Why this ride
69 km from Bruay-la-Buissière to Bruay-la-Buissière, about 1 h 25 of riding. On the way it passes Cité n°2, Cité Bellevue ancienne and back through Cité n°2. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Hôtel de ville and Cité Bellevue ancienne
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 69 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 1 h 25
- 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. Hôtel de ville
Bruay-la-Buissière is a mining town that grew from almost nothing into a busy industrial centre in less than a century, and its town hall, an imposing building in the heart of town, is a statement of that civic pride. The label points to the Hôtel de ville, one of the many urban and public buildings of the mining era that are part of the Nord-Pas de Calais Mining Basin World Heritage site. It sits on the western end of the coalfield, where the plain begins to rise towards the chalk hills of Artois.
Read the complete Hôtel de ville write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Hôtel de ville is where the day begins. Next is Cité n°2.
2. Cité n°2
Mazingarbe is a small town on the northern edge of the mining basin, with the terraced rows of a miners' cité running down streets of red brick, and nearly twelve thousand people live in neighbouring Bully-les-Mines. The Cité Foch and the Cité Bellevue are two of the estates that mark this stretch of the basin on the map. The cité, built by the coal company for its workers, usually came with a school, a church, a company shop and a community hall, so that the pit shaped a whole life.
Read the complete Cité n°2 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Cité n°2 comes up about 18 km into the recorded legs. Next is Cité Bellevue ancienne.
3. Cité Bellevue ancienne
Cité Bellevue means beautiful view, and in this part of the Pas-de-Calais the joke, whether intended or not, is that the view is of other mining estates and a skyline of terrils. Noyelles-sous-Lens lies right beside Lens, the old capital of the coalfield, in a landscape that feels like one continuous town. The mines here were among the richest in France, and also among the most dangerous. The Courrières disaster of 1906, in which more than a thousand miners died, happened only a few kilometres away, and it remains the worst mining accident in European history.
Read the complete Cité Bellevue ancienne write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 34 km into the recorded legs you reach Cité Bellevue ancienne. Next is back through Cité n°2.
4. back through Cité n°2
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cité n°2 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Cité n°2, late in the day. Next is Hôtel de ville.
5. Hôtel de ville
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Hôtel de ville write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Hôtel de ville. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Hôtel de ville to Cité n°2
Hôtel de ville → Cité n°2 is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cité n°2 to Cité Bellevue ancienne
Cité n°2 → Cité Bellevue ancienne is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cité Bellevue ancienne to back through Cité n°2
Cité Bellevue ancienne → back through Cité n°2 is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cité n°2 to Hôtel de ville
back through Cité n°2 → Hôtel de ville is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.