Why this ride
From Achicourt it runs 130 km to Achicourt; allow about 2 h 25 of riding. The stops in between: Paysage et ensemble miniers des Pinchonval, Cité Foch, Terril 80 et cité des Garennes and Paysage et ensemble miniers de Barlin.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
La citadella d’Arras and Paysage et ensemble miniers de Barlin
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 130 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 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. La citadella d’Arras
The people of Arras call their citadel la belle inutile, the beautiful useless one, and they say it with affection. Vauban built it in the late seventeenth century, after Louis XIV took Artois from Spain, as part of the chain of fortresses meant to lock France's northern border. Its star-shaped ramparts, bastions and moats are textbook Vauban, but the border moved north before the fortress ever saw a serious siege, hence the nickname. It is one of the twelve sites grouped as the Fortifications of Vauban on the UNESCO list since 2008. Its later history is darker: during the Second World War, the Germans executed resistance fighters in the moat, and a memorial there lists their names.
Read the complete La citadella d’Arras write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
La citadella d’Arras is where the day begins. Next is Paysage et ensemble miniers des Pinchonval.
2. Paysage et ensemble miniers des Pinchonval
The flat coalfield of northern France has one real hill near Liévin, and on top of it stand two tall white pylons carved with figures of grief. This is Vimy Ridge, taken by the Canadian Corps in April 1917, and the Canadian National Vimy Memorial looks out over the mining country below. Down on the plain, in Avion and Liévin, Pinchonval is a cité, a miners' housing estate of brick houses and gardens, and with dozens of other sites it makes up the Nord-Pas de Calais Mining Basin, a World Heritage Site since 2012.
Read the complete Paysage et ensemble miniers des Pinchonval 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 des Pinchonval comes up about 16 km into the recorded legs. Next is Cité Foch.
3. Cité Foch
Row upon row of identical brick houses, each with its small garden, outbuilding and front door painted in the colour of the mining company: that is a cité minière, and Cité Foch, between Hénin-Beaumont and Montigny-en-Gohelle, is one of the many hundreds that the coal companies built across northern France. They were designed to house miners and their families close to the pits, and they came in different forms over the decades, from the long terraces of the nineteenth century, the corons, to the garden cities of the early twentieth century, with semi-detached houses, wide streets and green spaces. Many of these neighbourhoods are included in the UNESCO listing of the mining basin.
Read the complete Cité Foch write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 31 km into the recorded legs you reach Cité Foch. Next is Terril 80 et cité des Garennes.
4. Terril 80 et cité des Garennes
Liévin is a town that knows grief. On 27 December 1974, a firedamp explosion at the Saint-Amé pit killed forty-two miners, one of the last great mining disasters in France, and it is still remembered every year. The town sits on the southern edge of the coal basin, next to Lens, and its landscape is still marked by the industry: Terril 80, a spoil heap from one of the pits, and the Cité des Garennes, a settlement of miners' houses, are part of the Nord-Pas de Calais Mining Basin World Heritage site.
Read the complete Terril 80 et cité des Garennes write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Terril 80 et cité des Garennes, about halfway. Next is Paysage et ensemble miniers de Barlin.
5. 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 sits at 69 km, about halfway. Next is back through Terril 80 et cité des Garennes.
6. back through Terril 80 et cité des Garennes
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Terril 80 et cité des Garennes write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Terril 80 et cité des Garennes comes up about 82 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Cité Foch.
7. back through Cité Foch
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cité Foch write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 97 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Cité Foch. Next is back through Paysage et ensemble miniers des Pinchonval.
8. back through Paysage et ensemble miniers des Pinchonval
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Paysage et ensemble miniers des Pinchonval 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 des Pinchonval, late in the day. Next is La citadella d’Arras.
9. La citadella d’Arras
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete La citadella d’Arras 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 130 km.
Leg by leg
La citadella d’Arras to Paysage et ensemble miniers des Pinchonval
La citadella d’Arras → Paysage et ensemble miniers des Pinchonval is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Paysage et ensemble miniers des Pinchonval to Cité Foch
Paysage et ensemble miniers des Pinchonval → Cité Foch is 15 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cité Foch to Terril 80 et cité des Garennes
Cité Foch → Terril 80 et cité des Garennes is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Terril 80 et cité des Garennes to Paysage et ensemble miniers de Barlin
Terril 80 et cité des Garennes → Paysage et ensemble miniers de Barlin is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Paysage et ensemble miniers de Barlin to back through Terril 80 et cité des Garennes
Paysage et ensemble miniers de Barlin → back through Terril 80 et cité des Garennes is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Terril 80 et cité des Garennes to back through Cité Foch
back through Terril 80 et cité des Garennes → back through Cité Foch is 15 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cité Foch to back through Paysage et ensemble miniers des Pinchonval
back through Cité Foch → back through Paysage et ensemble miniers des Pinchonval is 15 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Paysage et ensemble miniers des Pinchonval to La citadella d’Arras
back through Paysage et ensemble miniers des Pinchonval → La citadella d’Arras is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.