2 Days in Douais

[siddo]

I'm going out solo and will spend Saturday and Sunday on the bike and plan to ride 6 hours or so to fill the day.

Does anyone know of any nice or scenic routes they can recommend or share, please?
Thanks in advance.

 

[Wapping]

For anyone wondering where Douai is….. it’s here…..

 

[Wapping]

Have you got a map

Six hours riding? We guess that’s three hours out and three hours back? How far that translates to your riding, is anyone’s guess. To kick off, look at anything that takes your fancy in the area roughly:

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There’s a very good WW1 museum in Peronne, if that’s your thing.

Péronne: Historical Museum - Historial de la Grande Guerre

Péronne: Historical Museum A leading museum dedicated to WWI, the Historial of the Great War captures the sheer scope and magnitude of the first global conflict, exploring its cultural, social […]

www.historial.fr

Of course there is no shortage of other WW1 ‘stuff’ too…. But, that’s useless advice if you find it all as dull as ditchwater and want to hoon the awesome instead. To give you an idea, Douai to Peronne, avoiding motorways and major N roads is about 40 miles, say an hour and a bit. To Chateau Thierry (at the bottom of the picture) it’s about 120 miles, using the same type of non-motorway roads; call that four hours, without a stop.

Your turn now…..



PS How do you come to find yourself with 48 hours to kill in Douai?

 

[siddo]

Thanks for responding.
I just picked Douai as it's easy to and from Coquells and it's a decent size town with bars and restaurants and some old buildings to look at.
I've done loads of memorial touring and prefer to ride and stop in small places for sandwich and coffees.
I wasn't sure whether to head to the coast or towards Belgium.
I could to exciting trip on TomTom or stick a destination in on the Zumo and see what the lucky dip pulls up.

 

[Wapping]

For two days away could have copied and then tweaked this:









It’s what I use to run a bike in over two days.

 

[Wapping]

It depends on what you mean by ‘Into Belgium’. On the map, you’ll see that Douai sits (to the north and north west of the town) in one of the most congested parts of France and Belgium. You’ll need to head across towards Dinant / Charleville Mezieres / Sainte Menehould (anywhere along the axis of those three) to free it up a bit.

You could work on this a bit as a 100 mile circular route starting and ending in Douai.



And another circular route, this one of 200 miles, again starting / ending in Douai:

 

[siddo]

Thanks Richard.
I'll take a proper look and tweak to accommodate.

 

[Wapping]

No problem

One of the challenges in choosing a town (in this case, Douai) is to assume that, just because it is across the Channel, there must be “Great roads, mate” littered around it. Often, for weekends away, it’s better to find the ‘Great roads’ and then find a town to stay in, somewhere near the middle.

Here’s something that might work, heading east from Douai to Charleville Mezieres, around in a circle, by taking the direct route down to Cambrais:

 

[siddo]

Nice one. Thanks for that.
I'll plug that in the XT.

 

[Wapping]

Job done.

Have a good time.

 

[Deleted account 240831001]

I’d head east, find a nice spot to pick up the river Meuse than follow it for a while, pick a restaurant by the river, have lunch then head back to base.

 

[Wapping]

Which is fine, except the fellow has asked for suggestions for two days

 

[leadfarmer]

The obvious places from there would be
Arras and Vimmy ridge,
Ypres in Belgium with the Menin Gate (be there for the last post every evening, it’s very moving),
A bit further south is Verdun with Duomont ossuary and the fort
To the north La Coupole, V2 and V1 rocket site and planetarium

 

[wessie]

Which is fine, except the fellow has asked for suggestions for two days

so on day 2 ride to the point where the Meuse and Semois rivers meet and follow the Semois to Bouillon and beyond toward the Lux border at Arlon. Then loop either north or south to get back to base. South then west towards Sedan, north to Esch sur Sure and back via Dinant.

Andy's premise to follow river valleys in that area is pretty sound.

 

[siddo]

Thanks Men.
I'll be able to sort something good with those suggestions.

 

[Deleted account 240831001]

Which is fine, except the fellow has asked for suggestions for two days

Go twice but head in the opposite direction when you hit the river the second day. If you. Aim for the right starting place and it’s a good place to ride whichever direction you go but you already knew that.

 

[Deleted account 240831001]

so on day 2 ride to the point where the Meuse and Semois rivers meet and follow the Semois to Bouillon and beyond toward the Lux border at Arlon. Then loop either north or south to get back to base. South then west towards Sedan, north to Esch sur Sure and back via Dinant.

Andy's premise to follow river valleys in that area is pretty sound.

As you well know, I’ve followed those rivers a few times on motorbikes and I’ve lost count of the number of time I’ve had beers and ice cream in riverside bars.