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: 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.
A 382 km round trip from Trier - roughly 5 h 30 in the saddle. It goes by way of Völklingen Ironworks, Place Stanislas and back through Völklingen Ironworks. It crosses from Germany into France - carry ID and check the toll rules. The line favours views over speed.
The Kaiserthermen were meant to be the grandest bathhouse in Roman Gaul, and the builders ran out of steam before they finished. Begun in the early fourth century, probably under Constantine, as part of the imperial palace quarter, the complex was never completed as a bath, and instead was converted into a barracks, then a fort, and later part of the medieval town wall. What remains is a set of enormous brick walls, apses and arches that rise high above the surrounding lawns, with a facade that is unmistakably Roman in its scale.
Read the complete Imperial Baths write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Imperial Baths is where the day begins. Next is Völklingen Ironworks.
Rust, soot and colossal machinery: the Völklingen Ironworks is a cathedral of heavy industry, and walking through it is an overwhelming experience. Founded in 1873 and developed by the Röchling family into one of the largest iron producers in Europe, the works produced pig iron from 1883 until 1986, when the blast furnaces were shut down. Instead of being demolished, the complex was preserved, and in 1994 it became the first industrial monument from the heyday of heavy industry to be listed by UNESCO. Today visitors can climb the blast furnaces, walk through the huge blowing engine hall, and explore the coking plant and the ore storage, much of which has been taken over by nature, with birch trees and wild plants growing among the steel.
Read the complete Völklingen Ironworks write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Völklingen Ironworks comes up about 77 km into the recorded legs. Next is Place Stanislas.
Place Stanislas in Nancy is the work of a king without a kingdom. Stanislas Leszczyński, twice king of Poland and father-in-law of Louis XV, was given the Duchy of Lorraine in 1737 as a consolation prize, and he spent the rest of his life rebuilding its capital. The great square that bears his name, laid out in the 1750s by the architect Emmanuel Héré, links the old medieval town with the newer quarter, and it is one of the most harmonious public spaces in Europe. Pale stone buildings with curved corners stand around a wide cobbled space, and a statue of the duke stands in the middle.
Read the complete Place Stanislas write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 190 km into the recorded legs you reach Place Stanislas. Next is back through Völklingen Ironworks.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Völklingen Ironworks write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Völklingen Ironworks, late in the day. Next is Imperial Baths.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Imperial Baths write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Imperial Baths. That is the ride.
Imperial Baths → Völklingen Ironworks is 77 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Völklingen Ironworks → Place Stanislas is 113 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Place Stanislas → back through Völklingen Ironworks is 112 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Völklingen Ironworks → Imperial Baths is 80 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.