Why this ride
A 256 km round trip from Denain - roughly 3 h 40 in the saddle. It goes by way of La citadella d’Arras, Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Armentières and back through La citadella d’Arras.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Fosse Delloye and Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Armentières
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 256 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 40
- 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. Fosse Delloye
The name on the label belongs to the most famous pit in the whole northern coalfield. Fosse Delloye, at Lewarde a short ride west of here, closed in 1971 and became the Centre Historique Minier, France's largest mining museum, where former miners once guided visitors through reconstructed galleries and the old lamp rooms, showers and machine halls still stand as they were left. The point itself, though, sits beside Denain on the Escaut, and Denain deserves a story of its own.
Read the complete Fosse Delloye write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Fosse Delloye is where the day begins. Next is La citadella d’Arras.
2. La citadella d’Arras
The people of Arras call their citadel la belle inutile, the beautiful useless one, and they say it with affection. Vauban built it in the late seventeenth century, after Louis XIV took Artois from Spain, as part of the chain of fortresses meant to lock France's northern border. Its star-shaped ramparts, bastions and moats are textbook Vauban, but the border moved north before the fortress ever saw a serious siege, hence the nickname. It is one of the twelve sites grouped as the Fortifications of Vauban on the UNESCO list since 2008. Its later history is darker: during the Second World War, the Germans executed resistance fighters in the moat, and a memorial there lists their names.
Read the complete La citadella d’Arras write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
La citadella d’Arras comes up about 65 km into the recorded legs. Next is Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Armentières.
3. 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.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 129 km into the recorded legs you reach Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Armentières. Next is back through La citadella d’Arras.
4. back through La citadella d’Arras
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete La citadella 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 La citadella d’Arras, late in the day. Next is Fosse Delloye.
5. Fosse Delloye
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fosse Delloye write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Fosse Delloye. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Fosse Delloye to La citadella d’Arras
Fosse Delloye → La citadella d’Arras is 65 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
La citadella d’Arras to Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Armentières
La citadella d’Arras → Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Armentières is 64 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Armentières to back through La citadella d’Arras
Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Armentières → back through La citadella d’Arras is 64 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through La citadella d’Arras to Fosse Delloye
back through La citadella d’Arras → Fosse Delloye is 63 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.