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.
From Aire-sur-la-Lys it runs 284 km to Aire-sur-la-Lys; allow about 4 h 04 of riding. It goes by way of Hôtel de ville, Château de l’Hermitage and back through Hôtel de ville. It crosses from France into Belgium - carry ID and check the toll rules.
Out on the western fringe of the coal basin, where the mining country fades into the farmland of the Lys valley and the edge of the Artois hills, Terril 32 rises near Norrent-Fontes, Mametz and Thérouanne. This is the far end of the seam, a long way from the dense cités around Lens and Douai, and the countryside feels it: smaller villages, more fields, more trees, and pits that were fewer and further between. The heap stands almost like a lone hill above the cropland, a reminder that coal reached even here.
Read the complete Terril 32 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Terril 32 is where the day begins. Next is Hôtel de ville.
A town hall makes an odd target for a ride, but Carvin's is a good excuse to stop in a place most people only see from the A1. The town sits on the northern edge of the old coalfield, between Lens and Lille, and its civic buildings and squares reflect the confidence of a community that grew with the mines. Like many such places, Carvin's centre is a mix of brick, stone and post-war rebuilding, and the town hall faces a square with cafés, bakeries and a market on certain days.
Read the complete Hôtel de ville write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Hôtel de ville comes up 61 km in. Next is Château de l’Hermitage.
On the Franco-Belgian border, in a forest that has never much cared which country it is in, a pale classical château stands in a clearing. The Château de l'Hermitage was built in the eighteenth century for the dukes of Croÿ, one of the great aristocratic families of the region, as a refined country retreat, and it sits just inside France, near Condé-sur-l'Escaut, at the edge of the forest of Bon-Secours. The family's title went back centuries, and their estates spread across both sides of what is now the border.
Read the complete Château de l’Hermitage write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
123 km in you reach Château de l’Hermitage. Next is back through Hôtel de ville.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Hôtel de ville write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Hôtel de ville, late in the day. Next is Terril 32.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Terril 32 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Terril 32. That is the ride.
Terril 32 → Hôtel de ville is 62 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Hôtel de ville → Château de l’Hermitage is 61 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Château de l’Hermitage → back through Hôtel de ville is 61 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Hôtel de ville → Terril 32 is 62 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.