Why this ride
149 km from Sains-en-Gohelle to Sains-en-Gohelle, about 2 h 09 of riding. It goes by way of Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Arras, Terrils 87 et 92, Cités Sainte-Marie and back through Terrils 87 et 92. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Cité n°10 and Cités Sainte-Marie
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 149 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 09
- 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 n°10
Sains-en-Gohelle is a former coal town in the heart of the Nord-Pas de Calais mining basin, and Cité n°10 is one of its old mining estates, rows of brick houses built for miners and their families around a pithead. The basin, which stretches about 120 kilometres from the Belgian border towards the west, was recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2012, and the cités, the slag heaps and the headframes are its most visible remains.
Read the complete Cité n°10 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Cité n°10 is where the day begins. Next is Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Arras.
2. Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Arras
Arras has two great squares, the Grand-Place and the Place des Héros, surrounded by tall Flemish-baroque houses with curved gables and arcades, and towering above them is the belfry of the town hall, over seventy metres high. It looks medieval, but most of it is a careful reconstruction: Arras was devastated by German artillery during the First World War, when the front line ran just east of the town for years, and the belfry was destroyed in 1914. After the war, the people of Arras rebuilt it, along with the squares, and today it is one of the belfries of Belgium and France listed by UNESCO.
Read the complete Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Arras write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Arras comes up about 25 km into the recorded legs. Next is Terrils 87 et 92.
3. Terrils 87 et 92
From a distance they look like hills, which in this flat country is reason enough to stare. The terrils numbered 87 and 92, on the edge of Noyelles-Godault and Dourges next to Hénin-Beaumont, are spoil heaps from the coal mines of the Nord-Pas de Calais basin, made of the shale and rock that came up with the coal over a century and more of mining. They are part of the Nord-Pas de Calais Mining Basin, inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 2012 as a whole cultural landscape: pits, headframes, miners' housing, schools, churches and these artificial black mountains, more than a hundred of which are protected.
Read the complete Terrils 87 et 92 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 55 km into the recorded legs you reach Terrils 87 et 92. Next is Cités Sainte-Marie.
4. Cités Sainte-Marie
Pecquencourt sits on the edge of the Scarpe valley east of Douai, where the coal basin meets a land of marshes, ponds and forests, and the Cités Sainte-Marie are rows of miners' houses built for the workers of the nearby Sainte-Marie pit. Like many mining settlements, they follow a regular pattern, with brick houses in pairs or rows, gardens at the back and wide streets, designed by the company to house its workforce and keep them close to the pit. They are part of the Nord-Pas de Calais Mining Basin World Heritage site.
Read the complete Cités Sainte-Marie write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Cités Sainte-Marie, about halfway. Next is back through Terrils 87 et 92.
5. back through Terrils 87 et 92
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Terrils 87 et 92 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Terrils 87 et 92 sits at 103 km, about halfway. Next is back through Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Arras.
6. back through Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Arras
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Arras write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Arras comes up about 126 km into the recorded legs. Next is Cité n°10.
7. Cité n°10
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cité n°10 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Cité n°10 closes the day.
Leg by leg
Cité n°10 to Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Arras
Cité n°10 → Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Arras is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Arras to Terrils 87 et 92
Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Arras → Terrils 87 et 92 is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Terrils 87 et 92 to Cités Sainte-Marie
Terrils 87 et 92 → Cités Sainte-Marie is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cités Sainte-Marie to back through Terrils 87 et 92
Cités Sainte-Marie → back through Terrils 87 et 92 is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Terrils 87 et 92 to back through Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Arras
back through Terrils 87 et 92 → back through Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Arras is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Arras to Cité n°10
back through Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Arras → Cité n°10 is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.