Why this ride
132 km from Hénin-Beaumont to Hénin-Beaumont, about 2 h 37 of riding. On the way it passes Terril 80 et cité des Garennes, Paysage et ensemble miniers de Barlin, Monument aux morts and Terril 32.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Cité Foch and Terril 32
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 132 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 37
- 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 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. 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. 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 Monument aux morts.
4. Monument aux morts
In the centre of Auchel, the war memorial stands as it does in every French town and village, listing the names of the men who died in the First and Second World Wars, and in mining towns these lists are often heartbreakingly long. But the memorials of the coalfield have a particular resonance, because the front line of the First World War ran through the edge of the mining basin, only a few kilometres east of here. The Germans occupied Lens and the eastern pits for most of the war, and when they withdrew in 1918, they flooded and sabotaged the mines, which took years to restore. Auchel and the western towns, on the Allied side, kept producing coal for the war effort under constant pressure.
Read the complete Monument aux morts write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Monument aux morts, about halfway. Next is Terril 32.
5. Terril 32
Out on the western fringe of the coal basin, where the mining country fades into the farmland of the Lys valley and the edge of the Artois hills, Terril 32 rises near Norrent-Fontes, Mametz and Thérouanne. This is the far end of the seam, a long way from the dense cités around Lens and Douai, and the countryside feels it: smaller villages, more fields, more trees, and pits that were fewer and further between. The heap stands almost like a lone hill above the cropland, a reminder that coal reached even here.
Read the complete Terril 32 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Terril 32 sits at 68 km, about halfway. Next is back through Monument aux morts.
6. back through Monument aux morts
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Monument aux morts write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Monument aux morts comes up about 82 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Paysage et ensemble miniers de Barlin.
7. back through Paysage et ensemble miniers de Barlin
Return visit. Read the place description above.
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 99 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Paysage et ensemble miniers de Barlin. Next is back through Terril 80 et cité des Garennes.
8. 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.
9. 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
The route ends here after 132 km.
Leg by leg
Cité Foch to Terril 80 et cité des Garennes
Cité Foch → Terril 80 et cité des Garennes is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Terril 80 et cité des Garennes to Paysage et ensemble miniers de Barlin
Terril 80 et cité des Garennes → Paysage et ensemble miniers de Barlin is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Paysage et ensemble miniers de Barlin to Monument aux morts
Paysage et ensemble miniers de Barlin → Monument aux morts is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Monument aux morts to Terril 32
Monument aux morts → Terril 32 is 15 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Terril 32 to back through Monument aux morts
Terril 32 → back through Monument aux morts is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Monument aux morts to back through Paysage et ensemble miniers de Barlin
back through Monument aux morts → back through Paysage et ensemble miniers de Barlin is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Paysage et ensemble miniers de Barlin to back through Terril 80 et cité des Garennes
back through Paysage et ensemble miniers de Barlin → back through Terril 80 et cité des Garennes is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Terril 80 et cité des Garennes to Cité Foch
back through Terril 80 et cité des Garennes → Cité Foch is 15 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.