Number 1 bis at Liévin was one of the shafts of the old Compagnie des mines de Liévin, and its headframe still stands, a lean tower against a sky that is often low and grey. It is protected as part of the Mining Basin World Heritage Site, listed in 2012, together with the terrils, the cités and a hundred or so other elements across the old coalfield. What strikes you is how ordinary it looks, a plain frame in an urban setting, and yet it stands for generations of men who went down in cages and came back up with faces black with coal.
Daily life in the pits was hard and highly structured. The shift began at the lamp room, where each miner took a numbered lamp, then the cage dropped to the working levels, hundreds of metres down, where the seams ran in narrow layers. Dust, heat and firedamp were constant dangers, and silicosis haunted retired miners. The nicknames, the gueules noires, black faces, were worn with pride, and the solidarity among workers shaped the politics and culture of the whole region.
Outside the shaft, the company took care of everything, building housing, clinics, schools and sports clubs, and the cités around Liévin, such as the Cités de la Justice and du Moulin, show the type: long, uniform rows of brick houses with gardens, laid out in neat grids. Many are still lived in, so be considerate and keep noise to a minimum. A short walk takes you to one of the terrils, where a path climbs through birch scrub to a view over the plain.
Liévin has all the practical services you need, with fuel stations and supermarkets close to the old pit, and the neighbouring villages of Angres and Éleu-dit-Leauwette are quiet. The roads around are flat, with brick houses and the occasional cobbled stretch, so slow down on wet stones. A plate of frites with a carbonade, or a slab of Maroilles tart, is the proper post-ride meal. Grey days suit the place, giving the brick and steel their character.