biking tour Flandre Côte d'Opale

Located at the foot of the Dunes of Flanders more specifically in Bray-Dunes, the brewery welcomes you from Thursday to Saturday. All beers are brewed and packaged. They are not pasteurized thus allowing a conservation of all the flavors. Local products made with Diabinte beer (Potjevleesch, Carbonnade, Terrine, Dry Sausage, Pâté, Bread and Pasta) present in the showroom will allow you to accompany the beers. Brewing workshops and visit of the workshop by reservation.

The Marchand dune is located on the North Sea coast east of Dunkerque. It is part of the Dunes of Flanders. It forms a natural and diversified environment in permanent evolution. The variety of environments present on the nature reserve attracts a very diversified fauna. In the pools, refuges, many amphibians enjoy the food present: we discover the toads calamitus, crested newts or red frogs accompanied by a few dragonflies (blood sympétrum, wild ballast ...). In spring, we can recognize the song of the nightingale philomèle hidden in thickets. With nearly 400 species, this site is home to a wide variety of flora. The oyat or the sea buckthorn are very present. For the curious, other botanical treasures characterize this exceptional space. Sandworm is one example: although rare on this site, it is well adapted to the salty land of the seaside. Its root system helps to preserve the dune from erosion. On the embryonic dune, we find some pioneer plants adapted to a high salinity such as quackgrass and sea cakilier. The gray dune owes its name to the predominant colors of mosses and lichens. This botanical procession colonizes soils left bare, very poor in food. Their installation avoids soil erosion and allows the attachment of sand. These environments are nevertheless very fragile: trampling too often repeated threatens the species present. Made up of clear lawns, the gray dune hosts plants adapted to the particularly dry conditions of the environment: this explains the small size of the plants present. Their leaves are often picked, hairy and fleshy like those of large plants. These adaptations allow them to withstand wind, drought and salt air. The Northern Wheatear is also a bird of the gray dune. It has a preference for open areas that represent an ideal place for catching insects such as butterflies or caterpillars ... In the dunes, we find wetlands called "failures", totally different from gray dunes. These environments are just as exceptional at the ecological level.

Built in 1910 for the exclusive needs of the Sanatorium, it includes a set of buildings distributed on the sides of a quadrilateral 100 m wide by 170 deep. It is a rather unique example of an industrial farm, both in size and in its mode of operation. Together with the two other traditional farms, it formed a group whose vocation was to meet all the Sanatorium's food needs. His specialty was the production of food of animal origin, as evidenced by the assignment of shared buildings between stables, barns, pigsty, henhouse, dairy and slaughterhouse. Housing had been planned to accommodate all staff. During the events of 1940 she was the main infirmary of the Navy following the evacuation of the clinic Villette of Dunkerque. The very damaged Farm after the war kept its use until 1971 when the North Farm was put at the disposal of the Urban Community of Dunkirk. From 1977 to 1985 it was the center of an animation center linked to the creation of the Leisure and Nature Base of the North Coast. Since then, the North Farm is disused, it is the departmental guards who occupy it

With its buildings hidden under the sand, the Fort des Dunes is a remarkable example of military architecture designed by General Séré de Rivières. It was built in 1878, at the same time as the so-called Zuydcoote battery, to protect Dunkirk and its port from any attack from the east. Following the invention of new explosives, he quickly lost any strategic role and was therefore used in barracks, which can accommodate 450 soldiers. During the Second World War, Fort des Dunes was at the heart of Operation Dynamo, which was the largest embarkation in history, allowing the evacuation of 338,000 Allied soldiers. A hundred soldiers perished there under intense German bombardment, including General Janssen, leader of the 12th Motorized Infantry Division. Other dramatic events took place during the war, including the execution of eight resistance fighters in 1944. After the war, the fort experienced various fortunes and long years of abandonment before being bought by the City of Leffrinckoucke in 1998. Superb witness to the military architecture of the nineteenth century, it is now intended to be a cultural and heritage site and a place of memory devoted to the Second World War

Built in 1881, this villa is one of the last wooden villas in perfect condition of Malo les Bains, it was renovated in 1996 to house the House of the Environment. Surrounded by a public park, a pond was restored in 2002, strips of lawns are left in the wild to shelter insects and promote biodiversity.

