Why this ride
A 70 km round trip from Denain - roughly 1 h 07 in the saddle. On the way it passes Cités Sainte-Marie, Cités de la Justice et du Moulin and back through Cités Sainte-Marie. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Fosse Mathilde and Cités de la Justice et du Moulin
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 70 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 1 h 07
- 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. Fosse Mathilde
Denain is remembered in French history for an afternoon in July 1712, when Marshal Villars crossed the Scheldt and smashed an allied army under Prince Eugene of Savoy, a victory that rescued France in the closing years of the War of the Spanish Succession and is still marked in the town. The Fosse Mathilde belongs to a later and quieter story. A fosse is the northern word for a pit, and these shafts were named for company directors and their families, so Mathilde was a lady before she was a hole in the ground.
Read the complete Fosse Mathilde write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Fosse Mathilde 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 17 km into the recorded legs. Next is Cités de la Justice et du Moulin.
3. Cités de la Justice et du Moulin
For almost three centuries, coal shaped the land between Valenciennes and Béthune in northern France, creating a landscape of pits, slag heaps, railway lines and miners' housing estates. The Nord-Pas de Calais Mining Basin was inscribed on the UNESCO list in 2012, and the Cités de la Justice et du Moulin in Auby are part of it: rows of brick houses built by the mining companies to house their workers, with gardens, churches, schools and shops, all organised around the pit. The cités are still inhabited, so treat them as neighbourhoods rather than museums.
Read the complete Cités de la Justice et du Moulin write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 35 km into the recorded legs you reach Cités de la Justice et du Moulin. Next is back through Cités Sainte-Marie.
4. 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, late in the day. Next is Fosse Mathilde.
5. Fosse Mathilde
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fosse Mathilde write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Fosse Mathilde. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Fosse Mathilde to Cités Sainte-Marie
Fosse Mathilde → Cités Sainte-Marie is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cités Sainte-Marie to Cités de la Justice et du Moulin
Cités Sainte-Marie → Cités de la Justice et du Moulin is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cités de la Justice et du Moulin to back through Cités Sainte-Marie
Cités de la Justice et du Moulin → back through Cités Sainte-Marie is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cités Sainte-Marie to Fosse Mathilde
back through Cités Sainte-Marie → Fosse Mathilde is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.