Cycling in Bergen

Meeting place de Mesvin in Mesvin, district of Mons. Keep the place with the trees on your right and pedal left at the T-junction. Follow Rue du Point du Jour. Where it becomes a dead end, turn right and head towards the fields. At the end, you cross the bridge over La Wampe and pedal left. At the next fork, choose the left again. In the background you can see the Bois Là-Haut or the Bois de Mons. Continue cycling to the Ferme du Fief 1. In this square farmhouse from 1779 with a four-storey dovecote, follow the Rue du Petit Spiennes on the right to the end. On the right, it's dead. Then turn left.

Cross La Trouille, ignore two streets on the right and pedal left on the Place de Spiennes. Keep the church of Spiennes with a 1753 tower on your left and continue by bike to the T-junction. Turn left until you reach the Chaussée de Beaumont. Cross it and continue by bike along Arthur Duquesne Street, towards Saint-Symphorien. Don't worry about secondary roads and take the path for cyclists on a football field on the left, towards the centre of Saint-Symphorien. This parish path takes you to the Saint-Symphorien church. Cycle between the picturesque square and the church and continue your way next to the café Les Tilleuls via Rue François Marcq. One-way traffic, but not for cyclists. Impressive panorama Cross the Chaussée du Roi Baudouin and continue by bike along Rue Jules Antheunis. Where it turns left, continue by bike straight into Rue des Résistants. The cobblestones turn into asphalt and the crucifix turn left into the Chemin d'Havré. First loose buildings, then along the Bois d'Havré and further between the fields and again loose buildings up to a roundabout. Then take the second street on the right, rue Salvador Allende, direction Villers-Saint-Ghislain. On a triangular square, you continue straight ahead and a little further, you ignore another secondary road on the left. From now on, you can enjoy an impressive 360-degree panorama.

You will arrive at the busy N90. Cross it and continue cycling towards Vellereille-le-Sec via Rue Vellereille-le-Sec, a paved road through fields with a number of wind turbines on the left. At the end, in a yellow-blue house, turn right and at the fork left into rue de la Buissière. He goes on to talk about the cobblestones. At the intersection with a dirt road on the left and rue G. Gaillez on the right, you continue straight. The cobblestones turn into asphalt, the road becomes hollow and it climbs.

When you get off the hollow road, you can enjoy beautiful views again. At the crossroads, cross the Binche-Givry road and continue cycling towards Haulchin. At the first crossroads, turn right onto Rue de la Station. At the end, you pedal almost straight along the Place de Waressaix with a tree in a kind of kiosk and the cafes Le Vieux Haulchin and Le Waressaix. Continue to pedal straight ahead and take the first street on the left, rue Chanoine Cauchie. At the fork, at the top wall, turn left again, direction R.U.S. Haulchin. You climb gently between loose buildings and after the Dimitri Penant Stadium, where the R.U.S. Haulchin football team plays its home games, you enter the open landscape. You have the church of Croix-lez-Rouveroy in sight.

Farms and square chapels

At the Ferme du Village, a large square farm of the mid-nineteenth century, you leave the rue Paul Fasseaux on the right and pedal straight into the rue du Village. At the crossroads, take rue du Château on the left, direction Fauroeulx. At the T-junction you come to a high wall with an iron fence and a gate. Behind it is a dilapidated building. At the door are two panels with Old Castle and Old Convent of the Sisters of Amiens on it. Right. You will pass the Ferme du Colombier, a white square farmhouse, and in front of the chapel Notre-Dame de l'Assomption of the seventeenth century

Cross the road to Lobbes and continue cycling along Sebastopol Street between meadows and fields. Turn right onto the first road. In two large sheds you turn with the road to the right and walk along the castle estate wall to the church. Keep it on your right and the castle of Rouveroy on your left. At the fork, turn left and arrive at the N40. Follow it on the left towards Beaumont and turn right onto Sainte-Barbe Street. At the crossroads with a chapel, keep right.

You will pass in front of the chapel Notre-Dame de la Salette (1867) and the farm of Petit Rigneu (eighteenth-nineteenth century). Then you go into the fields and enjoy a beautiful view on your right. Don't worry about side roads, pass a lonely warehouse and a few houses, and then you arrive at the Belgian-French border. Here you can read on a sign that a tree was planted by the municipality of Estinnes in 1989 in memory of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen of 1789. Not much is seen of the tree that was planted twenty-five years ago. If human rights are as bad as this tree, then things are bad. The road becomes a bit unpaved. Ignore all secondary roads and climb to the T-junction.

On the other side of the border You are now in Villers-Sire-Nicole in France. Follow the D228 on the right. Ignore all secondary roads again, cross the border unnoticed and continue cycling to Chaussée Brunehaut. Cross it and continue cycling to an intersection. Turn left and turn left again at the crossroads afterwards. You now climb gently on a hollow paved road. When it is no longer hollow, you can enjoy the umpteenth 360-degree panorama. At the crossroads, just before the N563, take the unnamed road on the right. Through this narrow paved road you reach the N546.

On the other side is a sign indicating a bike path. Cross the road and follow the bike path to the left. It is a strong example of Hainaut humour. The dotted bike path is almost completely overgrown with weeds and you pedal along a path no more than thirty centimeters wide. Take the first road on the right, direction Harveng. Turn left at the fork. Cross La Wampe, ignore a street on the right and walk along the Ferme d'en Bas, where you can stay in a cottage on the farm. On the left you have a view of Harveng Castle from 1785. Ignore the street to the right of the farm and continue straight until you reach the T-junction.

Turn right and at the crossroads with Harveng Church in the background, turn left. Now you go up the rue de la Roche, towards News. Ignore all secondary roads and continue until you reach a triangular square with the municipal school of News. Turn left towards Mons. You will arrive at the busy Chaussée de Maubeuge. On the other side is the ramp of the R5 towards Paris.

Carefully cross the N6 and take the narrow paved road parallel to the motorway. The asphalt turns into cobblestones, you cross the By, ignore a road on the left and continue pedaling on the tiles. At the first crossroads, follow rue Brunehaut on the right and at the crossroads turn right. You now start a difficult climb, along the FC Ciply football field to the Chaussée de Maubeuge. On the other side, continue to follow Rue Brunehaut. Ignore all secondary roads, dive under the railway, pass the church and the old town hall of Mesvin and turn left onto the road to Hyon. You are immediately back at the starting point.