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.
361 km from Nieuwpoort to Nieuwpoort, about 4 h 43 of riding. It goes by way of Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Dunkerque, Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Calais, Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Boulogne and Beffroi de Rue. It crosses from Belgium into France - carry ID and check the toll rules. The line favours views over speed.
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.
Stadshal met Belfort is where the day begins. Next is Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Dunkerque.
The tower of Dunkirk's town hall rises above the centre of a city rebuilt from the ruins of the Second World War, a brick and stone belfry that is part of the World Heritage Site of the Belfries of Belgium and France. Belfries were symbols of civic freedom in the medieval towns of Flanders and northern France, housing bells and sometimes the town's charters, and they stood as proud counterparts to church towers. Dunkirk actually has two listed belfries, the town hall tower and the separate Saint-Éloi belfry beside the church, a reminder of how much these towns valued their bells.
Read the complete Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Dunkerque write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Dunkerque comes up 50 km in. Next is Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Calais.
Most riders know Calais as the place where the ferry or the tunnel train spits them out onto French tarmac, and they head south without a backward glance. Spare it an hour. The town hall is a surprise, a grand building in Flemish Renaissance style finished in the early twentieth century, and its belfry, one of the tallest in the region, rises well above the rooftops as a landmark you can see from the port. It forms part of the UNESCO list of belfries in Belgium and France, alongside towers that are centuries older.
Read the complete Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Calais write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
99 km in you reach Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Calais. 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, about halfway. Next is Beffroi de Rue.
Rue is a small town of three thousand people that used to be a seaport, and the belfry in the middle of it is one of the reasons it still feels more important than its size suggests. Over centuries the Baie de Somme silted up and the sea pulled back, leaving Rue stranded a few kilometres inland among salt meadows and polders, but the stone tower that once watched the harbour still stands over the square. It is part of the group of belfries of Belgium and northern France on the UNESCO list, symbols of civic freedom built by towns that wanted the world to know they governed themselves.
Read the complete Beffroi de Rue write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Beffroi de Rue sits at 198 km, about halfway. Next is back through Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Boulogne.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
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.
back through Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Boulogne comes up 248 km in. Next is back through Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Calais.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Calais write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
297 km in you reach back through Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Calais. Next is back through Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Dunkerque.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Dunkerque write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Dunkerque, late in the day. Next is Stadshal met Belfort.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Stadshal met Belfort write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 361 km.
Stadshal met Belfort → Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Dunkerque is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Dunkerque → Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Calais is 51 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Calais → Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Boulogne is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Boulogne → Beffroi de Rue is 68 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Beffroi de Rue → back through Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Boulogne is 68 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Boulogne → back through Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Calais is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Calais → back through Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Dunkerque is 51 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Dunkerque → Stadshal met Belfort is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.