Why this ride
From Waziers it runs 136 km to Waziers; allow about 2 h 30 of riding. The stops in between: Cité Foch, Terril 80 et cité des Garennes, Paysage et ensemble miniers de Barlin and Monument aux morts.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Cités de la Solitude and Monument aux morts
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 136 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 30
- 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 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 is where the day begins. Next is Cité Foch.
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 16 km into the recorded legs. Next is Terril 80 et cité des Garennes.
3. Terril 80 et cité des Garennes
Liévin is a town that knows grief. On 27 December 1974, a firedamp explosion at the Saint-Amé pit killed forty-two miners, one of the last great mining disasters in France, and it is still remembered every year. The town sits on the southern edge of the coal basin, next to Lens, and its landscape is still marked by the industry: Terril 80, a spoil heap from one of the pits, and the Cité des Garennes, a settlement of miners' houses, are part of the Nord-Pas de Calais Mining Basin World Heritage site.
Read the complete Terril 80 et cité des Garennes write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 32 km into the recorded legs you reach Terril 80 et cité des Garennes. Next is Paysage et ensemble miniers de Barlin.
4. Paysage et ensemble miniers de Barlin
Barlin is where the coalfield starts to run into hills. To the west, the land rises gently into the Artois uplands, and the mining town sits at the transition, its slag heaps, workers' houses and pit buildings now part of the Nord-Pas-de-Calais Mining Basin World Heritage site. It is a quieter corner than Lens or Douai, and the mix of industrial history and rolling countryside makes it a pleasant place to pause.
Read the complete Paysage et ensemble miniers de Barlin write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Paysage et ensemble miniers de Barlin, about halfway. Next is Monument aux morts.
5. Monument aux morts
In the centre of Auchel, the war memorial stands as it does in every French town and village, listing the names of the men who died in the First and Second World Wars, and in mining towns these lists are often heartbreakingly long. But the memorials of the coalfield have a particular resonance, because the front line of the First World War ran through the edge of the mining basin, only a few kilometres east of here. The Germans occupied Lens and the eastern pits for most of the war, and when they withdrew in 1918, they flooded and sabotaged the mines, which took years to restore. Auchel and the western towns, on the Allied side, kept producing coal for the war effort under constant pressure.
Read the complete Monument aux morts write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Monument aux morts sits at 67 km, about halfway. Next is back through Paysage et ensemble miniers de Barlin.
6. back through Paysage et ensemble miniers de Barlin
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Paysage et ensemble miniers de Barlin write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Paysage et ensemble miniers de Barlin comes up about 82 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Terril 80 et cité des Garennes.
7. back through Terril 80 et cité des Garennes
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Terril 80 et cité des Garennes write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 100 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Terril 80 et cité des Garennes. Next is back through Cité Foch.
8. 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, late in the day. Next is Cités de la Solitude.
9. 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
The route ends here after 136 km.
Leg by leg
Cités de la Solitude to Cité Foch
Cités de la Solitude → Cité Foch is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cité Foch to Terril 80 et cité des Garennes
Cité Foch → Terril 80 et cité des Garennes is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Terril 80 et cité des Garennes to Paysage et ensemble miniers de Barlin
Terril 80 et cité des Garennes → Paysage et ensemble miniers de Barlin is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Paysage et ensemble miniers de Barlin to Monument aux morts
Paysage et ensemble miniers de Barlin → Monument aux morts is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Monument aux morts to back through Paysage et ensemble miniers de Barlin
Monument aux morts → back through Paysage et ensemble miniers de Barlin is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Paysage et ensemble miniers de Barlin to back through Terril 80 et cité des Garennes
back through Paysage et ensemble miniers de Barlin → back through Terril 80 et cité des Garennes is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Terril 80 et cité des Garennes to back through Cité Foch
back through Terril 80 et cité des Garennes → back through Cité Foch is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cité Foch to Cités de la Solitude
back through Cité Foch → Cités de la Solitude is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.