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: planning record, not independently verified geometry.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distances and riding times are planning figures. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
A 318 km round trip from Aniche - roughly 5 h 29 in the saddle. It goes by way of Camus Haut, Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Armentières, Het Belfort of Halletoren and Stadhuis met Belfort. It crosses from France into Belgium - carry ID and check the toll rules. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Coal made this corner of northern France, and coal left it with a landscape unlike anywhere else in the country: slag heaps rising like black pyramids from the fields, pithead frames standing over old shafts and long rows of brick miners' houses lining the streets of every town. The Nord-Pas de Calais Mining Basin was listed by UNESCO in 2012, and the Cités du Champ Fleuri et du Garage, near Masny and Lewarde, are among its typical housing estates, built by mining companies to house workers and their families close to the pits.
Read the complete Cités du Champ fleuri et du Garage write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Cités du Champ fleuri et du Garage is where the day begins. Next is Camus Haut.
Camus Haut lies on the eastern edge of the mining basin, near Annay, Pont-à-Vendin and Harnes, where the canalised Deûle carries barges north towards Lille. The label refers to one of the many mining sites and cités of the area, and while the exact spot is hard to identify from a distance, the landscape tells you what kind of place it is: brick housing estates, old pit heads, spoil heaps going green, and the wide, flat horizon of the Gohelle.
Read the complete Camus Haut write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Camus Haut comes up about 34 km into the recorded legs. 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.
about 68 km into the recorded legs you reach Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Armentières. Next is Het Belfort of Halletoren.
On the Grote Markt of Kortrijk a tower stands alone in the middle of the square, as if the building it belonged to had wandered off. In a sense it did. The Belfort, or Halletoren, was once part of the cloth hall, the trading heart of a medieval textile town, and when the hall disappeared the tower stayed. It is one of the belfries of Belgium and France on the UNESCO list, and it has a pair of local celebrities at the top: two gilded figures, Manten and Kalle, who strike the hours on the bell. Kortrijk people are fond of them, and you will see their likenesses on all sorts of souvenirs.
Read the complete Het Belfort of Halletoren write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Het Belfort of Halletoren, about halfway. Next is Stadhuis met Belfort.
Diksmuide was almost wiped from the map in the First World War. The town stood right on the front line along the Yser, and from 1914 to 1918 it was pounded into rubble, along with its town hall, belfry and church. In October 1914, the Belgian army halted the German advance by opening the sluices at Nieuwpoort and flooding the low-lying plain, creating a watery barrier that held for four years. After the war, the town was rebuilt in the old style, with the town hall and belfry carefully reconstructed on the market square, and the belfry is now part of the UNESCO listing of the belfries of Belgium and France.
Read the complete Stadhuis met Belfort write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Stadhuis met Belfort sits at 159 km, about halfway. Next is back through Het Belfort of Halletoren.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Het Belfort of Halletoren write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Het Belfort of Halletoren comes up about 208 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Armentières.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
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.
about 250 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Armentières. Next is back through Camus Haut.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Camus Haut write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Camus Haut, late in the day. Next is Cités du Champ fleuri et du Garage.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cités du Champ fleuri et du Garage write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 318 km.
Cités du Champ fleuri et du Garage → Camus Haut is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Camus Haut → Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Armentières is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Armentières → Het Belfort of Halletoren is 42 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Het Belfort of Halletoren → Stadhuis met Belfort is 49 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Stadhuis met Belfort → back through Het Belfort of Halletoren is 49 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Het Belfort of Halletoren → back through Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Armentières is 42 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Armentières → back through Camus Haut is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Camus Haut → Cités du Champ fleuri et du Garage is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.