Maison syndicale Lens and Stadshal met Belfort

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Maison syndicale Lens

   Lens still wears its history on the surface. The town was flattened in the First World War, which fought over it for most of four years, and rebuilt in brick and concrete in the years after, so what you ride through now is mostly the work of the 1920s and 30s. The Maison syndicale, the union hall, is one of the buildings that belong to that rebuilding and to the world of the pits that surrounded the town, when coal paid the wages and the union bargained for the men who went down. It stands as a reminder that this was a place of organised labour as much as of industry.

   Read the complete Maison syndicale Lens write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Maison syndicale Lens is where the day begins. Next is Belfort en Stadhuis.

2. 2. Belfort en Stadhuis

   British soldiers marching to the front in the First World War left Ypres by the road that led east towards Menen, and the gate they passed through became the Menin Gate, now a memorial bearing the names of more than fifty thousand soldiers with no known grave. Menen itself, about twenty kilometres from Ypres, sits right on the French border, on the river Leie, which the French call the Lys, and its town hall and belfry, standing on the market square, are part of the UNESCO listing of the belfries of Belgium and France. The belfry, like much of the town, was damaged in the war and rebuilt, and it remains the proud symbol of the town's civic history.

   Read the complete Belfort en Stadhuis write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Belfort en Stadhuis comes up about 61 km into the recorded legs. Next is Stadshal met Belfort.

3. 3. Stadshal met Belfort

   Nieuwpoort's cloth hall and belfry look medieval, and in a sense they are: they follow the design of the thirteenth-century originals. But almost everything you see was rebuilt after the First World War, when the town was reduced to rubble. Nieuwpoort lay at the northern end of the Western Front, where the River Yser reaches the sea, and in October 1914 the Belgians made a decision that changed the course of the war. By opening the sluices of the canals and the river at high tide, they flooded the low-lying land between Nieuwpoort and Diksmuide, creating a barrier of water that stopped the German advance. The front line stayed there for four years, and the town was shelled into ruins. The belfry is part of the UNESCO listing of belfries of Belgium and France.

   Read the complete Stadshal met Belfort write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 122 km into the recorded legs you reach Stadshal met Belfort. Next is back through Belfort en Stadhuis.

4. 4. back through Belfort en Stadhuis

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Belfort en Stadhuis write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Belfort en Stadhuis, late in the day. Next is Maison syndicale Lens.

5. 5. Maison syndicale Lens

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Maison syndicale Lens write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Back at Maison syndicale Lens. That is the ride.