Why this ride
A 78 km round trip from Barlin - roughly 1 h 36 in the saddle. On the way it passes Ensemble minier du n°9 de Béthune, Cité du Moulin and back through Ensemble minier du n°9 de Béthune.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Ensemble minier de la fosse n°7 and Cité du Moulin
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 78 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 1 h 36
- 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. Ensemble minier de la fosse n°7
Picture a pit village at six in the morning in 1950: men walking to the headframe with their lunch tins, the siren calling the shift, the women already up and stoking the stoves, children getting ready for the company school. The ensemble around Fosse n°7, near Maisnil-lès-Ruitz and Barlin, preserves the setting for that daily routine: the pit buildings, the housing, the paths between them, and the terril rising nearby. It was a self-contained world, owned and run by the mining company, which provided houses, coal for heating, schools, churches and even doctors, in exchange for loyalty and hard work. The site is one of the many components of the Nord-Pas de Calais Mining Basin on the UNESCO list.
Read the complete Ensemble minier de la fosse n°7 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Ensemble minier de la fosse n°7 is where the day begins. Next is Ensemble minier du n°9 de Béthune.
2. Ensemble minier du n°9 de Béthune
Béthune was a mining town on the edge of the Artois, and Pit Number 9 of the Béthune company is one of the surviving complexes that UNESCO included in its listing of the Nord-Pas de Calais Mining Basin. A mining complex is more than a hole in the ground: there were the winding house and headframe, the screening and washing plants, the offices, the baths where miners scrubbed off the coal dust, the stables for the pit ponies and the railway sidings, and many of these structures stand near Vermelles. Brick, steel and slag dominate the scene, and a sense of effort and anonymity hangs over it.
Read the complete Ensemble minier du n°9 de Béthune write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Ensemble minier du n°9 de Béthune comes up about 21 km into the recorded legs. Next is Cité du Moulin.
3. Cité du Moulin
Around Lens the slag heaps rise from the plain like a chain of black pyramids, and the twin cones at Loos-en-Gohelle, among the highest in Europe, are visible for miles. The Cité du Moulin sits in this landscape at Fouquières-lès-Lens, next to Harnes and Billy-Montigny, one of the pit villages built by the mining companies and now part of the UNESCO-listed mining basin. It is a quiet residential area today, but its streets tell the story of the coalfield's most terrible moment.
Read the complete Cité du Moulin write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 42 km into the recorded legs you reach Cité du Moulin. Next is back through Ensemble minier du n°9 de Béthune.
4. back through Ensemble minier du n°9 de Béthune
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Ensemble minier du n°9 de Béthune write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Ensemble minier du n°9 de Béthune, late in the day. Next is Ensemble minier de la fosse n°7.
5. Ensemble minier de la fosse n°7
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Ensemble minier de la fosse n°7 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Ensemble minier de la fosse n°7. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Ensemble minier de la fosse n°7 to Ensemble minier du n°9 de Béthune
Ensemble minier de la fosse n°7 → Ensemble minier du n°9 de Béthune is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Ensemble minier du n°9 de Béthune to Cité du Moulin
Ensemble minier du n°9 de Béthune → Cité du Moulin is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cité du Moulin to back through Ensemble minier du n°9 de Béthune
Cité du Moulin → back through Ensemble minier du n°9 de Béthune is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Ensemble minier du n°9 de Béthune to Ensemble minier de la fosse n°7
back through Ensemble minier du n°9 de Béthune → Ensemble minier de la fosse n°7 is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.