Why this ride
From Auby it runs 137 km to Auby; allow about 2 h 10 of riding. The stops in between: Temple protestant, Hôtel de ville, Grands Bureaux de la Société Houillère de and back through Hôtel de ville.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Cités de la Justice et du Moulin and Grands Bureaux de la Société Houillère de
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 137 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 10
- 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 de la Justice et du Moulin
For almost three centuries, coal shaped the land between Valenciennes and Béthune in northern France, creating a landscape of pits, slag heaps, railway lines and miners' housing estates. The Nord-Pas de Calais Mining Basin was inscribed on the UNESCO list in 2012, and the Cités de la Justice et du Moulin in Auby are part of it: rows of brick houses built by the mining companies to house their workers, with gardens, churches, schools and shops, all organised around the pit. The cités are still inhabited, so treat them as neighbourhoods rather than museums.
Read the complete Cités de la Justice et du Moulin write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Cités de la Justice et du Moulin is where the day begins. Next is Temple protestant.
2. Temple protestant
Liévin is a town of thirty-four thousand people that grew up around coal, and the Protestant temple on its streets is a small reminder of how mixed the mining population was. The pits drew workers from Belgium, Poland, Italy and North Africa as well as from the French countryside, and the mining companies built churches, schools, shops and entire districts for them. In a region that was overwhelmingly Catholic, a temple stood a little apart, and its quiet presence says something about the way the basin took in newcomers.
Read the complete Temple protestant write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Temple protestant comes up about 22 km into the recorded legs. Next is Hôtel de ville.
3. 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
about 45 km into the recorded legs you reach Hôtel de ville. Next is Grands Bureaux de la Société Houillère de.
4. Grands Bureaux de la Société Houillère de
The Grands Bureaux of the mining company at Liévin are the opposite of a pit: a big, solid brick office building where the engineers, accountants and managers ran the underground world from desks. Built in the style of company headquarters across the basin, with generous windows, a formal entrance and a clock, the building announces that coal was a serious business, with a payroll, a hierarchy and a public face. It sits in the town centre, a few hundred metres from the heart of Liévin, and it forms part of the Mining Basin that UNESCO listed in 2012.
Read the complete Grands Bureaux de la Société Houillère de write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Grands Bureaux de la Société Houillère de, about halfway. Next is back through Hôtel de ville.
5. 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 sits at 98 km, about halfway. Next is back through Temple protestant.
6. back through Temple protestant
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Temple protestant write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Temple protestant comes up about 114 km into the recorded legs. Next is Cités de la Justice et du Moulin.
7. Cités de la Justice et du Moulin
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cités de la Justice et du Moulin write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Cités de la Justice et du Moulin closes the day.
Leg by leg
Cités de la Justice et du Moulin to Temple protestant
Cités de la Justice et du Moulin → Temple protestant is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Temple protestant to Hôtel de ville
Temple protestant → Hôtel de ville is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Hôtel de ville to Grands Bureaux de la Société Houillère de
Hôtel de ville → Grands Bureaux de la Société Houillère de is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Grands Bureaux de la Société Houillère de to back through Hôtel de ville
Grands Bureaux de la Société Houillère de → back through Hôtel de ville is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Hôtel de ville to back through Temple protestant
back through Hôtel de ville → back through Temple protestant is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Temple protestant to Cités de la Justice et du Moulin
back through Temple protestant → Cités de la Justice et du Moulin is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.