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.
83 km from Cambrai to Cambrai, about 1 h 13 of riding. It goes by way of Monument commémoratif Charles Mathieu, Château Dampierre and back through Monument commémoratif Charles Mathieu. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Cambrai gave its name to a fabric. Cambric, a fine light linen, was once woven and traded in this town, and the word survives in English. The town is also known for a small, translucent mint sweet called the bêtise de Cambrai, which the locals say was invented by mistake, and a visit to a confectioner is a pleasant way to spend ten minutes. The belfry is one of the group of belfries across northern France and Belgium that UNESCO listed together, as symbols of the independence of medieval towns, and in Cambrai it is a tall stone tower in the town centre, while the town hall nearby has two mechanical figures, Martin and Martine, who strike the hours.
Read the complete Belfries of Belgium and France write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Belfries of Belgium and France is where the day begins. Next is Monument commémoratif Charles Mathieu.
Lourches is a small mining town in the Nord department, on the banks of the Escaut river, between Denain and Valenciennes, in the heart of the old coal mining basin that stretched across northern France. The memorial named after Charles Mathieu is one of the elements listed as part of the Nord-Pas-de-Calais Mining Basin UNESCO site, alongside pitheads, slag heaps, miners' housing and the buildings of the mining companies.
Read the complete Monument commémoratif Charles Mathieu write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Monument commémoratif Charles Mathieu comes up about 26 km into the recorded legs. Next is Château Dampierre.
Anzin, on the northern edge of Valenciennes, is where coal mining in northern France began on an industrial scale. In the eighteenth century, the Compagnie des mines d'Anzin became one of the largest companies in France, and its mines, workers' housing, slag heaps and buildings shaped the landscape of the region. Château Dampierre is one of the buildings linked to that history, and it is part of the UNESCO listing of the Nord-Pas de Calais Mining Basin, inscribed in 2012, which preserves more than a hundred sites across a vast area: pits, headframes, miners' cités, churches, schools and the great black spoil heaps known as terrils. The big miners' strike at Anzin in 1884 helped inspire Émile Zola's novel Germinal.
Read the complete Château Dampierre write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 42 km into the recorded legs you reach Château Dampierre. Next is back through Monument commémoratif Charles Mathieu.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Monument commémoratif Charles Mathieu write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Monument commémoratif Charles Mathieu, late in the day. Next is Belfries of Belgium and France.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Belfries of Belgium and France write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Belfries of Belgium and France. That is the ride.
Belfries of Belgium and France → Monument commémoratif Charles Mathieu is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Monument commémoratif Charles Mathieu → Château Dampierre is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Château Dampierre → back through Monument commémoratif Charles Mathieu is 14 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Monument commémoratif Charles Mathieu → Belfries of Belgium and France is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.