Why this ride
169 km from Doullens to Doullens, about 3 h 05 of riding. On the way it passes La citadella d’Arras, Cité de la Parisienne, Cité n°10 and back through Cité de la Parisienne.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Beffroi de porte de Lucheux and Cité n°10
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 169 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 05
- 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 porte de Lucheux
Lucheux is a small village in a wooded valley in the north of the Somme, close to the border with the Pas-de-Calais, and its belfry is something of an oddity. Rather than rising above a town hall or a market square, as in the larger towns of Flanders and Picardy, it is built into a fortified gateway, a stout stone tower straddling the road through the village. It is part of the group of belfries of Belgium and France listed by UNESCO, a symbol of the civic freedoms that towns and villages won from their feudal lords in the Middle Ages. Above the village stand the ruins of a castle that belonged to the Counts of Saint-Pol, with a great hall and towers in a romantic state of decay.
Read the complete Beffroi de porte de Lucheux write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Beffroi de porte de Lucheux is where the day begins. Next is La citadella d’Arras.
2. La citadella d’Arras
The people of Arras call their citadel la belle inutile, the beautiful useless one, and they say it with affection. Vauban built it in the late seventeenth century, after Louis XIV took Artois from Spain, as part of the chain of fortresses meant to lock France's northern border. Its star-shaped ramparts, bastions and moats are textbook Vauban, but the border moved north before the fortress ever saw a serious siege, hence the nickname. It is one of the twelve sites grouped as the Fortifications of Vauban on the UNESCO list since 2008. Its later history is darker: during the Second World War, the Germans executed resistance fighters in the moat, and a memorial there lists their names.
Read the complete La citadella d’Arras write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
La citadella d’Arras comes up about 36 km into the recorded legs. Next is Cité de la Parisienne.
3. Cité de la Parisienne
Drocourt is the sort of place you could ride through without a second glance, and you would miss a small piece of the story of northern France. The Cité de la Parisienne is a mining housing estate on the edge of the town, a grid of brick houses built by the coal company for its workers and their families, part of the UNESCO-listed Mining Basin. The name comes from the company that dug coal here. Hénin-Beaumont and Rouvroy press in on either side, and the black cones of the slag heaps rise above the rooftops.
Read the complete Cité de la Parisienne write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 60 km into the recorded legs you reach Cité de la Parisienne. Next is Cité n°10.
4. Cité n°10
Sains-en-Gohelle is a former coal town in the heart of the Nord-Pas de Calais mining basin, and Cité n°10 is one of its old mining estates, rows of brick houses built for miners and their families around a pithead. The basin, which stretches about 120 kilometres from the Belgian border towards the west, was recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2012, and the cités, the slag heaps and the headframes are its most visible remains.
Read the complete Cité n°10 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Cité n°10, about halfway. Next is back through Cité de la Parisienne.
5. back through Cité de la Parisienne
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cité de la Parisienne 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 la Parisienne sits at 113 km, about halfway. Next is back through La citadella d’Arras.
6. back through La citadella d’Arras
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete La citadella d’Arras write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through La citadella d’Arras comes up about 134 km into the recorded legs. Next is Beffroi de porte de Lucheux.
7. Beffroi de porte de Lucheux
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Beffroi de porte de Lucheux write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Beffroi de porte de Lucheux closes the day.
Leg by leg
Beffroi de porte de Lucheux to La citadella d’Arras
Beffroi de porte de Lucheux → La citadella d’Arras is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
La citadella d’Arras to Cité de la Parisienne
La citadella d’Arras → Cité de la Parisienne is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cité de la Parisienne to Cité n°10
Cité de la Parisienne → Cité n°10 is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cité n°10 to back through Cité de la Parisienne
Cité n°10 → back through Cité de la Parisienne is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cité de la Parisienne to back through La citadella d’Arras
back through Cité de la Parisienne → back through La citadella d’Arras is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through La citadella d’Arras to Beffroi de porte de Lucheux
back through La citadella d’Arras → Beffroi de porte de Lucheux is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.