Why this ride
153 km from Lallaing to Lallaing, about 2 h 24 of riding. It goes by way of Fosse n°13 bis, Dispensaire Société de Secours Mutuel, Monument à Madame Declercq and back through Dispensaire Société de Secours Mutuel.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Cités de Montigny et du Moucheron and Monument à Madame Declercq
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 153 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 24
- 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 Montigny et du Moucheron
Montigny-en-Ostrevent is a small town in the Ostrevent, the strip of land between the Scarpe and the Escaut rivers east of Douai, and its miners' settlements, the Cités de Montigny and du Moucheron, are typical of the housing built by the mining companies in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Rows of brick houses with small gardens, built along straight streets, often with a church, a school and a shop nearby, formed the backbone of community life in the coalfield. These cités are part of the Nord-Pas de Calais Mining Basin World Heritage site.
Read the complete Cités de Montigny et du Moucheron write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Cités de Montigny et du Moucheron is where the day begins. Next is Fosse n°13 bis.
2. Fosse n°13 bis
Oignies holds a special place in the story of French coal, because it was the last place in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais where a pit closed. The final coal came up at Oignies in December 1990, ending nearly three centuries of mining in the basin, and the old pit buildings there have since been turned into a concert hall and cultural centre. Fosse 13 bis, a few kilometres off, belonged to the Compagnie des mines de Courrières, one of the great names of the coalfield, and the whole district falls inside the Mining Basin World Heritage Site that UNESCO recognised in 2012.
Read the complete Fosse n°13 bis write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Fosse n°13 bis comes up about 28 km into the recorded legs. Next is Dispensaire Société de Secours Mutuel.
3. Dispensaire Société de Secours Mutuel
A dispensary may seem an odd thing to visit, but this is a monument to something remarkable. In the nineteenth century the coal companies of northern France built housing, schools, churches and clinics for their workers, partly out of paternalism and partly to keep a stable workforce, and the miners themselves set up mutual aid societies, the sociétés de secours mutuel, to pay for doctors, medicines and funerals. The dispensary at Bully-les-Mines belongs to that world of care and control, and it is one of the buildings that explain why UNESCO listed the whole mining basin in 2012. The brick architecture has a plain, solid dignity, and the sense of a community looking after its own is easy to feel.
Read the complete Dispensaire Société de Secours Mutuel write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 57 km into the recorded legs you reach Dispensaire Société de Secours Mutuel. Next is Monument à Madame Declercq.
4. Monument à Madame Declercq
Oignies is a small town in the Pas-de-Calais, at the edge of the old coal basin near the border with the Nord, with a monument at its heart to the people who lived and died by the pits.
Read the complete Monument à Madame Declercq write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Monument à Madame Declercq, about halfway. Next is back through Dispensaire Société de Secours Mutuel.
5. back through Dispensaire Société de Secours Mutuel
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Dispensaire Société de Secours Mutuel write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Dispensaire Société de Secours Mutuel sits at 98 km, about halfway. Next is back through Fosse n°13 bis.
6. back through Fosse n°13 bis
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fosse n°13 bis write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Fosse n°13 bis comes up about 127 km into the recorded legs. Next is Cités de Montigny et du Moucheron.
7. Cités de Montigny et du Moucheron
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cités de Montigny et du Moucheron write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Cités de Montigny et du Moucheron closes the day.
Leg by leg
Cités de Montigny et du Moucheron to Fosse n°13 bis
Cités de Montigny et du Moucheron → Fosse n°13 bis is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fosse n°13 bis to Dispensaire Société de Secours Mutuel
Fosse n°13 bis → Dispensaire Société de Secours Mutuel is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Dispensaire Société de Secours Mutuel to Monument à Madame Declercq
Dispensaire Société de Secours Mutuel → Monument à Madame Declercq is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Monument à Madame Declercq to back through Dispensaire Société de Secours Mutuel
Monument à Madame Declercq → back through Dispensaire Société de Secours Mutuel is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Dispensaire Société de Secours Mutuel to back through Fosse n°13 bis
back through Dispensaire Société de Secours Mutuel → back through Fosse n°13 bis is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Fosse n°13 bis to Cités de Montigny et du Moucheron
back through Fosse n°13 bis → Cités de Montigny et du Moucheron is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.