Why this ride
79 km from Lens to Lens, about 1 h 20 of riding. On the way it passes Ancienne Fosse n°2 et mine-image, Cités de la Solitude and back through Ancienne Fosse n°2 et mine-image. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Cité n°2 62 Pas-de-Calais and Cités de la Solitude
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 79 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 1 h 20
- 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°2 62 Pas-de-Calais
The mining basin of Nord-Pas-de-Calais is flat country made hilly by hand. Around Lens, the heaps of slag left by two centuries of coal digging rise like black pyramids above the fields, and the red-brick miners' houses stand in long, tidy terraces, row after row, called corons. This particular stop lies in the town of Lens, in a cité, the name for a company-built miners' estate, and the numbers in the label come from the way the mining companies numbered their pits and estates.
Read the complete Cité n°2 62 Pas-de-Calais write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Cité n°2 62 Pas-de-Calais is where the day begins. Next is Ancienne Fosse n°2 et mine-image.
2. Ancienne Fosse n°2 et mine-image
Oignies holds a special place in the history of northern France: it is where coal mining in the Pas-de-Calais began and where it ended. In 1842, coal was found here during a search for water on the estate of a local landowner, Henriette de Clercq, starting a rush that transformed the region. And on 21 December 1990, the last tonne of coal in the Nord-Pas de Calais basin was brought up from the 9-9bis pit in Oignies, ending more than two and a half centuries of mining in the region. The old Fosse n°2 and its mine-image, a training gallery where young miners learned their trade above ground, are part of the World Heritage site.
Read the complete Ancienne Fosse n°2 et mine-image write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Ancienne Fosse n°2 et mine-image comes up about 14 km into the recorded legs. Next is Cités de la Solitude.
3. Cités de la Solitude
On the edge of Waziers, near Douai, the cités de la Solitude are rows of brick houses built by a mining company for its workers, laid out in neat streets with small gardens. Such company towns, the cités minières, were the backbone of life in the coal basin of northern France, providing housing, schools, churches and shops for miners and their families, and they are among the most important elements of the Nord-Pas-de-Calais Mining Basin, listed by UNESCO in 2012. The name Solitude seems almost ironic for a place built to house so many people close together.
Read the complete Cités de la Solitude write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 38 km into the recorded legs you reach Cités de la Solitude. Next is back through Ancienne Fosse n°2 et mine-image.
4. back through Ancienne Fosse n°2 et mine-image
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Ancienne Fosse n°2 et mine-image write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Ancienne Fosse n°2 et mine-image, late in the day. Next is Cité n°2 62 Pas-de-Calais.
5. Cité n°2 62 Pas-de-Calais
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cité n°2 62 Pas-de-Calais write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Cité n°2 62 Pas-de-Calais. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Cité n°2 62 Pas-de-Calais to Ancienne Fosse n°2 et mine-image
Cité n°2 62 Pas-de-Calais → Ancienne Fosse n°2 et mine-image is 14 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Ancienne Fosse n°2 et mine-image to Cités de la Solitude
Ancienne Fosse n°2 et mine-image → Cités de la Solitude is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cités de la Solitude to back through Ancienne Fosse n°2 et mine-image
Cités de la Solitude → back through Ancienne Fosse n°2 et mine-image is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Ancienne Fosse n°2 et mine-image to Cité n°2 62 Pas-de-Calais
back through Ancienne Fosse n°2 et mine-image → Cité n°2 62 Pas-de-Calais is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.