Why this ride
75 km from Mazingarbe to Mazingarbe, about 1 h 32 of riding. On the way it passes Hôtel de ville, Terril 34 and back through Hôtel de ville. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Cité n°2 and Terril 34
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 75 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 1 h 32
- 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
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 Hôtel de ville.
2. Hôtel de ville
Bruay-la-Buissière is a mining town that grew from almost nothing into a busy industrial centre in less than a century, and its town hall, an imposing building in the heart of town, is a statement of that civic pride. The label points to the Hôtel de ville, one of the many urban and public buildings of the mining era that are part of the Nord-Pas de Calais Mining Basin World Heritage site. It sits on the western end of the coalfield, where the plain begins to rise towards the chalk hills of Artois.
Read the complete Hôtel de ville write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Hôtel de ville comes up about 18 km into the recorded legs. Next is Terril 34.
3. Terril 34
A terril is a slag heap, a mountain of waste rock dumped beside a coal mine, and in the flat land of northern France these man-made hills are the closest thing to relief for miles around. Terril 34 is one of hundreds that dot the Nord-Pas-de-Calais Mining Basin, a UNESCO site since 2012, which recognises not only the heaps but also the pithead frames, miners' housing estates, schools, churches and railway lines that made up the landscape of coal mining in the region for nearly three centuries. This one sits near Norrent-Fontes and Lillers, at the western end of the basin, where it meets the chalk hills of Artois.
Read the complete Terril 34 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 37 km into the recorded legs you reach Terril 34. Next is back through Hôtel de ville.
4. back through Hôtel de ville
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Hôtel de ville write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Hôtel de ville, late in the day. Next is Cité n°2.
5. 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
Back at Cité n°2. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Cité n°2 to Hôtel de ville
Cité n°2 → Hôtel de ville is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Hôtel de ville to Terril 34
Hôtel de ville → Terril 34 is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Terril 34 to back through Hôtel de ville
Terril 34 → back through Hôtel de ville is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Hôtel de ville to Cité n°2
back through Hôtel de ville → Cité n°2 is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.