Why this ride
A 306 km round trip from Vieux-Condé - roughly 4 h 40 in the saddle. On the way it passes Ensemble minier des Argales, Cité du Moulin, Cités du Nouveau Monde et des Fleurs and La citadella d’Arras. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Cité de la Solitude and La citadella d’Arras
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 306 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 4 h 40
- 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 de la Solitude
The Cité de la Solitude sounds like the name of a novel, but it is a real miners' housing estate in the far east of the French coalfield, near Vieux-Condé and Condé-sur-l'Escaut, within a few kilometres of the Belgian border. Here the mining basin merges into the Hainaut country on the other side, and the two halves share a single history of coal, iron and hard work. The French basin was listed by UNESCO in 2012, and on the Belgian side the major mining sites of Wallonia, including the Grand-Hornu and the Bois-du-Cazier, were listed in the same year. The Beffroi de Thuin, in the Belgian town of Thuin, is one of several belfries in the region recognised by UNESCO as symbols of civic pride.
Read the complete Cité de la Solitude write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Cité de la Solitude is where the day begins. Next is Ensemble minier des Argales.
2. Ensemble minier des Argales
At Rieulay, in the middle of the Scarpe valley, the terril des Argales is one of the largest spoil heaps in France, a vast, flat-topped plateau of mining waste stretching for well over a kilometre. Once a stark, black wasteland, it has been transformed into a nature and leisure area, with a lake at its foot, trails, viewpoints and a nature reserve where rare plants and birds have found a home. The site, together with nearby mining remains, is part of the Nord-Pas-de-Calais Mining Basin, listed by UNESCO in 2012.
Read the complete Ensemble minier des Argales write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Ensemble minier des Argales comes up about 50 km into the recorded legs. Next is Cité du Moulin.
3. Cité du Moulin
Around Lens the slag heaps rise from the plain like a chain of black pyramids, and the twin cones at Loos-en-Gohelle, among the highest in Europe, are visible for miles. The Cité du Moulin sits in this landscape at Fouquières-lès-Lens, next to Harnes and Billy-Montigny, one of the pit villages built by the mining companies and now part of the UNESCO-listed mining basin. It is a quiet residential area today, but its streets tell the story of the coalfield's most terrible moment.
Read the complete Cité du Moulin write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 81 km into the recorded legs you reach Cité du Moulin. Next is Cités du Nouveau Monde et des Fleurs.
4. 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, about halfway. Next is La citadella d’Arras.
5. La citadella d’Arras
The people of Arras call their citadel la belle inutile, the beautiful useless one, and they say it with affection. Vauban built it in the late seventeenth century, after Louis XIV took Artois from Spain, as part of the chain of fortresses meant to lock France's northern border. Its star-shaped ramparts, bastions and moats are textbook Vauban, but the border moved north before the fortress ever saw a serious siege, hence the nickname. It is one of the twelve sites grouped as the Fortifications of Vauban on the UNESCO list since 2008. Its later history is darker: during the Second World War, the Germans executed resistance fighters in the moat, and a memorial there lists their names.
Read the complete La citadella d’Arras write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
La citadella d’Arras sits at 138 km, about halfway. Next is back through Cités du Nouveau Monde et des Fleurs.
6. back through Cités du Nouveau Monde et des Fleurs
Return visit. Read the place description above.
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
back through Cités du Nouveau Monde et des Fleurs comes up about 189 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Cité du Moulin.
7. back through Cité du Moulin
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cité du Moulin write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 224 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Cité du Moulin. Next is back through Ensemble minier des Argales.
8. back through Ensemble minier des Argales
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Ensemble minier des Argales write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Ensemble minier des Argales, late in the day. Next is Cité de la Solitude.
9. Cité de la Solitude
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cité de la Solitude 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 306 km.
Leg by leg
Cité de la Solitude to Ensemble minier des Argales
Cité de la Solitude → Ensemble minier des Argales is 50 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Ensemble minier des Argales to Cité du Moulin
Ensemble minier des Argales → Cité du Moulin is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cité du Moulin to Cités du Nouveau Monde et des Fleurs
Cité du Moulin → Cités du Nouveau Monde et des Fleurs is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cités du Nouveau Monde et des Fleurs to La citadella d’Arras
Cités du Nouveau Monde et des Fleurs → La citadella d’Arras is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
La citadella d’Arras to back through Cités du Nouveau Monde et des Fleurs
La citadella d’Arras → back through Cités du Nouveau Monde et des Fleurs is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cités du Nouveau Monde et des Fleurs to back through Cité du Moulin
back through Cités du Nouveau Monde et des Fleurs → back through Cité du Moulin is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cité du Moulin to back through Ensemble minier des Argales
back through Cité du Moulin → back through Ensemble minier des Argales is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Ensemble minier des Argales to Cité de la Solitude
back through Ensemble minier des Argales → Cité de la Solitude is 51 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.