Raismes Things to Do

There were many coal mines in this region.

Here you see the remains of the mine of Arenberg. The big elevator towers still remain as silent witnesses of a successful past. The closing of the many mines has been terrible for the economics and social situation in this region.

Nowadays some of these mines can be visited, like the coal mine of Wallers Arenberg; you can see the mining site with its 3 frames, mine buildings, which are a living reconstitution of coal mining and its miners.

Just near the entance of the cobbled road of Arenberg there is an information board of Paris - Roubaix.

It says : Welcome to the Cobbled sector of Paris - Roubaix.

It gives some information on the track of the race, the winners and the loosers.

The Hell of the North is the other name for the final of the Race classic Paris - Roubaix.

And one of worst parts of this legendary race is certainly the passage through the wood of Wallers - Arenberg.

Our tour trip passed at the entry of this road, well I don't know if you still can name this cobbled road a road, as it is in such bad condition.

As you can see cars are not allowed to pass here only bicycles are allowed to pass here.

Lucky for us, we did not take this road.

Along certain roads there are bicycle tracks. And if you are riding on your own or in a small group it is obliged that you use these bicycle tracks.

But it can happen that these tracks are in bad condition, that these tracks are full of small stones or even rests of glass, and then of course it is better to ride on the road. It is certainly better for tour tyres. It is not so funny if you need to stop to repair a flat tyre.

Of course for bigger groups it is safer and also allowed to ride on the road.

I know that in Belgium you are allowed to dive on the road if your group is bigger then 15 persons. I am not certain what the regulations are in France.

Most roads are in good condition. Of course you should know that this region is also the region where the Classic Race Paris - Roubaix passes, and those who know this race they know that one of the characteristics of this race are the cobbled roads.

Lucky for us, the organisers did choose better roads for us; otherwise the day would have ended with a sour but.

There are many woods in this area, like the big woods of Raismes, St-Amand, and Wallers.

So it was great to ride along these avenues. For many kilometres we did ride in the green, natural background. That was great; it was quiet and away from heavy car traffic.

I told you before that this must be a great region to do some mountain biking, may be an idea for next year . . .

Randonnee = tour trip
Muguet =lily-of-the-valley.

As in this region it is a custom that everyone buys a bouquet of lily-of-the valley for his beloved one.

So as I was visiting this beautiful and hospitable region, I wanted to participate with this custom. So I also bought a small bouquet of flowers.

It is so strange that custom can change per region, as I live about 70 – 80 km from this region. And in my region this does not exist. This proves that you not always have to fly to the other side of the world to discover something new.

The name of this tour trip was Randonnee du Muguet.

This organisation had trips for race bikes and also trips for mountainbikes.

For both trips there were different distances.

For the race bike you could choose from 20km / 40 km / 65 km / 80km and 90 km.

For the mountainbike (VTT) you could choose from 15km / 25km / 40 km.

As there so much woods in this region it must be fantastic to do some mountainbiking.

But I was here with my race bike and I decided to do the 65 km
.