In 1403, while the ramparts are under construction, a small statue of the miraculous Virgin is discovered near a source of fresh water. The chapel Notre-Dame was built at this place. Inside, Italian decor, many exvoto and models of suspended boats. Every year on August 15 - procession of the Virgin during the blessing of the sea.

The Leughenaer tower is the oldest monument in the city. Dominating the Minck Square and its fish market, the tower also called Tour of the liar is the last of the twenty-eight of the XVth century enclosure. Legend has it that it deceived the enemy ships instead of driving them safely to the port, causing them to run aground on the many sandbanks and be looted.

In Flemish Renaissance style (1901), the Town Hall was built of stones and red bricks. Its astonishing belfry rises to 75 meters high. On the main facade stands an equestrian statue of Louis XIV who bought the city from the English in 1662. The belfry is not open to visitors, but you can admire in the main hall the magnificent stained glass window made by Félix Gaudin, commemorating the triumphant return of Jean Bart after his Texel victory. During the carnival of Dunkirk, it is from the balconies of the Town Hall that the mayor and officials throw some 500 kg of smoked herring to thousands of carnivals.

La Communauté urbaine de Dunkerque est la première communauté urbaine volontaire de France. Elle a été créée par décret le 21 Octobre 1968. C’est à partir du 1er Janvier 1969, que ce nouvel établissement public se met au travail. Depuis cette date la Communauté urbaine de Dunkerque agit pour le développement de l’agglomération et le bien-être de ses habitants. L’agglomération est en 2015 composée de 21 communes et communes associées, qui couvrent une partie de la Flandre maritime et toute la façade littorale du département du Nord.

Gateway to the arsenal of the navy due to Vauban, the door opens on the Marine Park, pleasant "green bubble" in the realm of shopping. Designed as a public walk, it is planted with granite columns by American sculptor Richard Jonas.

A unique witness to the orientalist architecture of the end of the 19th century, the construction of public baths in Dunkirk was initiated in the 1890s. The establishment alone fulfilled three functions: those of bath-showers, swimming pool and public washhouse. . Facade inscribed on the supplementary inventory of historical monuments.

The Petite-Synthe Fort Park is a nature area, a reservoir of Dunkirk's biodiversity (beehives, lake, etc.) In addition to its recreational and recreational dimension with its playground, its skateboard module, and its vast plain, this place is a privileged ground for the practice of sport thanks to its dedicated equipment. The "work" within it, which gives its name to the fort of Petite-Synthe, is the last witness of the military architecture of the beginning of the 20th century. Highly historical, the building is open to the public during guided tours organized on the occasion of the European Heritage Days (3rd weekend of September). Fort Petite-Synthe also hosts throughout the year flagship events of the territory, including the race Fort, the Fort en Fête (first weekend of June) and the "Cine Plein Air", film session in outdoors (August)

The peculiarity of this 3-hectare park is to offer visitors a little walk and discover small gardens accessible to all. It offers 4 remarkable playgrounds (from 1 to 12 years old). You will find several collections of annuals, perennials, shrubs and trees, supplemented by novelties every year. On-site services and activities: toilets-toilets, bandstand, weddings, children's playground, boules pitch, swings, educational activities, dogs not allowed, free parking. Schedule: Open all year. Every day except the mornings of Nov. 1, Nov. 11, Dec. 25, Jan. 1 Monday to Friday from 8am and Saturdays and Sundays from 10am. Closed at 17h from Nov to February; at 6 pm March and Oct .; at 7 pm April, May, June and Sept .; at 8 pm in July and August. Closing of the public garden from 11h50 to 13h30 except July and August.

