Chevalement du n°1 bis de Liévin and Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Hesdin

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Chevalement du n°1 bis de Liévin

   Number 1 bis at Liévin was one of the shafts of the old Compagnie des mines de Liévin, and its headframe still stands, a lean tower against a sky that is often low and grey. It is protected as part of the Mining Basin World Heritage Site, listed in 2012, together with the terrils, the cités and a hundred or so other elements across the old coalfield. What strikes you is how ordinary it looks, a plain frame in an urban setting, and yet it stands for generations of men who went down in cages and came back up with faces black with coal.

   Read the complete Chevalement du n°1 bis de Liévin write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Chevalement du n°1 bis de Liévin is where the day begins. Next is Les cités des Musiciens.

2. 2. Les cités des Musiciens

   In Bruay-la-Buissière, the streets of one mining estate carry the names of composers, which is where the Cités des Musiciens get their name. The mining company laid out housing in neat rows of brick, with gardens, pavements and modest decorative touches, and gave the lanes names such as Mozart, Berlioz and Bizet, a gesture that mixes paternalism with a certain poetry. Whether the miners cared much about the choice is another question, but the estates have a distinctive atmosphere, and they are listed by UNESCO as part of the Nord-Pas de Calais Mining Basin.

   Read the complete Les cités des Musiciens write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Les cités des Musiciens comes up about 23 km into the recorded legs. Next is Terril 32.

3. 3. Terril 32

   Out on the western fringe of the coal basin, where the mining country fades into the farmland of the Lys valley and the edge of the Artois hills, Terril 32 rises near Norrent-Fontes, Mametz and Thérouanne. This is the far end of the seam, a long way from the dense cités around Lens and Douai, and the countryside feels it: smaller villages, more fields, more trees, and pits that were fewer and further between. The heap stands almost like a lone hill above the cropland, a reminder that coal reached even here.

   Read the complete Terril 32 write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 44 km into the recorded legs you reach Terril 32. Next is Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Hesdin.

4. 4. Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Hesdin

   Hesdin is a small market town in the green valley of the Canche, in the Pas-de-Calais, and it owes its existence to an act of destruction. The original town, a few kilometres upstream, was razed in 1553 by the forces of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, and a new fortified town was built here the following year as a strongpoint on the frontier between France and the Habsburg Netherlands. The grid of streets and the large market square still follow that plan. On the square stands the town hall, a former palace of the Habsburg governors, with a beautifully carved Renaissance balcony from which proclamations were read, and its belfry is part of the UNESCO list of belfries in Belgium and France.

   Read the complete Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Hesdin write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Hesdin, about halfway. Next is back through Terril 32.

5. 5. back through Terril 32

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Terril 32 write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Terril 32 sits at 121 km, about halfway. Next is back through Les cités des Musiciens.

6. 6. back through Les cités des Musiciens

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Les cités des Musiciens write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Les cités des Musiciens comes up about 137 km into the recorded legs. Next is Chevalement du n°1 bis de Liévin.

7. 7. Chevalement du n°1 bis de Liévin

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Chevalement du n°1 bis de Liévin write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Chevalement du n°1 bis de Liévin closes the day.