Why this ride
From Somain it runs 147 km to Somain; allow about 2 h 29 of riding. The stops in between: Cités de la Clochette et Notre-Dame, Paysage et ensemble miniers de la fosse n°, Cités de la Solitude and Cité Foch.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Cités de Beaurepaire and Cité Foch
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 147 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 29
- 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.
Scenic road chapters
Cités de Beaurepaire → Cités de la Clochette et Notre-Dame
The ride follows Cités de Beaurepaire → Cités de la Clochette et Notre-Dame for 15 km.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 15 km
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Cités de Beaurepaire
Somain exists because of the railway. Several lines meet here, and the town grew up around the station, which still has the busy feel of a junction. The Cités de Beaurepaire were built by the Aniche mining company, one of the great concerns of the northern coalfield, and they show how a company could shape a landscape: neat brick rows, small squares, a few shared buildings, and gardens laid out to a plan. A local will tell you who lived in which house and which families still do; an outsider notices the symmetry first, and then the small signs of individuality, a painted door, a trellis, a satellite dish pointing the wrong way.
Read the complete Cités de Beaurepaire write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Cités de Beaurepaire is where the day begins. Next is Cités de la Clochette et Notre-Dame.
2. Cités de la Clochette et Notre-Dame
Douai is a handsome old town on the river Scarpe, and its belfry is the thing to look for. The tall Gothic tower, topped with a lion, rises above the town hall and holds a carillon of bells, and it is one of the belfries of Belgium and France that UNESCO listed together. Every July the town stages a big parade of giants, huge wicker figures carried through the streets that represent Gayant, a giant from local legend, with his wife and children, a tradition that dates back centuries and which UNESCO recognises as intangible heritage. The Chartreuse museum, in a former monastery, holds paintings and sculpture from the town's long history.
Read the complete Cités de la Clochette et Notre-Dame write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Cités de la Clochette et Notre-Dame comes up about 15 km into the recorded legs. Next is Paysage et ensemble miniers de la fosse n°.
3. Paysage et ensemble miniers de la fosse n°
At Oignies the last coal in the whole Nord-Pas-de-Calais basin was brought up, and the pit closed in December 1990. That was the end of more than two and a half centuries of mining in northern France, and the buildings of pit number 9 and 9 bis survive as a monument and, remarkably, as a concert hall. The old headframes and sheds now host rock bands, and the site is one of the most striking pieces of the UNESCO-listed mining landscape. Two terrils, slag heaps from the mine, rise behind it, green with birch and bramble.
Read the complete Paysage et ensemble miniers de la fosse n° write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 34 km into the recorded legs you reach Paysage et ensemble miniers de la fosse n°. Next is Cités de la Solitude.
4. 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
Cités de la Solitude, about halfway. Next is Cité Foch.
5. 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 sits at 66 km, about halfway. Next is back through Cités de la Solitude.
6. back through Cités de la Solitude
Return visit. Read the place description above.
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
back through Cités de la Solitude comes up about 91 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Paysage et ensemble miniers de la fosse n°.
7. back through Paysage et ensemble miniers de la fosse n°
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Paysage et ensemble miniers de la fosse n° write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 111 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Paysage et ensemble miniers de la fosse n°. Next is back through Cités de la Clochette et Notre-Dame.
8. back through Cités de la Clochette et Notre-Dame
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cités de la Clochette et Notre-Dame write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Cités de la Clochette et Notre-Dame, late in the day. Next is Cités de Beaurepaire.
9. Cités de Beaurepaire
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cités de Beaurepaire write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 147 km.
Leg by leg
Cités de Beaurepaire to Cités de la Clochette et Notre-Dame
Cités de Beaurepaire → Cités de la Clochette et Notre-Dame is 15 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cités de la Clochette et Notre-Dame to Paysage et ensemble miniers de la fosse n°
Cités de la Clochette et Notre-Dame → Paysage et ensemble miniers de la fosse n° is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Paysage et ensemble miniers de la fosse n° to Cités de la Solitude
Paysage et ensemble miniers de la fosse n° → Cités de la Solitude is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cités de la Solitude to Cité Foch
Cités de la Solitude → Cité Foch is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cité Foch to back through Cités de la Solitude
Cité Foch → back through Cités de la Solitude is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cités de la Solitude to back through Paysage et ensemble miniers de la fosse n°
back through Cités de la Solitude → back through Paysage et ensemble miniers de la fosse n° is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Paysage et ensemble miniers de la fosse n° to back through Cités de la Clochette et Notre-Dame
back through Paysage et ensemble miniers de la fosse n° → back through Cités de la Clochette et Notre-Dame is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cités de la Clochette et Notre-Dame to Cités de Beaurepaire
back through Cités de la Clochette et Notre-Dame → Cités de Beaurepaire is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.