We liked Avion last time we were here a couple of months ago but didn't have our e bikes with us as that was a motorbike holiday.
Came back in today and we had noted you could cycle to Lens and there was a "veloroute de bassin miners" to Henin Beaume in one direction and Lens and beyond in the other.
A bit of pre cycle reading and this area is being regenerated from mining pits. You can see the slag heaps all over the place. Further reading and there's a place up the road Nœuvy Les mines that has turned a slag heaps into a skiing centre and is the lowest altitude ski resort in France. We will also check out an aire tomorrow at Heliers which is a 19 km cycle to Lille Cathedral along a canal.
The voie verte we were going on is about a km from the aire at Avion. The start didn't install confidence
But it improved with nice tarmac and in my mind had to be an old mining railway track,
The surface changed to hard ground but still solid and now shaded with tunnel like trees
Then a cycle/walk around Les parc d'isles which is quite big and loads of picnic spots with slides swings and a boardwalk through the lakes. On mapy.cz it suggested paragliding as well ! This was backed up by some of the reading about the park. No evidence of paragliding located !
Then into Henin Beaume which had an outstanding hotel de ville and an impressive shut church which looked like a bassillica but very little else.
Came back in today and we had noted you could cycle to Lens and there was a "veloroute de bassin miners" to Henin Beaume in one direction and Lens and beyond in the other.
A bit of pre cycle reading and this area is being regenerated from mining pits. You can see the slag heaps all over the place. Further reading and there's a place up the road Nœuvy Les mines that has turned a slag heaps into a skiing centre and is the lowest altitude ski resort in France. We will also check out an aire tomorrow at Heliers which is a 19 km cycle to Lille Cathedral along a canal.
The voie verte we were going on is about a km from the aire at Avion. The start didn't install confidence
But it improved with nice tarmac and in my mind had to be an old mining railway track,
The surface changed to hard ground but still solid and now shaded with tunnel like trees
Then a cycle/walk around Les parc d'isles which is quite big and loads of picnic spots with slides swings and a boardwalk through the lakes. On mapy.cz it suggested paragliding as well ! This was backed up by some of the reading about the park. No evidence of paragliding located !
Then into Henin Beaume which had an outstanding hotel de ville and an impressive shut church which looked like a bassillica but very little else.
