Cité Foch and Paysage et ensemble miniers de Barlin

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Cité Foch

   Row upon row of identical brick houses, each with its small garden, outbuilding and front door painted in the colour of the mining company: that is a cité minière, and Cité Foch, between Hénin-Beaumont and Montigny-en-Gohelle, is one of the many hundreds that the coal companies built across northern France. They were designed to house miners and their families close to the pits, and they came in different forms over the decades, from the long terraces of the nineteenth century, the corons, to the garden cities of the early twentieth century, with semi-detached houses, wide streets and green spaces. Many of these neighbourhoods are included in the UNESCO listing of the mining basin.

   Read the complete Cité Foch write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Cité Foch is where the day begins. Next is Terril 80 et cité des Garennes.

2. 2. Terril 80 et cité des Garennes

   Liévin is a town that knows grief. On 27 December 1974, a firedamp explosion at the Saint-Amé pit killed forty-two miners, one of the last great mining disasters in France, and it is still remembered every year. The town sits on the southern edge of the coal basin, next to Lens, and its landscape is still marked by the industry: Terril 80, a spoil heap from one of the pits, and the Cité des Garennes, a settlement of miners' houses, are part of the Nord-Pas de Calais Mining Basin World Heritage site.

   Read the complete Terril 80 et cité des Garennes write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Terril 80 et cité des Garennes comes up about 16 km into the recorded legs. Next is Paysage et ensemble miniers de Barlin.

3. 3. Paysage et ensemble miniers de Barlin

   Barlin is where the coalfield starts to run into hills. To the west, the land rises gently into the Artois uplands, and the mining town sits at the transition, its slag heaps, workers' houses and pit buildings now part of the Nord-Pas-de-Calais Mining Basin World Heritage site. It is a quieter corner than Lens or Douai, and the mix of industrial history and rolling countryside makes it a pleasant place to pause.

   Read the complete Paysage et ensemble miniers de Barlin write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 34 km into the recorded legs you reach Paysage et ensemble miniers de Barlin. Next is back through Terril 80 et cité des Garennes.

4. 4. back through Terril 80 et cité des Garennes

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Terril 80 et cité des Garennes write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Terril 80 et cité des Garennes, late in the day. Next is Cité Foch.

5. 5. Cité Foch

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Cité Foch write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Back at Cité Foch. That is the ride.