Why this ride
From Anzin it runs 153 km to Anzin; allow about 2 h 26 of riding. On the way it passes Ensemble minier des Argales, Cité Bruno, Dispensaire Société de Secours Mutuel and back through Cité Bruno.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Château Dampierre and Dispensaire Société de Secours Mutuel
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 153 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 26
- 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.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Château Dampierre
Anzin, on the northern edge of Valenciennes, is where coal mining in northern France began on an industrial scale. In the eighteenth century, the Compagnie des mines d'Anzin became one of the largest companies in France, and its mines, workers' housing, slag heaps and buildings shaped the landscape of the region. Château Dampierre is one of the buildings linked to that history, and it is part of the UNESCO listing of the Nord-Pas de Calais Mining Basin, inscribed in 2012, which preserves more than a hundred sites across a vast area: pits, headframes, miners' cités, churches, schools and the great black spoil heaps known as terrils. The big miners' strike at Anzin in 1884 helped inspire Émile Zola's novel Germinal.
Read the complete Château Dampierre write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Château Dampierre is where the day begins. Next is Ensemble minier des Argales.
2. Ensemble minier des Argales
At Rieulay, in the middle of the Scarpe valley, the terril des Argales is one of the largest spoil heaps in France, a vast, flat-topped plateau of mining waste stretching for well over a kilometre. Once a stark, black wasteland, it has been transformed into a nature and leisure area, with a lake at its foot, trails, viewpoints and a nature reserve where rare plants and birds have found a home. The site, together with nearby mining remains, is part of the Nord-Pas-de-Calais Mining Basin, listed by UNESCO in 2012.
Read the complete Ensemble minier des Argales write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Ensemble minier des Argales comes up about 27 km into the recorded legs. Next is Cité Bruno.
3. Cité Bruno
Dourges sits between Lens and Douai, in the very middle of the old coal basin, and the Cité Bruno is one of the rows of brick homes the mining company put up for its workers. What stays with you is the quiet. A district that once lay under smoke now has pigeons on the roofs, bicycles against the walls and hedges clipped square, and the street plan, with its straight lines and identical frontages, makes it feel like a stage set for a very ordinary life. Château Dampierre, the name that goes with this stop, is a reminder that the land around here also belonged to owners and gentry long before the pits, so there is a country-house layer under the industrial one.
Read the complete Cité Bruno write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 52 km into the recorded legs you reach Cité Bruno. Next is Dispensaire Société de Secours Mutuel.
4. Dispensaire Société de Secours Mutuel
A dispensary may seem an odd thing to visit, but this is a monument to something remarkable. In the nineteenth century the coal companies of northern France built housing, schools, churches and clinics for their workers, partly out of paternalism and partly to keep a stable workforce, and the miners themselves set up mutual aid societies, the sociétés de secours mutuel, to pay for doctors, medicines and funerals. The dispensary at Bully-les-Mines belongs to that world of care and control, and it is one of the buildings that explain why UNESCO listed the whole mining basin in 2012. The brick architecture has a plain, solid dignity, and the sense of a community looking after its own is easy to feel.
Read the complete Dispensaire Société de Secours Mutuel write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Dispensaire Société de Secours Mutuel, about halfway. Next is back through Cité Bruno.
5. back through Cité Bruno
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cité Bruno write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Cité Bruno sits at 101 km, about halfway. Next is back through Ensemble minier des Argales.
6. back through Ensemble minier des Argales
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Ensemble minier des Argales write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Ensemble minier des Argales comes up about 124 km into the recorded legs. Next is Château Dampierre.
7. Château Dampierre
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Château Dampierre write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Château Dampierre closes the day.
Leg by leg
Château Dampierre to Ensemble minier des Argales
Château Dampierre → Ensemble minier des Argales is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Ensemble minier des Argales to Cité Bruno
Ensemble minier des Argales → Cité Bruno is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cité Bruno to Dispensaire Société de Secours Mutuel
Cité Bruno → Dispensaire Société de Secours Mutuel is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Dispensaire Société de Secours Mutuel to back through Cité Bruno
Dispensaire Société de Secours Mutuel → back through Cité Bruno is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cité Bruno to back through Ensemble minier des Argales
back through Cité Bruno → back through Ensemble minier des Argales is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Ensemble minier des Argales to Château Dampierre
back through Ensemble minier des Argales → Château Dampierre is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.