Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Loos and Monument commémoratif de la Catastrophe de
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
155 km
Riding-time estimate
2 h 24
Journey
Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
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Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
From Loos it runs 155 km to Loos; allow about 2 h 24 of riding. The stops in between: Cité des Sports Wingles, Ensemble minier de la fosse n°7, Monument commémoratif de la Catastrophe de and back through Ensemble minier de la fosse n°7.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Loos
Loos is a town on the southwestern edge of Lille, and its town hall belfry is part of the same UNESCO family as the medieval towers of Bruges and Ghent, though it is a much more modern member. In this corner of Europe a belfry was the symbol of a town's independence from lord and church, and when the industrial towns of the Nord built new town halls in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, they gave them belfries too, as a statement that they had grown up. Loos's tower, in brick and stone, does exactly that.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Loos is where the day begins. Next is Cité des Sports Wingles.
2. Cité des Sports Wingles
Wingles is a town of nine thousand people in the old mining basin, sitting on the edge of the plain where the Lens-Béthune coal fields meet the canal of La Bassée. The coal here was dug from the mid-nineteenth century, and the town still bears the marks: rows of workers' houses, a handful of pit headframes, and slag heaps that rise from the farmland. The sports complex that gives this stop its name is a modern echo of the old social life of the mine, when companies built stadiums, bandstands and gymnasia for their workers, and brass bands and football clubs were as central to the community as the pit itself.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Cité des Sports Wingles comes up about 24 km into the recorded legs. Next is Ensemble minier de la fosse n°7.
3. Ensemble minier de la fosse n°7
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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 50 km into the recorded legs you reach Ensemble minier de la fosse n°7. Next is Monument commémoratif de la Catastrophe de.
4. Monument commémoratif de la Catastrophe de
On the morning of 10 March 1906, an explosion tore through the galleries of the Courrières mining company, killing well over a thousand miners. It remains the worst mining disaster in European history. Most of the victims came from the towns of Méricourt, Sallaumines and Billy-Montigny, and many were buried in a mass grave nearby. Twenty days after the explosion, thirteen survivors emerged from the darkness, having found their way through the ruined galleries, and their story became famous across Europe. The memorials in and around Sallaumines honour the dead and the rescuers, including German miners from Westphalia who came to help.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Loos closes the day.
Leg by leg
Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Loos to Cité des Sports Wingles
Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Loos → Cité des Sports Wingles is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cité des Sports Wingles to Ensemble minier de la fosse n°7
Cité des Sports Wingles → Ensemble minier de la fosse n°7 is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Ensemble minier de la fosse n°7 to Monument commémoratif de la Catastrophe de
Ensemble minier de la fosse n°7 → Monument commémoratif de la Catastrophe de is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Monument commémoratif de la Catastrophe de to back through Ensemble minier de la fosse n°7
Monument commémoratif de la Catastrophe de → back through Ensemble minier de la fosse n°7 is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Ensemble minier de la fosse n°7 to back through Cité des Sports Wingles
back through Ensemble minier de la fosse n°7 → back through Cité des Sports Wingles is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cité des Sports Wingles to Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Loos
back through Cité des Sports Wingles → Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Loos is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.