The headframe is the giveaway. In the low, watery country between Lallaing, Anhiers and Flines-lez-Raches, the steel or concrete winding towers of old coal pits still stand as markers, and Fosse n°2 de Flines is one of the sites that recall the industry that shaped this corner of the Douai area. A fosse in the local vocabulary is a pit with its shafts, buildings and spoil heap, and around each one a small world grew: rows of brick housing, a church, a school, and the company offices that ran the lives of everyone underground and above it.
This eastern part of the Nord-Pas de Calais basin is different from the Artois hills further west. It is flat, wet and green, laced with drainage ditches, ponds and the Scarpe river, and parts of the land sank as coal was taken out beneath it, so marshes and lakes formed where there were none before. Some of these subsidence ponds are now nature reserves full of herons, coots and reed warblers. Mining, in other words, did not just leave scars; it rearranged the water, and the landscape is still adjusting.
Riding here is calm, low-gradient work. The roads link villages and towns in short straight sections, crossing canals and railway lines, with roundabouts at every turn and speed humps in residential streets. You will find patches of old pavé in some places, which can be treacherous after rain. The Scarpe valley toward Marchiennes and the forest of Marchiennes add a bit of shade and a softer feel, and the north side of the area drifts toward the forested country around Saint-Amand. Morning mist over the ponds in autumn can be beautiful, though it can also hang on longer than you would like.
Lallaing and Flines-lez-Raches are sizeable enough for fuel stations, bakeries and small supermarkets, and Douai, a short ride away, has the full range of cafés and restaurants as well as one of the finest belfries in the region. Take a break here to walk around the pit site and the nearby cités, look at the details of the housing, the gardens and the brickwork, and imagine the noise and dust of a working shaft. The quiet that has replaced it is pleasant enough, but it is a quiet with a lot of memory folded into it.