Why this ride
301 km from Fresnes-sur-Escaut to Fresnes-sur-Escaut, about 4 h 30 of riding. It goes by way of Terril 125a, Hôtel de ville, Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Arras and Terril 140. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Château des Douaniers and Terril 140
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 301 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 4 h 30
- 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 Terril 125a.
2. Terril 125a
On the southern edge of the coal basin, where Auberchicourt, Écaillon and Aniche run into one another, a long spoil heap rises above the brick roofs and the fields. Terril 125a is one of the many numbered heaps that the Nord-Pas de Calais inventory catalogues, and it belongs to the old concession of the Compagnie des mines d'Aniche, one of the historic coal companies of the region. Aniche itself is a reminder that the north was not only about coal: the town had a long glassmaking tradition, and the combination of fuel, sand and labour made the area an industrial hub well before the twentieth century.
Read the complete Terril 125a write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Terril 125a comes up about 45 km into the recorded legs. Next is Hôtel de ville.
3. Hôtel de ville
A town hall makes an odd target for a ride, but Carvin's is a good excuse to stop in a place most people only see from the A1. The town sits on the northern edge of the old coalfield, between Lens and Lille, and its civic buildings and squares reflect the confidence of a community that grew with the mines. Like many such places, Carvin's centre is a mix of brick, stone and post-war rebuilding, and the town hall faces a square with cafés, bakeries and a market on certain days.
Read the complete Hôtel de ville write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 80 km into the recorded legs you reach Hôtel de ville. Next is Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Arras.
4. Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Arras
Arras has two great squares, the Grand-Place and the Place des Héros, surrounded by tall Flemish-baroque houses with curved gables and arcades, and towering above them is the belfry of the town hall, over seventy metres high. It looks medieval, but most of it is a careful reconstruction: Arras was devastated by German artillery during the First World War, when the front line ran just east of the town for years, and the belfry was destroyed in 1914. After the war, the people of Arras rebuilt it, along with the squares, and today it is one of the belfries of Belgium and France listed by UNESCO.
Read the complete Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Arras write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Arras, about halfway. Next is Terril 140.
5. Terril 140
Rising out of the flat fields north of Douai, the black, cone-shaped hill of Terril 140 is not a natural feature at all: it is a heap of mining waste, the spoil left over from decades of coal extraction. The mining basin of Nord-Pas-de-Calais, listed by UNESCO in 2012 as a cultural landscape, is studded with hundreds of these terrils, some flat-topped, some pointed, and together with the pitheads, workers' housing and railways they tell the story of an industry that shaped the region for nearly three centuries.
Read the complete Terril 140 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Terril 140 sits at 138 km, about halfway. Next is back through Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Arras.
6. back through Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Arras
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville 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 Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Arras comes up about 185 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Hôtel de ville.
7. back through Hôtel de ville
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Hôtel de ville write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 220 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Hôtel de ville. Next is back through Terril 125a.
8. back through Terril 125a
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Terril 125a write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Terril 125a, late in the day. Next is Château des Douaniers.
9. 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
The route ends here after 301 km.
Leg by leg
Château des Douaniers to Terril 125a
Château des Douaniers → Terril 125a is 45 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Terril 125a to Hôtel de ville
Terril 125a → Hôtel de ville is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Hôtel de ville to Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Arras
Hôtel de ville → Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Arras is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Arras to Terril 140
Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Arras → Terril 140 is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Terril 140 to back through Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Arras
Terril 140 → back through Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Arras is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Arras to back through Hôtel de ville
back through Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Arras → back through Hôtel de ville is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Hôtel de ville to back through Terril 125a
back through Hôtel de ville → back through Terril 125a is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Terril 125a to Château des Douaniers
back through Terril 125a → Château des Douaniers is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.