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 245 km round trip from Saint-Ghislain - roughly 4 h 13 in the saddle. On the way it passes Terrils 143 et 143 a, Terrils Jumeaux 28 and back through Terrils 143 et 143 a. It crosses from Belgium into France - carry ID and check the toll rules.
A coal mine designed like a neoclassical palace sounds like a joke, but Grand-Hornu is real, and the man behind it meant every column. Henri De Gorge, a mining entrepreneur, took over a failing colliery at Hornu in the early nineteenth century and built, between about 1810 and 1830, a complex of workshops, offices and workers' housing around a great oval courtyard. The buildings are in pale stone and brick, with arcades, pediments and a perfect sense of proportion. De Gorge was an idealist, and he wanted his workers to live in decent houses with gardens, which was unusual in an age of slums.
Read the complete Grand Hornu write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Grand Hornu is where the day begins. Next is Terrils 143 et 143 a.
East of Douai, the Scarpe river winds through a green valley of marshes, woods and meadows, and rising out of it, near Pecquencourt and Lallaing, are the heaps numbered 143 and 143a, spoil from the mines that once operated here. Today they are part of the Scarpe-Escaut regional nature park and the World Heritage listing of the mining basin, and they are covered with trees and paths, home to birds and plants.
Read the complete Terrils 143 et 143 a write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Terrils 143 et 143 a comes up about 61 km into the recorded legs. Next is Terrils Jumeaux 28.
Two near-perfect black cones rise from the farmland between Ruitz, Maisnil-lès-Ruitz and Haillicourt, and once you have spotted them you will keep seeing them for miles. These twin terrils, the spoil heaps of former coal pits, are among the tallest in the Nord-Pas de Calais basin and have become something of a regional emblem. They look volcanic, which in a way they are: shale and waste rock tipped there for decades by the mining companies, slowly settling into steep, smooth pyramids that turn purple-grey in rain and almost silver in bright sun.
Read the complete Terrils Jumeaux 28 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 122 km into the recorded legs you reach Terrils Jumeaux 28. Next is back through Terrils 143 et 143 a.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Terrils 143 et 143 a write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Terrils 143 et 143 a, late in the day. Next is Grand Hornu.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Grand Hornu write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Grand Hornu. That is the ride.
Grand Hornu → Terrils 143 et 143 a is 61 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Terrils 143 et 143 a → Terrils Jumeaux 28 is 61 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Terrils Jumeaux 28 → back through Terrils 143 et 143 a is 61 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Terrils 143 et 143 a → Grand Hornu is 61 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.