Why this ride
A 71 km round trip from Bruay-la-Buissière - roughly 1 h 26 in the saddle. The stops in between: Cité n°2, Cité Bellevue ancienne and back through Cité n°2. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Les cités des Musiciens and Cité Bellevue ancienne
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 71 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 1 h 26
- 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. Les cités des Musiciens
In Bruay-la-Buissière, the streets of one mining estate carry the names of composers, which is where the Cités des Musiciens get their name. The mining company laid out housing in neat rows of brick, with gardens, pavements and modest decorative touches, and gave the lanes names such as Mozart, Berlioz and Bizet, a gesture that mixes paternalism with a certain poetry. Whether the miners cared much about the choice is another question, but the estates have a distinctive atmosphere, and they are listed by UNESCO as part of the Nord-Pas de Calais Mining Basin.
Read the complete Les cités des Musiciens write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Les cités des Musiciens 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 19 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 35 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 Les cités des Musiciens.
5. Les cités des Musiciens
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Les cités des Musiciens write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Les cités des Musiciens. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Les cités des Musiciens to Cité n°2
Les cités des Musiciens → Cité n°2 is 19 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 Les cités des Musiciens
back through Cité n°2 → Les cités des Musiciens is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.