CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. 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 373 km round trip from Barlin - roughly 5 h 47 in the saddle. It goes by way of Terril 32, Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Hesdin, Beffroi de Saint-Riquier and Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Boulogne. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Barlin is where the coalfield starts to run into hills. To the west, the land rises gently into the Artois uplands, and the mining town sits at the transition, its slag heaps, workers' houses and pit buildings now part of the Nord-Pas-de-Calais Mining Basin World Heritage site. It is a quieter corner than Lens or Douai, and the mix of industrial history and rolling countryside makes it a pleasant place to pause.
Read the complete Paysage et ensemble miniers de Barlin write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Paysage et ensemble miniers de Barlin is where the day begins. Next is Terril 32.
Out on the western fringe of the coal basin, where the mining country fades into the farmland of the Lys valley and the edge of the Artois hills, Terril 32 rises near Norrent-Fontes, Mametz and Thérouanne. This is the far end of the seam, a long way from the dense cités around Lens and Douai, and the countryside feels it: smaller villages, more fields, more trees, and pits that were fewer and further between. The heap stands almost like a lone hill above the cropland, a reminder that coal reached even here.
Read the complete Terril 32 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Terril 32 comes up 52 km in. Next is Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Hesdin.
Hesdin is a small market town in the green valley of the Canche, in the Pas-de-Calais, and it owes its existence to an act of destruction. The original town, a few kilometres upstream, was razed in 1553 by the forces of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, and a new fortified town was built here the following year as a strongpoint on the frontier between France and the Habsburg Netherlands. The grid of streets and the large market square still follow that plan. On the square stands the town hall, a former palace of the Habsburg governors, with a beautifully carved Renaissance balcony from which proclamations were read, and its belfry is part of the UNESCO list of belfries in Belgium and France.
Read the complete Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Hesdin write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
103 km in you reach Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Hesdin. Next is Beffroi de Saint-Riquier.
Saint-Riquier is a small village in the Somme, a few kilometres from Abbeville, and it punches far above its weight. In the early Middle Ages it was the site of Centula, one of the most important monasteries of the Carolingian empire, ruled by Angilbert, a courtier and son-in-law of Charlemagne, who made it a centre of learning and prayer with hundreds of monks. The great abbey church you see today is later, a Gothic building with a richly carved facade, but the scale of the place still reflects that history. The belfry, a solid square tower in the village, was a symbol of the townspeople's rights and is one of the belfries listed by UNESCO in Belgium and France.
Read the complete Beffroi de Saint-Riquier write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Beffroi de Saint-Riquier, about halfway. Next is Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Boulogne.
Boulogne-sur-Mer has two faces: the busy fishing port down by the Liane estuary, the largest in France, and the Haute-Ville on the hill above, enclosed by thirteenth-century ramparts that you can walk all the way around. The belfry stands in the upper town, attached to the town hall, its lower part dating from the thirteenth century and the upper stages added later. It is one of the belfries of Belgium and France listed by UNESCO, symbols of the freedom of medieval towns, which rang their bells to call citizens to arms, to work, or to assembly. You can climb it for a view over the rooftops, the port and the Channel.
Read the complete Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Boulogne write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Boulogne sits at 206 km, about halfway. Next is back through Beffroi de Saint-Riquier.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Beffroi de Saint-Riquier write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Beffroi de Saint-Riquier comes up 258 km in. Next is back through Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Hesdin.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Hesdin write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
309 km in you reach back through Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Hesdin. Next is back through Terril 32.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Terril 32 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Terril 32, late in the day. Next is Paysage et ensemble miniers de Barlin.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Paysage et ensemble miniers de Barlin write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 373 km.
Paysage et ensemble miniers de Barlin → Terril 32 is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Terril 32 → Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Hesdin is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Hesdin → Beffroi de Saint-Riquier is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Beffroi de Saint-Riquier → Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Boulogne is 94 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Boulogne → back through Beffroi de Saint-Riquier is 94 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Beffroi de Saint-Riquier → back through Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Hesdin is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Hesdin → back through Terril 32 is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Terril 32 → Paysage et ensemble miniers de Barlin is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.