Why this ride
149 km from Petite-Forêt to Petite-Forêt, about 2 h 08 of riding. It goes by way of Cités Sainte-Marie, Terrils 87 et 92, Monument aux morts et grilles de la cité d and back through Terrils 87 et 92. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Ensemble minier de La Sentinelle and Monument aux morts et grilles de la cité d
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 149 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 08
- 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 Sentinelle
France's coalfield is a long, narrow band that runs from Béthune in the west to the Belgian border in the east, and at its eastern end, around Valenciennes, the ground still carries traces of the first mines. The Anzin company, which controlled much of this area in the nineteenth century, dug shafts, built pumping stations and laid out workers' housing, and in 1884 Émile Zola came to the district to research Germinal, his great novel of a miners' strike. The ensemble at La Sentinelle includes the old pumping engine house of the Sarteau pit, a survivor from that early industrial age, and the nearby Cités de Beaurepaire, rows of company housing for miners and their families. The whole mining basin was listed by UNESCO in 2012.
Read the complete Ensemble minier de La Sentinelle 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 Sentinelle is where the day begins. Next is Cités Sainte-Marie.
2. Cités Sainte-Marie
Pecquencourt sits on the edge of the Scarpe valley east of Douai, where the coal basin meets a land of marshes, ponds and forests, and the Cités Sainte-Marie are rows of miners' houses built for the workers of the nearby Sainte-Marie pit. Like many mining settlements, they follow a regular pattern, with brick houses in pairs or rows, gardens at the back and wide streets, designed by the company to house its workforce and keep them close to the pit. They are part of the Nord-Pas de Calais Mining Basin World Heritage site.
Read the complete Cités Sainte-Marie write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Cités Sainte-Marie comes up about 27 km into the recorded legs. Next is Terrils 87 et 92.
3. Terrils 87 et 92
From a distance they look like hills, which in this flat country is reason enough to stare. The terrils numbered 87 and 92, on the edge of Noyelles-Godault and Dourges next to Hénin-Beaumont, are spoil heaps from the coal mines of the Nord-Pas de Calais basin, made of the shale and rock that came up with the coal over a century and more of mining. They are part of the Nord-Pas de Calais Mining Basin, inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 2012 as a whole cultural landscape: pits, headframes, miners' housing, schools, churches and these artificial black mountains, more than a hundred of which are protected.
Read the complete Terrils 87 et 92 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 50 km into the recorded legs you reach Terrils 87 et 92. Next is Monument aux morts et grilles de la cité d.
4. Monument aux morts et grilles de la cité d
In the mining towns of northern France, the companies built not only pits and houses but whole communities, with churches, schools, dispensaries and, after the First World War, monuments to the dead. This war memorial and the iron gates of a mining cité in Mazingarbe are small parts of that story, included in the Nord-Pas de Calais Mining Basin World Heritage site. They stand among rows of brick houses, gardens and allotments in a town shaped by coal.
Read the complete Monument aux morts et grilles de la cité d write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Monument aux morts et grilles de la cité d, about halfway. Next is back through Terrils 87 et 92.
5. back through Terrils 87 et 92
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Terrils 87 et 92 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Terrils 87 et 92 sits at 100 km, about halfway. Next is back through Cités Sainte-Marie.
6. back through Cités Sainte-Marie
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cités Sainte-Marie write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Cités Sainte-Marie comes up about 122 km into the recorded legs. Next is Ensemble minier de La Sentinelle.
7. Ensemble minier de La Sentinelle
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Ensemble minier de La Sentinelle 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 Sentinelle closes the day.
Leg by leg
Ensemble minier de La Sentinelle to Cités Sainte-Marie
Ensemble minier de La Sentinelle → Cités Sainte-Marie is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cités Sainte-Marie to Terrils 87 et 92
Cités Sainte-Marie → Terrils 87 et 92 is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Terrils 87 et 92 to Monument aux morts et grilles de la cité d
Terrils 87 et 92 → Monument aux morts et grilles de la cité d is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Monument aux morts et grilles de la cité d to back through Terrils 87 et 92
Monument aux morts et grilles de la cité d → back through Terrils 87 et 92 is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Terrils 87 et 92 to back through Cités Sainte-Marie
back through Terrils 87 et 92 → back through Cités Sainte-Marie is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cités Sainte-Marie to Ensemble minier de La Sentinelle
back through Cités Sainte-Marie → Ensemble minier de La Sentinelle is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.