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 245 km round trip from Haillicourt - roughly 4 h 13 in the saddle. On the way it passes Terrils 143 et 143 a, Belfort en Stadhuis and back through Terrils 143 et 143 a. It crosses from France into Belgium - carry ID and check the toll rules.
Two near-perfect black cones rise from the farmland between Ruitz, Maisnil-lès-Ruitz and Haillicourt, and once you have spotted them you will keep seeing them for miles. These twin terrils, the spoil heaps of former coal pits, are among the tallest in the Nord-Pas de Calais basin and have become something of a regional emblem. They look volcanic, which in a way they are: shale and waste rock tipped there for decades by the mining companies, slowly settling into steep, smooth pyramids that turn purple-grey in rain and almost silver in bright sun.
Read the complete Terrils Jumeaux 28 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Terrils Jumeaux 28 is where the day begins. Next is Terrils 143 et 143 a.
East of Douai, the Scarpe river winds through a green valley of marshes, woods and meadows, and rising out of it, near Pecquencourt and Lallaing, are the heaps numbered 143 and 143a, spoil from the mines that once operated here. Today they are part of the Scarpe-Escaut regional nature park and the World Heritage listing of the mining basin, and they are covered with trees and paths, home to birds and plants.
Read the complete Terrils 143 et 143 a write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Terrils 143 et 143 a comes up about 61 km into the recorded legs. Next is Belfort en Stadhuis.
British soldiers marching to the front in the First World War left Ypres by the road that led east towards Menen, and the gate they passed through became the Menin Gate, now a memorial bearing the names of more than fifty thousand soldiers with no known grave. Menen itself, about twenty kilometres from Ypres, sits right on the French border, on the river Leie, which the French call the Lys, and its town hall and belfry, standing on the market square, are part of the UNESCO listing of the belfries of Belgium and France. The belfry, like much of the town, was damaged in the war and rebuilt, and it remains the proud symbol of the town's civic history.
Read the complete Belfort en Stadhuis write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 122 km into the recorded legs you reach Belfort en Stadhuis. Next is back through Terrils 143 et 143 a.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Terrils 143 et 143 a write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Terrils 143 et 143 a, late in the day. Next is Terrils Jumeaux 28.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Terrils Jumeaux 28 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Terrils Jumeaux 28. That is the ride.
Terrils Jumeaux 28 → Terrils 143 et 143 a is 61 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Terrils 143 et 143 a → Belfort en Stadhuis is 61 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Belfort en Stadhuis → back through Terrils 143 et 143 a is 61 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Terrils 143 et 143 a → Terrils Jumeaux 28 is 61 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.