Why this ride
From Marles-les-Mines it runs 148 km to Marles-les-Mines; allow about 2 h 38 of riding. The stops in between: Cité d’Auchy, Cité Crombez, Terril 125a and back through Cité Crombez. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Chevalement du Vieux-Deux and Terril 125a
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 148 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 38
- 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. Chevalement du Vieux-Deux
Marles-les-Mines is a small town of about six thousand people west of Béthune, in the hilly western fringe of the coalfield, and the headframe known as the Vieux-Deux, the old Number Two, stands among its houses as a stubborn monument. The Compagnie des mines de Marles sank its shafts here in the nineteenth century, and the pit worked until the twentieth. The tall frame has been preserved, and together with the nearby terril and the cités around it, forms part of the Nord-Pas-de-Calais Mining Basin, the World Heritage Site listed in 2012.
Read the complete Chevalement du Vieux-Deux write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Chevalement du Vieux-Deux is where the day begins. Next is Cité d’Auchy.
2. Cité d’Auchy
Rows of identical brick houses with small gardens, laid out in straight lines or gentle curves, each with its own vegetable plot and outhouse: the cité at Auchy-les-Mines is a textbook example of the miners' housing built by mining companies in northern France. The companies provided homes, schools, churches and shops, both to attract workers and to control them, and the cités, with their distinctive layouts and architecture, are a central part of the World Heritage listing of the Nord-Pas de Calais Mining Basin.
Read the complete Cité d’Auchy write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Cité d’Auchy comes up about 22 km into the recorded legs. Next is Cité Crombez.
3. Cité Crombez
Cité Crombez is a miners' settlement at Noyelles-Godault, on the eastern edge of Hénin-Beaumont, in the heart of the old coal basin between Lens and Douai. Built by the mining company to house its workers, it has the classic layout of brick houses, gardens and straight streets, and it is part of the Nord-Pas de Calais Mining Basin World Heritage site. Today it is a quiet residential area, surrounded by shopping centres, motorways and the remains of heavy industry.
Read the complete Cité Crombez write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 49 km into the recorded legs you reach Cité Crombez. Next is Terril 125a.
4. Terril 125a
On the southern edge of the coal basin, where Auberchicourt, Écaillon and Aniche run into one another, a long spoil heap rises above the brick roofs and the fields. Terril 125a is one of the many numbered heaps that the Nord-Pas de Calais inventory catalogues, and it belongs to the old concession of the Compagnie des mines d'Aniche, one of the historic coal companies of the region. Aniche itself is a reminder that the north was not only about coal: the town had a long glassmaking tradition, and the combination of fuel, sand and labour made the area an industrial hub well before the twentieth century.
Read the complete Terril 125a write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Terril 125a, about halfway. Next is back through Cité Crombez.
5. back through Cité Crombez
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cité Crombez write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Cité Crombez sits at 103 km, about halfway. Next is back through Cité d’Auchy.
6. back through Cité d’Auchy
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cité d’Auchy write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Cité d’Auchy comes up about 126 km into the recorded legs. Next is Chevalement du Vieux-Deux.
7. Chevalement du Vieux-Deux
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Chevalement du Vieux-Deux write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Chevalement du Vieux-Deux closes the day.
Leg by leg
Chevalement du Vieux-Deux to Cité d’Auchy
Chevalement du Vieux-Deux → Cité d’Auchy is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cité d’Auchy to Cité Crombez
Cité d’Auchy → Cité Crombez is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cité Crombez to Terril 125a
Cité Crombez → Terril 125a is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Terril 125a to back through Cité Crombez
Terril 125a → back through Cité Crombez is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cité Crombez to back through Cité d’Auchy
back through Cité Crombez → back through Cité d’Auchy is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cité d’Auchy to Chevalement du Vieux-Deux
back through Cité d’Auchy → Chevalement du Vieux-Deux is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.