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: 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.
A 322 km round trip from Saint-Riquier - roughly 5 h 25 in the saddle. It goes by way of Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Hesdin, Terril 244, Paysage et ensemble miniers de Noeux-les and Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Armentières. The line favours views over speed.
Saint-Riquier is a small village in the Somme, a few kilometres from Abbeville, and it punches far above its weight. In the early Middle Ages it was the site of Centula, one of the most important monasteries of the Carolingian empire, ruled by Angilbert, a courtier and son-in-law of Charlemagne, who made it a centre of learning and prayer with hundreds of monks. The great abbey church you see today is later, a Gothic building with a richly carved facade, but the scale of the place still reflects that history. The belfry, a solid square tower in the village, was a symbol of the townspeople's rights and is one of the belfries listed by UNESCO in Belgium and France.
Read the complete Beffroi de Saint-Riquier write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Beffroi de Saint-Riquier is where the day begins. Next is Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Hesdin.
Hesdin is a small market town in the green valley of the Canche, in the Pas-de-Calais, and it owes its existence to an act of destruction. The original town, a few kilometres upstream, was razed in 1553 by the forces of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, and a new fortified town was built here the following year as a strongpoint on the frontier between France and the Habsburg Netherlands. The grid of streets and the large market square still follow that plan. On the square stands the town hall, a former palace of the Habsburg governors, with a beautifully carved Renaissance balcony from which proclamations were read, and its belfry is part of the UNESCO list of belfries in Belgium and France.
Read the complete Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Hesdin write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Hesdin comes up about 31 km into the recorded legs. Next is Terril 244.
Way out at the western tip of the coalfield, near the villages of Mametz and Norrent-Fontes, Terril 244 marks the place where coal mining reached its limit. Beyond it, the land belongs to farmers, and the next towns, Aire-sur-la-Lys and Saint-Omer, have more to do with canals, marshes and markets than with mines. The heap stands as a solitary landmark in the fields, smaller than the giants further east, and its green-covered slopes blend into the landscape. It is one of the outlying components of the Nord-Pas de Calais Mining Basin listed by UNESCO, a reminder that the coalfield stretched for over a hundred kilometres from the Belgian border to here.
Read the complete Terril 244 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 65 km into the recorded legs you reach Terril 244. Next is Paysage et ensemble miniers de Noeux-les-.
Noeux-les-Mines stands between Béthune and Lens, and its skyline is dominated by two things: tall slag heaps, the terrils, and the old pithead structures that survive from the coal years. It is the surviving heart of a mine, with its headframe, winding house, baths and offices, plus the housing, school and church that went with it. The UNESCO listing of 2012 includes the Noeux-les-Mines area among its many components, for the sake of the whole landscape rather than any one building.
Read the complete Paysage et ensemble miniers de Noeux-les- write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Paysage et ensemble miniers de Noeux-les-, about halfway. Next is Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Armentières.
Armentières is a textile town on the river Lys, right on the Belgian border, a quarter of an hour west of Lille. Its name is familiar to many English speakers from the bawdy marching song of the First World War, Mademoiselle from Armentières, which British soldiers sang on their way to the front lines nearby. The town paid a terrible price for being so close to that front: it was shelled, occupied and largely destroyed by 1918. The town hall and its belfry were rebuilt in the 1920s and 1930s in a confident Flemish style, and the tower now belongs to the UNESCO group of belfries of Belgium and France.
Read the complete Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Armentières write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Armentières sits at 156 km, about halfway. Next is back through Paysage et ensemble miniers de Noeux-les-.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Paysage et ensemble miniers de Noeux-les- write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Paysage et ensemble miniers de Noeux-les- comes up about 216 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Terril 244.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Terril 244 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 Terril 244. Next is back through Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Hesdin.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Hesdin write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Hesdin, late in the day. Next is Beffroi de Saint-Riquier.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Beffroi de Saint-Riquier write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 322 km.
Beffroi de Saint-Riquier → Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Hesdin is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Hesdin → Terril 244 is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Terril 244 → Paysage et ensemble miniers de Noeux-les- is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Paysage et ensemble miniers de Noeux-les- → Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Armentières is 56 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Armentières → back through Paysage et ensemble miniers de Noeux-les- is 55 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Paysage et ensemble miniers de Noeux-les- → back through Terril 244 is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Terril 244 → back through Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Hesdin is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Hesdin → Beffroi de Saint-Riquier is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.