Why this ride
137 km from Bruay-la-Buissière to Bruay-la-Buissière, about 2 h 10 of riding. On the way it passes Chevalement du n°1 bis de Liévin, Cités de la Justice et du Moulin, Temple protestant and back through Cités de la Justice et du Moulin.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Les cités des Musiciens and Temple protestant
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 137 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 10
- 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 Chevalement du n°1 bis de Liévin.
2. Chevalement du n°1 bis de Liévin
Number 1 bis at Liévin was one of the shafts of the old Compagnie des mines de Liévin, and its headframe still stands, a lean tower against a sky that is often low and grey. It is protected as part of the Mining Basin World Heritage Site, listed in 2012, together with the terrils, the cités and a hundred or so other elements across the old coalfield. What strikes you is how ordinary it looks, a plain frame in an urban setting, and yet it stands for generations of men who went down in cages and came back up with faces black with coal.
Read the complete Chevalement du n°1 bis de Liévin write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Chevalement du n°1 bis de Liévin comes up about 23 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 46 km into the recorded legs you reach Cités de la Justice et du Moulin. Next is Temple protestant.
4. Temple protestant
Liévin is a town of thirty-four thousand people that grew up around coal, and the Protestant temple on its streets is a small reminder of how mixed the mining population was. The pits drew workers from Belgium, Poland, Italy and North Africa as well as from the French countryside, and the mining companies built churches, schools, shops and entire districts for them. In a region that was overwhelmingly Catholic, a temple stood a little apart, and its quiet presence says something about the way the basin took in newcomers.
Read the complete Temple protestant write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Temple protestant, about halfway. Next is back through Cités de la Justice et du Moulin.
5. back through Cités de la Justice et du Moulin
Return visit. Read the place description above.
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
back through Cités de la Justice et du Moulin sits at 99 km, about halfway. Next is back through Chevalement du n°1 bis de Liévin.
6. back through Chevalement du n°1 bis de Liévin
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Chevalement du n°1 bis de Liévin write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Chevalement du n°1 bis de Liévin comes up about 113 km into the recorded legs. Next is Les cités des Musiciens.
7. 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
Les cités des Musiciens closes the day.
Leg by leg
Les cités des Musiciens to Chevalement du n°1 bis de Liévin
Les cités des Musiciens → Chevalement du n°1 bis de Liévin is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Chevalement du n°1 bis de Liévin to Cités de la Justice et du Moulin
Chevalement du n°1 bis de Liévin → Cités de la Justice et du Moulin is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cités de la Justice et du Moulin to Temple protestant
Cités de la Justice et du Moulin → Temple protestant is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Temple protestant to back through Cités de la Justice et du Moulin
Temple protestant → back through Cités de la Justice et du Moulin is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cités de la Justice et du Moulin to back through Chevalement du n°1 bis de Liévin
back through Cités de la Justice et du Moulin → back through Chevalement du n°1 bis de Liévin is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Chevalement du n°1 bis de Liévin to Les cités des Musiciens
back through Chevalement du n°1 bis de Liévin → Les cités des Musiciens is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.