Why this ride
A 132 km round trip from La Bassée - roughly 2 h 19 in the saddle. It goes by way of Les cités des Musiciens, Chevalement du n°1 bis de Liévin, Cités de la Justice et du Moulin and back through Chevalement du n°1 bis de Liévin.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Cité d’Auchy and Cités de la Justice et du Moulin
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 132 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 19
- 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 Chevalement du n°1 bis de Liévin.
3. 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
about 43 km into the recorded legs you reach Chevalement du n°1 bis de Liévin. Next is Cités de la Justice et du Moulin.
4. 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, about halfway. Next is back through Chevalement du n°1 bis de Liévin.
5. back through 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
back through Chevalement du n°1 bis de Liévin sits at 99 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 111 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 Chevalement du n°1 bis de Liévin
Les cités des Musiciens → Chevalement du n°1 bis de Liévin is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Chevalement du n°1 bis de Liévin to Cités de la Justice et du Moulin
Chevalement du n°1 bis de Liévin → Cités de la Justice et du Moulin is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cités de la Justice et du Moulin to back through Chevalement du n°1 bis de Liévin
Cités de la Justice et du Moulin → back through Chevalement du n°1 bis de Liévin is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Chevalement du n°1 bis de Liévin to back through Les cités des Musiciens
back through Chevalement du n°1 bis de Liévin → back through Les cités des Musiciens is 23 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.