Why this ride
78 km from Fresnes-sur-Escaut to Fresnes-sur-Escaut, about 1 h 39 of riding. It goes by way of Paysage et ensemble miniers de Wallers-Are, Ensemble minier des Argales and back through Paysage et ensemble miniers de Wallers-Are.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Château des Douaniers and Ensemble minier des Argales
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 78 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 1 h 39
- 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. Château des Douaniers
Customs officers and smugglers have been playing the same game along the northern border for centuries, and Fresnes-sur-Escaut sits right on the line. The little town of seven and a half thousand people lies on the French bank of the river Escaut, a few kilometres from Belgium, in the country that was once part of the Spanish Netherlands and later the heart of the Anzin coalfield. The Château des Douaniers recalls the border guards who watched the lanes and the river for contraband, and the frontier traffic in coffee, tobacco, butter and spirits was an economic force for generations.
Read the complete Château des Douaniers write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Château des Douaniers is where the day begins. Next is Paysage et ensemble miniers de Wallers-Are.
2. Paysage et ensemble miniers de Wallers-Are
Anyone who follows cycling knows the Trouée d'Arenberg, the arrow-straight cobbled lane through the forest near Wallers where Paris-Roubaix often breaks apart. What fewer know is that the lane passes the gate of a colliery, and that the colliery is one of the jewels of the Nord-Pas de Calais Mining Basin World Heritage Site. Fosse Arenberg, with its three steel headframes and brick engine houses, closed in 1989, and a few years later Claude Berri filmed his version of Zola's Germinal here, using the pithead and the cités around it as a ready-made nineteenth-century mining town.
Read the complete Paysage et ensemble miniers de Wallers-Are write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Paysage et ensemble miniers de Wallers-Are comes up about 20 km into the recorded legs. Next is Ensemble minier des Argales.
3. Ensemble minier des Argales
At Rieulay, in the middle of the Scarpe valley, the terril des Argales is one of the largest spoil heaps in France, a vast, flat-topped plateau of mining waste stretching for well over a kilometre. Once a stark, black wasteland, it has been transformed into a nature and leisure area, with a lake at its foot, trails, viewpoints and a nature reserve where rare plants and birds have found a home. The site, together with nearby mining remains, is part of the Nord-Pas-de-Calais Mining Basin, listed by UNESCO in 2012.
Read the complete Ensemble minier des Argales write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 39 km into the recorded legs you reach Ensemble minier des Argales. Next is back through Paysage et ensemble miniers de Wallers-Are.
4. back through Paysage et ensemble miniers de Wallers-Are
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Paysage et ensemble miniers de Wallers-Are write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Paysage et ensemble miniers de Wallers-Are, late in the day. Next is Château des Douaniers.
5. Château des Douaniers
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Château des Douaniers write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Château des Douaniers. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Château des Douaniers to Paysage et ensemble miniers de Wallers-Are
Château des Douaniers → Paysage et ensemble miniers de Wallers-Are is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Paysage et ensemble miniers de Wallers-Are to Ensemble minier des Argales
Paysage et ensemble miniers de Wallers-Are → Ensemble minier des Argales is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Ensemble minier des Argales to back through Paysage et ensemble miniers de Wallers-Are
Ensemble minier des Argales → back through Paysage et ensemble miniers de Wallers-Are is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Paysage et ensemble miniers de Wallers-Are to Château des Douaniers
back through Paysage et ensemble miniers de Wallers-Are → Château des Douaniers is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.