Why this ride
A 92 km round trip from Grenay - roughly 1 h 40 in the saddle. It goes by way of Terrils Jumeaux 28, Terril 34 and back through Terrils Jumeaux 28. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Cité du n°7 de Béthune and Terril 34
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 92 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 1 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 du n°7 de Béthune
Between Grenay, Mazingarbe and Vermelles, in the heart of the Gohelle, the Cité du n°7 is one of the mining villages built by the Compagnie des mines de Béthune for the workers of its pit number 7. The houses, laid out in tidy rows with gardens, still form a coherent neighbourhood, part of the UNESCO-listed mining basin. Each company built its cités in its own style, and the variety of brick patterns, porches and layouts is surprisingly rich once you start looking.
Read the complete Cité du n°7 de Béthune write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Cité du n°7 de Béthune is where the day begins. Next is Terrils Jumeaux 28.
2. Terrils Jumeaux 28
Two near-perfect black cones rise from the farmland between Ruitz, Maisnil-lès-Ruitz and Haillicourt, and once you have spotted them you will keep seeing them for miles. These twin terrils, the spoil heaps of former coal pits, are among the tallest in the Nord-Pas de Calais basin and have become something of a regional emblem. They look volcanic, which in a way they are: shale and waste rock tipped there for decades by the mining companies, slowly settling into steep, smooth pyramids that turn purple-grey in rain and almost silver in bright sun.
Read the complete Terrils Jumeaux 28 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Terrils Jumeaux 28 comes up about 25 km into the recorded legs. Next is Terril 34.
3. Terril 34
A terril is a slag heap, a mountain of waste rock dumped beside a coal mine, and in the flat land of northern France these man-made hills are the closest thing to relief for miles around. Terril 34 is one of hundreds that dot the Nord-Pas-de-Calais Mining Basin, a UNESCO site since 2012, which recognises not only the heaps but also the pithead frames, miners' housing estates, schools, churches and railway lines that made up the landscape of coal mining in the region for nearly three centuries. This one sits near Norrent-Fontes and Lillers, at the western end of the basin, where it meets the chalk hills of Artois.
Read the complete Terril 34 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 46 km into the recorded legs you reach Terril 34. Next is back through Terrils Jumeaux 28.
4. back through Terrils Jumeaux 28
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Terrils Jumeaux 28 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Terrils Jumeaux 28, late in the day. Next is Cité du n°7 de Béthune.
5. Cité du n°7 de Béthune
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cité du n°7 de Béthune write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Cité du n°7 de Béthune. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Cité du n°7 de Béthune to Terrils Jumeaux 28
Cité du n°7 de Béthune → Terrils Jumeaux 28 is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Terrils Jumeaux 28 to Terril 34
Terrils Jumeaux 28 → Terril 34 is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Terril 34 to back through Terrils Jumeaux 28
Terril 34 → back through Terrils Jumeaux 28 is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Terrils Jumeaux 28 to Cité du n°7 de Béthune
back through Terrils Jumeaux 28 → Cité du n°7 de Béthune is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.