Why this ride
From Liévin it runs 132 km to Liévin; allow about 2 h 41 of riding. On the way it passes Paysage et ensemble miniers de Barlin, Monument aux morts, Terril 32 and Bâtiment de la Goutte de Lait.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Grands Bureaux de la Société Houillère de and Bâtiment de la Goutte de Lait
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 132 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 41
- 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. Grands Bureaux de la Société Houillère de
The Grands Bureaux of the mining company at Liévin are the opposite of a pit: a big, solid brick office building where the engineers, accountants and managers ran the underground world from desks. Built in the style of company headquarters across the basin, with generous windows, a formal entrance and a clock, the building announces that coal was a serious business, with a payroll, a hierarchy and a public face. It sits in the town centre, a few hundred metres from the heart of Liévin, and it forms part of the Mining Basin that UNESCO listed in 2012.
Read the complete Grands Bureaux de la Société Houillère de write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Grands Bureaux de la Société Houillère de is where the day begins. Next is Paysage et ensemble miniers de Barlin.
2. Paysage et ensemble miniers de Barlin
Barlin is where the coalfield starts to run into hills. To the west, the land rises gently into the Artois uplands, and the mining town sits at the transition, its slag heaps, workers' houses and pit buildings now part of the Nord-Pas-de-Calais Mining Basin World Heritage site. It is a quieter corner than Lens or Douai, and the mix of industrial history and rolling countryside makes it a pleasant place to pause.
Read the complete Paysage et ensemble miniers de Barlin write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Paysage et ensemble miniers de Barlin comes up about 17 km into the recorded legs. Next is Monument aux morts.
3. Monument aux morts
In the centre of Auchel, the war memorial stands as it does in every French town and village, listing the names of the men who died in the First and Second World Wars, and in mining towns these lists are often heartbreakingly long. But the memorials of the coalfield have a particular resonance, because the front line of the First World War ran through the edge of the mining basin, only a few kilometres east of here. The Germans occupied Lens and the eastern pits for most of the war, and when they withdrew in 1918, they flooded and sabotaged the mines, which took years to restore. Auchel and the western towns, on the Allied side, kept producing coal for the war effort under constant pressure.
Read the complete Monument aux morts write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 33 km into the recorded legs you reach Monument aux morts. Next is Terril 32.
4. Terril 32
Out on the western fringe of the coal basin, where the mining country fades into the farmland of the Lys valley and the edge of the Artois hills, Terril 32 rises near Norrent-Fontes, Mametz and Thérouanne. This is the far end of the seam, a long way from the dense cités around Lens and Douai, and the countryside feels it: smaller villages, more fields, more trees, and pits that were fewer and further between. The heap stands almost like a lone hill above the cropland, a reminder that coal reached even here.
Read the complete Terril 32 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Terril 32, about halfway. Next is Bâtiment de la Goutte de Lait.
5. Bâtiment de la Goutte de Lait
Mining companies in northern France did more than dig coal. They built housing, schools, churches, shops and clinics, so that workers' lives were shaped from birth to burial by the company, and the Goutte de Lait, the Drop of Milk, is a piece of that system. The name refers to the charitable clinics set up across France from the late nineteenth century to give mothers advice and clean milk for their babies, in an age when infant mortality was terrifying. In Auchel, the building belonged to the mining community, and it is listed as part of the Nord-Pas de Calais Mining Basin.
Read the complete Bâtiment de la Goutte de Lait write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Bâtiment de la Goutte de Lait sits at 69 km, about halfway. Next is back through Terril 32.
6. back through Terril 32
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Terril 32 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Terril 32 comes up about 81 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Monument aux morts.
7. back through Monument aux morts
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Monument aux morts write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 98 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Monument aux morts. Next is back through Paysage et ensemble miniers de Barlin.
8. back through Paysage et ensemble miniers de Barlin
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Paysage et ensemble miniers de Barlin write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Paysage et ensemble miniers de Barlin, late in the day. Next is Grands Bureaux de la Société Houillère de.
9. Grands Bureaux de la Société Houillère de
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Grands Bureaux de la Société Houillère de 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 132 km.
Leg by leg
Grands Bureaux de la Société Houillère de to Paysage et ensemble miniers de Barlin
Grands Bureaux de la Société Houillère de → Paysage et ensemble miniers de Barlin is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Paysage et ensemble miniers de Barlin to Monument aux morts
Paysage et ensemble miniers de Barlin → Monument aux morts is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Monument aux morts to Terril 32
Monument aux morts → Terril 32 is 15 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Terril 32 to Bâtiment de la Goutte de Lait
Terril 32 → Bâtiment de la Goutte de Lait is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Bâtiment de la Goutte de Lait to back through Terril 32
Bâtiment de la Goutte de Lait → back through Terril 32 is 15 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Terril 32 to back through Monument aux morts
back through Terril 32 → back through Monument aux morts is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Monument aux morts to back through Paysage et ensemble miniers de Barlin
back through Monument aux morts → back through Paysage et ensemble miniers de Barlin is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Paysage et ensemble miniers de Barlin to Grands Bureaux de la Société Houillère de
back through Paysage et ensemble miniers de Barlin → Grands Bureaux de la Société Houillère de is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.