Cité n°2 and Belfries of Belgium and France

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Cité n°2

   Mazingarbe is a small town on the northern edge of the mining basin, with the terraced rows of a miners' cité running down streets of red brick, and nearly twelve thousand people live in neighbouring Bully-les-Mines. The Cité Foch and the Cité Bellevue are two of the estates that mark this stretch of the basin on the map. The cité, built by the coal company for its workers, usually came with a school, a church, a company shop and a community hall, so that the pit shaped a whole life.

   Read the complete Cité n°2 write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Cité n°2 is where the day begins. Next is Cité Foch.

2. 2. 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 comes up about 23 km into the recorded legs. Next is Cités du Champ fleuri et du Garage.

3. 3. Cités du Champ fleuri et du Garage

   Coal made this corner of northern France, and coal left it with a landscape unlike anywhere else in the country: slag heaps rising like black pyramids from the fields, pithead frames standing over old shafts and long rows of brick miners' houses lining the streets of every town. The Nord-Pas de Calais Mining Basin was listed by UNESCO in 2012, and the Cités du Champ Fleuri et du Garage, near Masny and Lewarde, are among its typical housing estates, built by mining companies to house workers and their families close to the pits.

   Read the complete Cités du Champ fleuri et du Garage write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   about 49 km into the recorded legs you reach Cités du Champ fleuri et du Garage. Next is Belfries of Belgium and France.

4. 4. Belfries of Belgium and France

   Cambrai gave its name to a fabric. Cambric, a fine light linen, was once woven and traded in this town, and the word survives in English. The town is also known for a small, translucent mint sweet called the bêtise de Cambrai, which the locals say was invented by mistake, and a visit to a confectioner is a pleasant way to spend ten minutes. The belfry is one of the group of belfries across northern France and Belgium that UNESCO listed together, as symbols of the independence of medieval towns, and in Cambrai it is a tall stone tower in the town centre, while the town hall nearby has two mechanical figures, Martin and Martine, who strike the hours.

   Read the complete Belfries of Belgium and France write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Belfries of Belgium and France, about halfway. Next is back through Cités du Champ fleuri et du Garage.

5. 5. back through Cités du Champ fleuri et du Garage

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Cités du Champ fleuri et du Garage write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   back through Cités du Champ fleuri et du Garage sits at 99 km, about halfway. Next is back through Cité Foch.

6. 6. back through 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 through Cité Foch comes up about 126 km into the recorded legs. Next is Cité n°2.

7. 7. Cité n°2

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Cité n°2 write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Cité n°2 closes the day.