride
A 267 km round trip from Lille - roughly 3 h 44 in the saddle. On the way it passes Cité de Rimbert, Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Douai and back through Cité de Rimbert.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Lille and Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Douai
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 267 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 44
- 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 de Lille
Lille's town hall belfry is a child of the twentieth century. After the old town hall was lost, the architect Émile Dubuisson built a new one in the 1920s and early 1930s in a working-class district south of the centre, and its belfry, rising about 104 metres, is the tallest civic belfry in Europe. Built of reinforced concrete and brick in an Art Deco reinterpretation of the Flemish tradition, it is part of the UNESCO-listed Belfries of Belgium and France, a group that celebrates the towers built by towns to symbolise their freedom and civic pride.
Read the complete Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Lille 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 Lille 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 79 km into the recorded legs. Next is Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Douai.
3. Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Douai
The belfry of Douai rises above the town hall like a stone exclamation mark, a tall, square tower with a corner turret and a gilded lion at the top. Belfries were the symbols of medieval towns in Flanders and northern France, built to show that a town had won its freedoms, and to hold the bell that called citizens to meet, fight or put out fires. Douai's was begun in the fourteenth century and finished in the fifteenth, and it is one of the group of belfries of Belgium and France that UNESCO lists together.
Read the complete Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Douai write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 143 km into the recorded legs you reach Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Douai. Next is back through Cité de Rimbert.
4. 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 de Lille.
5. Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Lille
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Lille 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 l’Hôtel de Ville de Lille. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Lille to Cité de Rimbert
Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Lille → Cité de Rimbert is 79 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cité de Rimbert to Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Douai
Cité de Rimbert → Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Douai is 64 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Douai to back through Cité de Rimbert
Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Douai → back through Cité de Rimbert is 63 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 de Lille
back through Cité de Rimbert → Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Lille is 61 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.