Why this ride
From La Bassée it runs 155 km to La Bassée; allow about 3 h 10 of riding. The stops in between: Les cités des Musiciens, Terril 32, Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Hesdin and back through Terril 32. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Cité d’Auchy and Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Hesdin
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 155 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 10
- 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 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 is where the day begins. Next is Les cités des Musiciens.
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 20 km into the recorded legs. Next is Terril 32.
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 41 km into the recorded legs you reach Terril 32. Next is Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Hesdin.
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. 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. 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 134 km into the recorded legs. Next is Cité d’Auchy.
7. 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
Cité d’Auchy closes the day.
Leg by leg
Cité d’Auchy to Les cités des Musiciens
Cité d’Auchy → Les cités des Musiciens is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Les cités des Musiciens to Terril 32
Les cités des Musiciens → Terril 32 is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Terril 32 to Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Hesdin
Terril 32 → Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Hesdin is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Hesdin to back through Terril 32
Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Hesdin → back through Terril 32 is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Terril 32 to back through Les cités des Musiciens
back through Terril 32 → back through Les cités des Musiciens is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Les cités des Musiciens to Cité d’Auchy
back through Les cités des Musiciens → Cité d’Auchy is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.