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.
From Auby it runs 261 km to Auby; allow about 4 h 30 of riding. 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. The line favours views over speed.
Rising out of the flat fields north of Douai, the black, cone-shaped hill of Terril 140 is not a natural feature at all: it is a heap of mining waste, the spoil left over from decades of coal extraction. The mining basin of Nord-Pas-de-Calais, listed by UNESCO in 2012 as a cultural landscape, is studded with hundreds of these terrils, some flat-topped, some pointed, and together with the pitheads, workers' housing and railways they tell the story of an industry that shaped the region for nearly three centuries.
Read the complete Terril 140 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Terril 140 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 64 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 130 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 Terril 140.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Terril 140 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Terril 140. That is the ride.
Terril 140 → Het Belfort of Halletoren is 64 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 → Terril 140 is 64 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.