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.
A 256 km round trip from Oignies - roughly 4 h 25 in the saddle. It goes by way of Het Belfort of Halletoren, Stadshal met Belfort and back through Het Belfort of Halletoren. It crosses from France into Belgium - carry ID and check the toll rules. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
At Oignies the last coal in the whole Nord-Pas-de-Calais basin was brought up, and the pit closed in December 1990. That was the end of more than two and a half centuries of mining in northern France, and the buildings of pit number 9 and 9 bis survive as a monument and, remarkably, as a concert hall. The old headframes and sheds now host rock bands, and the site is one of the most striking pieces of the UNESCO-listed mining landscape. Two terrils, slag heaps from the mine, rise behind it, green with birch and bramble.
Read the complete Paysage et ensemble miniers de la fosse n° write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Paysage et ensemble miniers de la fosse n° is where the day begins. Next is Het Belfort of Halletoren.
On the Grote Markt of Kortrijk a tower stands alone in the middle of the square, as if the building it belonged to had wandered off. In a sense it did. The Belfort, or Halletoren, was once part of the cloth hall, the trading heart of a medieval textile town, and when the hall disappeared the tower stayed. It is one of the belfries of Belgium and France on the UNESCO list, and it has a pair of local celebrities at the top: two gilded figures, Manten and Kalle, who strike the hours on the bell. Kortrijk people are fond of them, and you will see their likenesses on all sorts of souvenirs.
Read the complete Het Belfort of Halletoren write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Het Belfort of Halletoren comes up about 62 km into the recorded legs. Next is 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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 128 km into the recorded legs you reach Stadshal met Belfort. Next is back through Het Belfort of Halletoren.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Het Belfort of Halletoren write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Het Belfort of Halletoren, late in the day. Next is Paysage et ensemble miniers de la fosse n°.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Paysage et ensemble miniers de la fosse n° write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Paysage et ensemble miniers de la fosse n°. That is the ride.
Paysage et ensemble miniers de la fosse n° → Het Belfort of Halletoren is 62 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Het Belfort of Halletoren → Stadshal met Belfort is 66 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Stadshal met Belfort → back through Het Belfort of Halletoren is 66 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Het Belfort of Halletoren → Paysage et ensemble miniers de la fosse n° is 62 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.