Paysage et ensemble miniers de Libercourt and Voormalig Stadhuis met Belfort
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
247 km
Riding-time estimate
4 h 16
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: 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 Libercourt it runs 247 km to Libercourt; allow about 4 h 16 of riding. The stops in between: Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Aire-sur-la, Voormalig Stadhuis met Belfort 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. The line favours views over speed.
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 62 km into the recorded legs. Next is Voormalig Stadhuis met Belfort.
3. Voormalig Stadhuis met Belfort
Lo is one of the smallest towns in Belgium, a cluster of brick houses around a market square in the flat polders of the Westhoek, a few kilometres from the French border. Its former town hall, built in the sixteenth century in Renaissance style, has a small belfry tower, and it is part of the UNESCO-listed Belfries of Belgium and France, alongside much grander towers in Bruges, Ghent and Lille. It is a reminder that even tiny towns had civic pride and privileges worth announcing to the world.
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 62 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 Voormalig Stadhuis met Belfort
Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Aire-sur-la- → Voormalig Stadhuis met Belfort is 61 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Voormalig Stadhuis met Belfort to back through Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Aire-sur-la-
Voormalig Stadhuis met Belfort → back through Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Aire-sur-la- is 61 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 62 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.