Why this ride
From Pecquencourt it runs 139 km to Pecquencourt; allow about 2 h 20 of riding. The stops in between: Cités de la Justice et du Moulin, Cité Deblock, Cité d’Auchy and Monument commémoratif de la Catastrophe de.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Cité Barrois and Monument commémoratif de la Catastrophe de
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 139 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 20
- 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. Cité Barrois
Rows of red-brick cottages, each with its garden, set along curving streets with trees: the Cité Barrois in Pecquencourt looks almost English, and that is no accident. In the later years of the coal era, the mining companies of northern France built garden cities for their workers, influenced by ideas from across the Channel about healthy housing and green space. This one is part of the Nord-Pas-de-Calais Mining Basin, listed by UNESCO in 2012 as an entire landscape of pits, slag heaps, workers' housing, schools, churches and railways spread over more than a hundred kilometres.
Read the complete Cité Barrois write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Cité Barrois is where the day begins. Next is Cités de la Justice et du Moulin.
2. Cités de la Justice et du Moulin
For almost three centuries, coal shaped the land between Valenciennes and Béthune in northern France, creating a landscape of pits, slag heaps, railway lines and miners' housing estates. The Nord-Pas de Calais Mining Basin was inscribed on the UNESCO list in 2012, and the Cités de la Justice et du Moulin in Auby are part of it: rows of brick houses built by the mining companies to house their workers, with gardens, churches, schools and shops, all organised around the pit. The cités are still inhabited, so treat them as neighbourhoods rather than museums.
Read the complete Cités de la Justice et du Moulin write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Cités de la Justice et du Moulin comes up about 16 km into the recorded legs. Next is Cité Deblock.
3. Cité Deblock
Sallaumines is one of those towns that merges into its neighbours until you cannot tell where one stops, and the whole built-up band between Lens and Hénin-Beaumont is mining country. Cité Deblock is one of the company housing estates that went up in the twentieth century as the mines expanded, with brick houses in rows or pairs, gardens at the front and back, and a layout planned by engineers who believed good housing kept a workforce loyal. The UNESCO listing of the Nord-Pas-de-Calais mining basin in 2012 covers a number of such estates, because together they show how an entire society was built around coal.
Read the complete Cité Deblock write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 33 km into the recorded legs you reach Cité Deblock. Next is Cité d’Auchy.
4. 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, about halfway. Next is Monument commémoratif de la Catastrophe de.
5. 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.
Read the complete Monument commémoratif de la Catastrophe de write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Monument commémoratif de la Catastrophe de sits at 67 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 89 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Cité Deblock.
7. back through Cité Deblock
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cité Deblock write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 107 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Cité Deblock. Next is back through Cités de la Justice et du Moulin.
8. back through Cités de la Justice et du Moulin
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cités de la Justice et du Moulin write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Cités de la Justice et du Moulin, late in the day. Next is Cité Barrois.
9. Cité Barrois
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cité Barrois write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 139 km.
Leg by leg
Cité Barrois to Cités de la Justice et du Moulin
Cité Barrois → Cités de la Justice et du Moulin is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cités de la Justice et du Moulin to Cité Deblock
Cités de la Justice et du Moulin → Cité Deblock is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cité Deblock to Cité d’Auchy
Cité Deblock → Cité d’Auchy is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cité d’Auchy to Monument commémoratif de la Catastrophe de
Cité d’Auchy → Monument commémoratif de la Catastrophe de is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Monument commémoratif de la Catastrophe de to back through Cité d’Auchy
Monument commémoratif de la Catastrophe de → back through Cité d’Auchy is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cité d’Auchy to back through Cité Deblock
back through Cité d’Auchy → back through Cité Deblock is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cité Deblock to back through Cités de la Justice et du Moulin
back through Cité Deblock → back through Cités de la Justice et du Moulin is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cités de la Justice et du Moulin to Cité Barrois
back through Cités de la Justice et du Moulin → Cité Barrois is 15 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.