Why this ride
A 75 km round trip from Bruay-la-Buissière - roughly 1 h 26 in the saddle. It goes by way of Monument aux morts et grilles de la cité d, Camus Haut and back through Monument aux morts et grilles de la cité d.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Cités Anatole France et des Electriciens and Camus Haut
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 75 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 1 h 26
- 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. Cités Anatole France et des Electriciens
Bruay-la-Buissière is a town built on coal, and the rows of brick houses that spread around it were designed to keep miners close to their pits. The Cités Anatole France and des Électriciens belong to the great mining landscape of the Nord-Pas-de-Calais, a basin of coalfields, slag heaps and company towns that UNESCO inscribed in 2012. Coal was mined here from the early eighteenth century until the last pit closed in 1990, and the memory of that work is still everywhere.
Read the complete Cités Anatole France et des Electriciens write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Cités Anatole France et des Electriciens is where the day begins. Next is Monument aux morts et grilles de la cité d.
2. Monument aux morts et grilles de la cité d
In the mining towns of northern France, the companies built not only pits and houses but whole communities, with churches, schools, dispensaries and, after the First World War, monuments to the dead. This war memorial and the iron gates of a mining cité in Mazingarbe are small parts of that story, included in the Nord-Pas de Calais Mining Basin World Heritage site. They stand among rows of brick houses, gardens and allotments in a town shaped by coal.
Read the complete Monument aux morts et grilles de la cité d write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Monument aux morts et grilles de la cité d comes up about 21 km into the recorded legs. Next is Camus Haut.
3. Camus Haut
Camus Haut lies on the eastern edge of the mining basin, near Annay, Pont-à-Vendin and Harnes, where the canalised Deûle carries barges north towards Lille. The label refers to one of the many mining sites and cités of the area, and while the exact spot is hard to identify from a distance, the landscape tells you what kind of place it is: brick housing estates, old pit heads, spoil heaps going green, and the wide, flat horizon of the Gohelle.
Read the complete Camus Haut 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 Camus Haut. Next is back through Monument aux morts et grilles de la cité d.
4. back through Monument aux morts et grilles de la cité d
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Monument aux morts et grilles de la cité d 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 et grilles de la cité d, late in the day. Next is Cités Anatole France et des Electriciens.
5. Cités Anatole France et des Electriciens
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cités Anatole France et des Electriciens write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Cités Anatole France et des Electriciens. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Cités Anatole France et des Electriciens to Monument aux morts et grilles de la cité d
Cités Anatole France et des Electriciens → Monument aux morts et grilles de la cité d is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Monument aux morts et grilles de la cité d to Camus Haut
Monument aux morts et grilles de la cité d → Camus Haut is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Camus Haut to back through Monument aux morts et grilles de la cité d
Camus Haut → back through Monument aux morts et grilles de la cité d is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Monument aux morts et grilles de la cité d to Cités Anatole France et des Electriciens
back through Monument aux morts et grilles de la cité d → Cités Anatole France et des Electriciens is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.