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 253 km round trip from Aniche - roughly 4 h 22 in the saddle. The stops in between: Paysage et ensemble miniers de Barlin, Funerary and memory sites of the First Wor and back through Paysage et ensemble miniers de Barlin. 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.
On the southern edge of the coal basin, where Auberchicourt, Écaillon and Aniche run into one another, a long spoil heap rises above the brick roofs and the fields. Terril 125a is one of the many numbered heaps that the Nord-Pas de Calais inventory catalogues, and it belongs to the old concession of the Compagnie des mines d'Aniche, one of the historic coal companies of the region. Aniche itself is a reminder that the north was not only about coal: the town had a long glassmaking tradition, and the combination of fuel, sand and labour made the area an industrial hub well before the twentieth century.
Read the complete Terril 125a write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Terril 125a is where the day begins. Next is Paysage et ensemble miniers de Barlin.
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 comes up about 61 km into the recorded legs. Next is Funerary and memory sites of the First Wor.
Every evening at eight o'clock, traffic stops under the Menin Gate in Ypres, and buglers from the local fire brigade sound the Last Post in memory of the soldiers of the British Empire who died in the Ypres Salient during the First World War. The ceremony has been held almost every evening since 1928, interrupted only during the German occupation in the Second World War, and it draws crowds of all ages, many of them descendants of the fallen. The gate itself is inscribed with the names of more than fifty thousand soldiers whose bodies were never found. It is one of the sites included in the World Heritage inscription of the Funerary and Memory Sites of the First World War, inscribed in 2023.
Read the complete Funerary and memory sites of the First Wor write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 127 km into the recorded legs you reach Funerary and memory sites of the First Wor. Next is back through 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.
back through Paysage et ensemble miniers de Barlin, late in the day. Next is Terril 125a.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Terril 125a write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Terril 125a. That is the ride.
Terril 125a → Paysage et ensemble miniers de Barlin is 61 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Paysage et ensemble miniers de Barlin → Funerary and memory sites of the First Wor is 66 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Funerary and memory sites of the First Wor → back through Paysage et ensemble miniers de Barlin is 66 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Paysage et ensemble miniers de Barlin → Terril 125a is 61 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.