The 130 hectare protected natural area of ​​Puythouck, known for its discovery trail, its 30-hectare lake, its wooded area (trees, flowers, lawns) and the great diversity of its fauna and flora, provides an ideal setting for relaxation and recreation. •• The experimental orchard is made up of many varieties of fruit trees. It's a place of research, of observation and learning, which is part of the protected natural area of ​​Puythouck. 03.28.21.64.24 •• The gardens of medicinal plants include more than 300 varieties of rare and common plants in phytotherapy. Guided tours, commented and free are proposed by the creator of the gardens, Professor André Caudron. (03.28.27.84.10). •• The Public Garden consists of 3 hectares of promenade and playgrounds for children. Opening hours: open every day from Monday to Friday from 8am and Saturdays and Sundays from 10am. Closed at 17h from November to February, at 18h in March and October, at 19h in April, May, June and September, at 20h in July and August. •• The Noord-Gracht is a 10.5 km water-based hiking trail with two circuits: a city loop and a loop at Puythouck. •• Prédembourg. Created in 2003 as a landscape protection between the city and the industrial zone, Grand-Prédembourg offers an ideal ecological walk to observe the local flora and fauna, including water birds. A total of 160,000 trees and shrubs were planted on its 80 hectares of woodland, grasslands and wetlands

The Nature House of Loon Plage offers you to discover Nature and the Environment through its different open spaces. Also, you will find, during your visit, a permanent exhibition and a temporary exhibition on the themes of nature, a space of discovery around bees, a teaching pond and specific punctual animations, educational workshops around bees and the biodiversity. The House of Nature also invites you to slip into the skin of a bee: for 30 minutes, you will enter a "simulator of life of bee" for an unprecedented experience! So it's up to you to play and succeed in your mission within the allotted time ... The House of Nature is also a complete service for you, visitors: a shop of books, souvenirs, discoveries and games; a multimedia area with games and applications and a children & family area.

Housed in a former Flemish farmhouse, the museum of traditional games will make you discover the pleasures of these games of yesterday and today. Possibility to organize birthday snacks.

The belfry tower, 27 meters high, is part of the historic ensemble of northern belfries inscribed in 2005 in addition to the Belgian belfries on the UNESCO World Heritage List. The square brick tower is topped by a lantern which houses the last bell of the city (which does not ring anymore). The austere architecture of the current belfry dates from its reconstruction in 1827, but the belfry exists before 1582. Repeated constantly since the eighteenth century, ruined in 1821, the old tower is deliberately demolished. The architect Gravez is responsible for a no-frills reconstruction. From the old tower it takes the foundations and the silhouette but simplifies the decoration.

The region chosen to host the Tourville project obviously had to answer to a historical legitimacy: to correspond to an area where this type of ship could have been built in the 17th century. Under Louis XIV, five large arsenals, Toulon, Rochefort, Brest, Le Havre and Dunkirk were intended for the construction of the kingdom's warships. The coast of Dunkirk, facing England and Holland, occupied a place of strategic importance and was the object of all the attention of Louis XIV who entrusted engineers Vauban and De Combes the task of developing the arsenal of Dunkirk and the fortified places of Gravelines and Bergues.

Sheltered in the powder magazine Arsenal built by Charles V from 1528, the exhibition "Estampes? collection (im) permanent "deploys by rotation 200 prints covering the five centuries of the western history of engraving. The presses, the tools, the demonstrations, the videos make it possible to apprehend an art which remains very close to the crafts. Since 1982, the Gravelines Museum of Original Drawing and Printmaking remains the only museum in France devoted solely to printmaking. Its educational workshops, its library, its artists' residences, its editions, its collection make this museum a place of reference and a place open to all. Each temporary exhibition shows the diversity of the practice of printmaking, its dynamism and its timeliness. The recent techniques of image creation and printing still promise a very bright future for this art that is both intimate and generous.