On the edge of Waziers, near Douai, the cités de la Solitude are rows of brick houses built by a mining company for its workers, laid out in neat streets with small gardens. Such company towns, the cités minières, were the backbone of life in the coal basin of northern France, providing housing, schools, churches and shops for miners and their families, and they are among the most important elements of the Nord-Pas-de-Calais Mining Basin, listed by UNESCO in 2012. The name Solitude seems almost ironic for a place built to house so many people close together.
The houses vary in style according to their era and company: early barracks-like terraces, later semi-detached houses with gardens and, in the twentieth century, garden-city layouts with trees and green spaces. Each family typically had a vegetable garden, a shed and sometimes a pigeon loft, as racing pigeons were a passion among miners. Life revolved around the pit, the church and the café, and the mining companies controlled much of daily life. Many cités have since been renovated and are still lived in, often by descendants of miners.
Douai, close by, is a historic town with a magnificent Gothic belfry, one of the UNESCO-listed belfries of Belgium and France, and every summer it celebrates the Gayant festival, when giant figures representing a family of giants parade through the streets. The Scarpe river runs through town, and the old centre has elegant eighteenth-century buildings. The surrounding countryside is flat and agricultural, punctuated by terrils and pitheads.
Riding in this area means flat roads, roundabouts and traffic around the towns, but quieter routes through villages and along canals. The region is known for its cobbled roads, some of which feature in the Paris–Roubaix cycle race, and they can be challenging on a motorcycle, especially when wet. Waziers and Douai have fuel stations and restaurants. Try local specialities like waterzooi, a creamy stew of chicken or fish, and a glass of local beer, and visit the old pitheads and terrils nearby to complete the picture.