Why this ride
From Doullens it runs 97 km to Doullens; allow about 1 h 57 of riding. On the way it passes La citadella d’Arras, Paysage et ensemble miniers des Pinchonval and back through La citadella d’Arras.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Beffroi de porte de Lucheux and Paysage et ensemble miniers des Pinchonval
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 97 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 1 h 57
- 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 31 km into the recorded legs. Next is Paysage et ensemble miniers des Pinchonval.
3. 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
about 48 km into the recorded legs you reach Paysage et ensemble miniers des Pinchonval. Next is back through La citadella d’Arras.
4. 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, late in the day. Next is Beffroi de porte de Lucheux.
5. 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
Back at Beffroi de porte de Lucheux. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Beffroi de porte de Lucheux to La citadella d’Arras
Beffroi de porte de Lucheux → La citadella d’Arras is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
La citadella d’Arras to Paysage et ensemble miniers des Pinchonval
La citadella d’Arras → Paysage et ensemble miniers des Pinchonval is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Paysage et ensemble miniers des Pinchonval to back through La citadella d’Arras
Paysage et ensemble miniers des Pinchonval → back through La citadella d’Arras is 18 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 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.