Paysage et ensemble miniers de Libercourt and Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Comines
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
255 km
Riding-time estimate
3 h 50
Journey
Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
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.
255 km from Libercourt to Libercourt, about 3 h 50 of riding. The stops in between: Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Aire-sur-la, Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Comines and back through Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Aire-sur-la. It crosses from France into Belgium - carry ID and check the toll rules.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Paysage et ensemble miniers de Libercourt
Libercourt is a young town by French standards. It grew in the early twentieth century around a coal company's pits and a railway line, on land that had been farm and marsh, and the planners laid it out from scratch, with straight streets, a station and cités of brick cottages in tidy rows. Many of the miners who filled them came from Poland, recruited in large numbers between the wars, and Polish names, church services and recipes marked the mining villages of the north for generations.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Paysage et ensemble miniers de Libercourt is where the day begins. Next is Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Aire-sur-la-.
2. Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Aire-sur-la-
Aire-sur-la-Lys is the kind of small French town that rewards a slow walk with no plan. Its belfry rises from the eighteenth-century town hall on the Grand Place, an elegant classical building topped by a tall tower with a lantern and a carillon, and it is part of the UNESCO listing of belfries of Belgium and France. Across the square stands the Bailliage, a richly decorated Renaissance building from around 1600, with arches, carved figures and a little loggia, which once housed the guard and the town's officials. A few streets away, the great collegiate church of Saint-Pierre, built in a flamboyant Gothic style, rises above the rooftops.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Aire-sur-la- comes up about 67 km into the recorded legs. Next is Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Comines.
3. Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Comines
Comines is one of those towns the border runs straight through. The river Lys, the Leie to the Flemish, divides French Comines from Belgian Comines-Warneton, and you can cross from one country to the other on a bridge without noticing much more than a change in the shape of the street signs. On the French side the town hall and its belfry stand over the main square, a tall brick tower in the Flemish style with a pointed roof and a carillon, part of the group of belfries of Belgium and France listed by UNESCO.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Paysage et ensemble miniers de Libercourt. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Paysage et ensemble miniers de Libercourt to Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Aire-sur-la-
Paysage et ensemble miniers de Libercourt → Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Aire-sur-la- is 67 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Aire-sur-la- to Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Comines
Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Aire-sur-la- → Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Comines is 61 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Comines to back through Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Aire-sur-la-
Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Comines → back through Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Aire-sur-la- is 60 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Aire-sur-la- to Paysage et ensemble miniers de Libercourt
back through Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Aire-sur-la- → Paysage et ensemble miniers de Libercourt is 68 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.