Picture a pit village at six in the morning in 1950: men walking to the headframe with their lunch tins, the siren calling the shift, the women already up and stoking the stoves, children getting ready for the company school. The ensemble around Fosse n°7, near Maisnil-lès-Ruitz and Barlin, preserves the setting for that daily routine: the pit buildings, the housing, the paths between them, and the terril rising nearby. It was a self-contained world, owned and run by the mining company, which provided houses, coal for heating, schools, churches and even doctors, in exchange for loyalty and hard work. The site is one of the many components of the Nord-Pas de Calais Mining Basin on the UNESCO list.
Life in the cités had its own rhythm and culture. Gardens were essential, providing vegetables and a bit of independence, and many men kept pigeons, racing them on weekends in clubs that still exist. The bains-douches, the pithead baths, allowed miners to wash before going home, a major improvement on the days when they arrived black from head to toe. The communal festivals, especially Sainte-Barbe on 4 December, the feast of the miners' patron saint, brought everyone together.
The riding around Barlin is a pleasant mix of mining country and the first hills of the Artois. The roads link the towns with frequent roundabouts and speed bumps, but head south or west and you quickly reach the countryside, with gentle climbs and curves through fields and woods. The twin terrils of Ruitz and Haillicourt are visible from many roads, and the Olhain forest, to the south, offers shaded roads and a leisure park. Surfaces are generally decent, though cobbles appear in some streets, and farm traffic is common. The weather is changeable, so carry rain gear.
Barlin, about two kilometres away, has fuel, bakeries, cafés and shops, and Bruay-la-Buissière, nearby, has more. Try a local beer from one of the small breweries of the north, if you have finished riding, with a plate of cheese from the region, such as maroilles or vieux-lille. Walk around the pit site and the housing, imagine the morning shift, and then ride into the Artois hills for a breath of fresh air. It is a landscape of memory, and it rewards a slow look.