Why this ride
A 65 km round trip from Lens - roughly 1 h 21 in the saddle. On the way it passes Monument à Madame Declercq, Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Douai and back through Monument à Madame Declercq. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Grands Bureaux de la Société des Mines de and Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Douai
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 65 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 1 h 21
- 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. Grands Bureaux de la Société des Mines de
Every mining company in the north of France needed an office, and the one that held the pay books, maps and plans of the Lens pits needed a large one. The Grands Bureaux of the Société des Mines de Lens stand in the middle of the town as a monument to an organisation that employed tens of thousands of men and controlled whole districts: the housing, the schools, the shops, the churches and the clinics were all in the company's gift. The building was part of the reconstruction after the First World War, when the town had been reduced to rubble and the company set about rebuilding its pits and its headquarters in brick and stone.
Read the complete Grands Bureaux de la Société des Mines de write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Grands Bureaux de la Société des Mines de is where the day begins. Next is Monument à Madame Declercq.
2. Monument à Madame Declercq
Oignies is a small town in the Pas-de-Calais, at the edge of the old coal basin near the border with the Nord, with a monument at its heart to the people who lived and died by the pits.
Read the complete Monument à Madame Declercq write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Monument à Madame Declercq comes up about 15 km into the recorded legs. Next is Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Douai.
3. Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Douai
The belfry of Douai rises above the town hall like a stone exclamation mark, a tall, square tower with a corner turret and a gilded lion at the top. Belfries were the symbols of medieval towns in Flanders and northern France, built to show that a town had won its freedoms, and to hold the bell that called citizens to meet, fight or put out fires. Douai's was begun in the fourteenth century and finished in the fifteenth, and it is one of the group of belfries of Belgium and France that UNESCO lists together.
Read the complete Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Douai write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 32 km into the recorded legs you reach Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Douai. Next is back through Monument à Madame Declercq.
4. back through Monument à Madame Declercq
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Monument à Madame Declercq write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Monument à Madame Declercq, late in the day. Next is Grands Bureaux de la Société des Mines de.
5. Grands Bureaux de la Société des Mines de
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Grands Bureaux de la Société des Mines de write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Grands Bureaux de la Société des Mines de. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Grands Bureaux de la Société des Mines de to Monument à Madame Declercq
Grands Bureaux de la Société des Mines de → Monument à Madame Declercq is 15 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Monument à Madame Declercq to Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Douai
Monument à Madame Declercq → Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Douai is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Douai to back through Monument à Madame Declercq
Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Douai → back through Monument à Madame Declercq is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Monument à Madame Declercq to Grands Bureaux de la Société des Mines de
back through Monument à Madame Declercq → Grands Bureaux de la Société des Mines de is 15 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.