Why this ride
A 134 km round trip from Aniche - roughly 2 h 39 in the saddle. On the way it passes Monument commémoratif Charles Mathieu, Château Dampierre, Cité de la Solitude and Coron des 120.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Cités du Champ fleuri et du Garage and Coron des 120
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 134 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 39
- 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 du Champ fleuri et du Garage
Coal made this corner of northern France, and coal left it with a landscape unlike anywhere else in the country: slag heaps rising like black pyramids from the fields, pithead frames standing over old shafts and long rows of brick miners' houses lining the streets of every town. The Nord-Pas de Calais Mining Basin was listed by UNESCO in 2012, and the Cités du Champ Fleuri et du Garage, near Masny and Lewarde, are among its typical housing estates, built by mining companies to house workers and their families close to the pits.
Read the complete Cités du Champ fleuri et du Garage write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Cités du Champ fleuri et du Garage is where the day begins. Next is Monument commémoratif Charles Mathieu.
2. Monument commémoratif Charles Mathieu
Lourches is a small mining town in the Nord department, on the banks of the Escaut river, between Denain and Valenciennes, in the heart of the old coal mining basin that stretched across northern France. The memorial named after Charles Mathieu is one of the elements listed as part of the Nord-Pas-de-Calais Mining Basin UNESCO site, alongside pitheads, slag heaps, miners' housing and the buildings of the mining companies.
Read the complete Monument commémoratif Charles Mathieu write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Monument commémoratif Charles Mathieu comes up about 16 km into the recorded legs. Next is Château Dampierre.
3. Château Dampierre
Anzin, on the northern edge of Valenciennes, is where coal mining in northern France began on an industrial scale. In the eighteenth century, the Compagnie des mines d'Anzin became one of the largest companies in France, and its mines, workers' housing, slag heaps and buildings shaped the landscape of the region. Château Dampierre is one of the buildings linked to that history, and it is part of the UNESCO listing of the Nord-Pas de Calais Mining Basin, inscribed in 2012, which preserves more than a hundred sites across a vast area: pits, headframes, miners' cités, churches, schools and the great black spoil heaps known as terrils. The big miners' strike at Anzin in 1884 helped inspire Émile Zola's novel Germinal.
Read the complete Château Dampierre 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 Château Dampierre. Next is Cité de la Solitude.
4. Cité de la Solitude
The Cité de la Solitude sounds like the name of a novel, but it is a real miners' housing estate in the far east of the French coalfield, near Vieux-Condé and Condé-sur-l'Escaut, within a few kilometres of the Belgian border. Here the mining basin merges into the Hainaut country on the other side, and the two halves share a single history of coal, iron and hard work. The French basin was listed by UNESCO in 2012, and on the Belgian side the major mining sites of Wallonia, including the Grand-Hornu and the Bois-du-Cazier, were listed in the same year. The Beffroi de Thuin, in the Belgian town of Thuin, is one of several belfries in the region recognised by UNESCO as symbols of civic pride.
Read the complete Cité de la Solitude write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Cité de la Solitude, about halfway. Next is Coron des 120.
5. Coron des 120
The Coron des 120 is among the most famous rows of miners' houses in France, partly because a film crew chose it. A coron is a long terrace of identical brick cottages built by a mining company, and this one, with its endless line of doors, chimneys and small gardens, was used in the 1993 film of Germinal, Zola's novel of the miners' strike. It lies near Anzin and Petite-Forêt, in the Valenciennes area, at the heart of the mining basin that UNESCO listed in 2012.
Read the complete Coron des 120 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Coron des 120 sits at 70 km, about halfway. Next is back through Cité de la Solitude.
6. back through Cité de la Solitude
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cité 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 Cité de la Solitude comes up about 88 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Château Dampierre.
7. back through Château Dampierre
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Château Dampierre write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 106 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Château Dampierre. Next is back through Monument commémoratif Charles Mathieu.
8. back through Monument commémoratif Charles Mathieu
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Monument commémoratif Charles Mathieu write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Monument commémoratif Charles Mathieu, late in the day. Next is Cités du Champ fleuri et du Garage.
9. Cités du Champ fleuri et du Garage
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cités du Champ fleuri et du Garage 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 134 km.
Leg by leg
Cités du Champ fleuri et du Garage to Monument commémoratif Charles Mathieu
Cités du Champ fleuri et du Garage → Monument commémoratif Charles Mathieu is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Monument commémoratif Charles Mathieu to Château Dampierre
Monument commémoratif Charles Mathieu → Château Dampierre is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Château Dampierre to Cité de la Solitude
Château Dampierre → Cité de la Solitude is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cité de la Solitude to Coron des 120
Cité de la Solitude → Coron des 120 is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Coron des 120 to back through Cité de la Solitude
Coron des 120 → back through Cité de la Solitude is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cité de la Solitude to back through Château Dampierre
back through Cité de la Solitude → back through Château Dampierre is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Château Dampierre to back through Monument commémoratif Charles Mathieu
back through Château Dampierre → back through Monument commémoratif Charles Mathieu is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Monument commémoratif Charles Mathieu to Cités du Champ fleuri et du Garage
back through Monument commémoratif Charles Mathieu → Cités du Champ fleuri et du Garage is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.