Why this ride
256 km from Bruay-sur-l'Escaut to Bruay-sur-l'Escaut, about 3 h 34 of riding. On the way it passes Cité Saint-Paul, Terril 244 and back through Cité Saint-Paul. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Cité du Rivage ancienne and Terril 244
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 256 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 34
- 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 du Rivage ancienne
Brick terraced houses, small gardens and a straight street running toward the Escaut: at first glance the Cité du Rivage in Bruay-sur-l'Escaut looks like any working-class neighbourhood in northern France. It is part of something much larger. In 2012, UNESCO listed the Nord-Pas de Calais Mining Basin, a landscape of pit villages, headframes, slag heaps and railways stretching over a hundred kilometres, as a monument to three centuries of coal. This cité is one of its many fragments, an early housing development built by the mining companies to keep their workers close to the pits.
Read the complete Cité du Rivage ancienne write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Cité du Rivage ancienne is where the day begins. Next is Cité Saint-Paul.
2. Cité Saint-Paul
The mining basin of northern France is a flat, open country that seems to have been built entirely by hand, and among the first things you notice are the hills that nature never put there. They are the terrils, the slag heaps of the coal mines, some of them more than a hundred metres high, and around Courrières they punctuate the horizon between rows of brick houses. The Cité Saint-Paul belongs to this world: a miners' housing estate, laid out by the mining company with its rows of uniform houses, gardens, schools and a church, so that a worker could live, shop and pray within the company's reach.
Read the complete Cité Saint-Paul write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Cité Saint-Paul comes up 61 km in. Next is Terril 244.
3. Terril 244
Way out at the western tip of the coalfield, near the villages of Mametz and Norrent-Fontes, Terril 244 marks the place where coal mining reached its limit. Beyond it, the land belongs to farmers, and the next towns, Aire-sur-la-Lys and Saint-Omer, have more to do with canals, marshes and markets than with mines. The heap stands as a solitary landmark in the fields, smaller than the giants further east, and its green-covered slopes blend into the landscape. It is one of the outlying components of the Nord-Pas de Calais Mining Basin listed by UNESCO, a reminder that the coalfield stretched for over a hundred kilometres from the Belgian border to here.
Read the complete Terril 244 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
122 km in you reach Terril 244. Next is back through Cité Saint-Paul.
4. back through Cité Saint-Paul
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cité Saint-Paul write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Cité Saint-Paul, late in the day. Next is Cité du Rivage ancienne.
5. Cité du Rivage ancienne
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cité du Rivage ancienne 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 Rivage ancienne. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Cité du Rivage ancienne to Cité Saint-Paul
Cité du Rivage ancienne → Cité Saint-Paul is 61 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cité Saint-Paul to Terril 244
Cité Saint-Paul → Terril 244 is 61 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Terril 244 to back through Cité Saint-Paul
Terril 244 → back through Cité Saint-Paul is 61 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cité Saint-Paul to Cité du Rivage ancienne
back through Cité Saint-Paul → Cité du Rivage ancienne is 61 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
More motorcycle rides nearby
- Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Bailleul and Major Mining Sites of Wallonia · 263 km
- Terril 49 and Paysage et ensemble miniers de Wallers-Are · 162 km
- Cité de la Parisienne and Compagnie des Mines d’Anzin: Ensemble comm · 293 km
- Dispensaire Société de Secours Mutuel and Chevalement de la fosse Dutemple · 159 km