Why this ride
From Noyelles-sous-Lens it runs 145 km to Noyelles-sous-Lens; allow about 2 h 56 of riding. It goes by way of Cité n°2, Hôtel de ville, Château Mercier et maisons d’ingénieur and Cités du Nouveau Monde et des Fleurs.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Cité Bellevue ancienne and Cités du Nouveau Monde et des Fleurs
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 145 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 56
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. 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 Bellevue ancienne
Cité Bellevue means beautiful view, and in this part of the Pas-de-Calais the joke, whether intended or not, is that the view is of other mining estates and a skyline of terrils. Noyelles-sous-Lens lies right beside Lens, the old capital of the coalfield, in a landscape that feels like one continuous town. The mines here were among the richest in France, and also among the most dangerous. The Courrières disaster of 1906, in which more than a thousand miners died, happened only a few kilometres away, and it remains the worst mining accident in European history.
Read the complete Cité Bellevue ancienne write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Cité Bellevue ancienne is where the day begins. Next is Cité n°2.
2. Cité n°2
Mazingarbe is a small town on the northern edge of the mining basin, with the terraced rows of a miners' cité running down streets of red brick, and nearly twelve thousand people live in neighbouring Bully-les-Mines. The Cité Foch and the Cité Bellevue are two of the estates that mark this stretch of the basin on the map. The cité, built by the coal company for its workers, usually came with a school, a church, a company shop and a community hall, so that the pit shaped a whole life.
Read the complete Cité n°2 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Cité n°2 comes up 17 km in. Next is Hôtel de ville.
3. Hôtel de ville
Bruay-la-Buissière is a mining town that grew from almost nothing into a busy industrial centre in less than a century, and its town hall, an imposing building in the heart of town, is a statement of that civic pride. The label points to the Hôtel de ville, one of the many urban and public buildings of the mining era that are part of the Nord-Pas de Calais Mining Basin World Heritage site. It sits on the western end of the coalfield, where the plain begins to rise towards the chalk hills of Artois.
Read the complete Hôtel de ville write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
33 km in you reach Hôtel de ville. Next is Château Mercier et maisons d’ingénieur.
4. Château Mercier et maisons d’ingénieur
Mining companies built for rank as well as for need. The ordinary miners got brick cottages in terraces, but the engineers and directors got something grander, detached houses with larger gardens and, for the top man, a house that was called a château and looked like one. Château Mercier at Mazingarbe belongs to that tradition, and the ride titles pair it with the engineers' houses. A walk through the old cité shows you the whole hierarchy of a company town in a few hundred metres, from the pit and the cottages to the engineers' row and the director's lawn. UNESCO's 2012 listing of the mining basin covers this social geography as much as the machinery.
Read the complete Château Mercier et maisons d’ingénieur write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Château Mercier et maisons d’ingénieur, about halfway. Next is Cités du Nouveau Monde et des Fleurs.
5. Cités du Nouveau Monde et des Fleurs
The coal companies were not short of optimism when they named their housing. In Bruay-la-Buissière, two neighbouring cités were called the New World and the Flowers, and their brick houses with front gardens, laid out along tidy streets, were meant to sell a better life to the families who came from across France, Poland, Italy and North Africa to work the pits. They belong to the Nord-Pas de Calais Mining Basin World Heritage Site, and they remain ordinary homes, so look respectfully.
Read the complete Cités du Nouveau Monde et des Fleurs write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Cités du Nouveau Monde et des Fleurs sits at 66 km, about halfway. Next is back through Château Mercier et maisons d’ingénieur.
6. back through Château Mercier et maisons d’ingénieur
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Château Mercier et maisons d’ingénieur write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Château Mercier et maisons d’ingénieur comes up 83 km in. Next is back through Hôtel de ville.
7. back through Hôtel de ville
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Hôtel de ville write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
99 km in you reach back through Hôtel de ville. Next is back through Cité n°2.
8. back through Cité n°2
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cité n°2 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Cité n°2, late in the day. Next is Cité Bellevue ancienne.
9. Cité Bellevue ancienne
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cité Bellevue ancienne 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 145 km.
Leg by leg
Cité Bellevue ancienne to Cité n°2
Cité Bellevue ancienne → Cité n°2 is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cité n°2 to Hôtel de ville
Cité n°2 → Hôtel de ville is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Hôtel de ville to Château Mercier et maisons d’ingénieur
Hôtel de ville → Château Mercier et maisons d’ingénieur is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Château Mercier et maisons d’ingénieur to Cités du Nouveau Monde et des Fleurs
Château Mercier et maisons d’ingénieur → Cités du Nouveau Monde et des Fleurs is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cités du Nouveau Monde et des Fleurs to back through Château Mercier et maisons d’ingénieur
Cités du Nouveau Monde et des Fleurs → back through Château Mercier et maisons d’ingénieur is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Château Mercier et maisons d’ingénieur to back through Hôtel de ville
back through Château Mercier et maisons d’ingénieur → back through Hôtel de ville is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Hôtel de ville to back through Cité n°2
back through Hôtel de ville → back through Cité n°2 is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cité n°2 to Cité Bellevue ancienne
back through Cité n°2 → Cité Bellevue ancienne is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.