Why this ride
162 km from Lens to Lens, about 3 h 06 of riding. On the way it passes Terrils Jumeaux 28, Terril 34, Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Hesdin and back through Terril 34. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Maison syndicale Lens and Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Hesdin
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 162 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 06
- 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. Maison syndicale Lens
Lens still wears its history on the surface. The town was flattened in the First World War, which fought over it for most of four years, and rebuilt in brick and concrete in the years after, so what you ride through now is mostly the work of the 1920s and 30s. The Maison syndicale, the union hall, is one of the buildings that belong to that rebuilding and to the world of the pits that surrounded the town, when coal paid the wages and the union bargained for the men who went down. It stands as a reminder that this was a place of organised labour as much as of industry.
Read the complete Maison syndicale Lens write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Maison syndicale Lens is where the day begins. Next is Terrils Jumeaux 28.
2. Terrils Jumeaux 28
Two near-perfect black cones rise from the farmland between Ruitz, Maisnil-lès-Ruitz and Haillicourt, and once you have spotted them you will keep seeing them for miles. These twin terrils, the spoil heaps of former coal pits, are among the tallest in the Nord-Pas de Calais basin and have become something of a regional emblem. They look volcanic, which in a way they are: shale and waste rock tipped there for decades by the mining companies, slowly settling into steep, smooth pyramids that turn purple-grey in rain and almost silver in bright sun.
Read the complete Terrils Jumeaux 28 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Terrils Jumeaux 28 comes up about 25 km into the recorded legs. Next is Terril 34.
3. Terril 34
A terril is a slag heap, a mountain of waste rock dumped beside a coal mine, and in the flat land of northern France these man-made hills are the closest thing to relief for miles around. Terril 34 is one of hundreds that dot the Nord-Pas-de-Calais Mining Basin, a UNESCO site since 2012, which recognises not only the heaps but also the pithead frames, miners' housing estates, schools, churches and railway lines that made up the landscape of coal mining in the region for nearly three centuries. This one sits near Norrent-Fontes and Lillers, at the western end of the basin, where it meets the chalk hills of Artois.
Read the complete Terril 34 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 Terril 34. Next is Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Hesdin.
4. Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Hesdin
Hesdin is a small market town in the green valley of the Canche, in the Pas-de-Calais, and it owes its existence to an act of destruction. The original town, a few kilometres upstream, was razed in 1553 by the forces of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, and a new fortified town was built here the following year as a strongpoint on the frontier between France and the Habsburg Netherlands. The grid of streets and the large market square still follow that plan. On the square stands the town hall, a former palace of the Habsburg governors, with a beautifully carved Renaissance balcony from which proclamations were read, and its belfry is part of the UNESCO list of belfries in Belgium and France.
Read the complete Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Hesdin write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Hesdin, about halfway. Next is back through Terril 34.
5. back through Terril 34
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Terril 34 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Terril 34 sits at 122 km, about halfway. Next is back through Terrils Jumeaux 28.
6. back through Terrils Jumeaux 28
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Terrils Jumeaux 28 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Terrils Jumeaux 28 comes up about 137 km into the recorded legs. Next is Maison syndicale Lens.
7. Maison syndicale Lens
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Maison syndicale Lens write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Maison syndicale Lens closes the day.
Leg by leg
Maison syndicale Lens to Terrils Jumeaux 28
Maison syndicale Lens → Terrils Jumeaux 28 is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Terrils Jumeaux 28 to Terril 34
Terrils Jumeaux 28 → Terril 34 is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Terril 34 to Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Hesdin
Terril 34 → Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Hesdin is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Hesdin to back through Terril 34
Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville d’Hesdin → back through Terril 34 is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Terril 34 to back through Terrils Jumeaux 28
back through Terril 34 → back through Terrils Jumeaux 28 is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Terrils Jumeaux 28 to Maison syndicale Lens
back through Terrils Jumeaux 28 → Maison syndicale Lens is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.