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.
From Veurne it runs 161 km to Veurne; allow about 2 h 47 of riding. It goes by way of Beffroi de Bergues, Beffroi de Gravelines, Beffroi de l’église St-Eloi de Dunkerque and back through Beffroi de Gravelines. It crosses from Belgium into France - carry ID and check the toll rules.
Veurne's market square is one of the most complete in Flanders, and the old Landhuis, with its belfry rising behind it, is the reason. The Landhuis was the seat of the castellany, the regional administration that governed the surrounding countryside, and its belfry is part of the group of Belgian and French belfries protected by UNESCO. Around the square stand the town hall, the old meat hall and a row of gabled houses, many dating back to the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, when Veurne was under Spanish rule, which explains the stepped gables and ornate facades.
Read the complete Landhuis met Belfort write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Landhuis met Belfort is where the day begins. Next is Beffroi de Bergues.
Bergues found a new kind of fame in 2008, when the comedy Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis, filmed here, became one of the most successful French films of all time, and suddenly the whole country wanted to see the town where a postman from the south is exiled to the cold north and ends up falling in love with it. The film's best-known scenes include the belfry, from which the hero rings the carillon, and the town still welcomes visitors who come in search of the locations. But Bergues was a proud place long before cinema arrived. It is a small fortified town in French Flanders, surrounded by ramparts and canals, with fortifications improved by Vauban in the seventeenth century.
Read the complete Beffroi de Bergues write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Beffroi de Bergues comes up about 27 km into the recorded legs. Next is Beffroi de Gravelines.
Gravelines sits right where the river Aa meets the Channel, between Calais and Dunkirk, and it still wears its walls. The town is wrapped in Vauban-era fortifications, a star of brick ramparts, bastions and water-filled moats that you can walk or ride around, and in the middle of it rises the belfry, one of the towers listed by UNESCO among the belfries of northern France and Belgium. It is a solid, sober tower rather than a showpiece, built to watch, warn and ring the hours for a frontier town that changed hands more than once.
Read the complete Beffroi de Gravelines write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 56 km into the recorded legs you reach Beffroi de Gravelines. Next is Beffroi de l’église St-Eloi de Dunkerque.
The belfry of Saint-Éloi stands alone, which is odd for a church tower. It was originally attached to the church, but after fires and rebuilding in earlier centuries, a street was cut between them, and the tower became a separate landmark. Today it is one of the belfries of Belgium and France listed by UNESCO, and its carillon plays tunes across the centre of Dunkirk, including a local song. You can climb to the top for views over the port, the city and the North Sea.
Read the complete Beffroi de l’église St-Eloi de Dunkerque write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Beffroi de l’église St-Eloi de Dunkerque, about halfway. Next is back through Beffroi de Gravelines.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Beffroi de Gravelines write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Beffroi de Gravelines sits at 107 km, about halfway. Next is back through Beffroi de Bergues.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Beffroi de Bergues write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Beffroi de Bergues comes up about 135 km into the recorded legs. Next is Landhuis met Belfort.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Landhuis met Belfort write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Landhuis met Belfort closes the day.
Landhuis met Belfort → Beffroi de Bergues is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Beffroi de Bergues → Beffroi de Gravelines is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Beffroi de Gravelines → Beffroi de l’église St-Eloi de Dunkerque is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Beffroi de l’église St-Eloi de Dunkerque → back through Beffroi de Gravelines is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Beffroi de Gravelines → back through Beffroi de Bergues is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Beffroi de Bergues → Landhuis met Belfort is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.