Why this ride
264 km from Escaudain to Escaudain, about 4 h 08 of riding. The stops in between: Cités de la Justice et du Moulin, Cité n°10, Terril 34 and Cité n°2. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Monument commémoratif Charles Mathieu and Cité n°2
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 264 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 4 h 08
- 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. Monument commémoratif Charles Mathieu
Lourches is a small mining town in the Nord department, on the banks of the Escaut river, between Denain and Valenciennes, in the heart of the old coal mining basin that stretched across northern France. The memorial named after Charles Mathieu is one of the elements listed as part of the Nord-Pas-de-Calais Mining Basin UNESCO site, alongside pitheads, slag heaps, miners' housing and the buildings of the mining companies.
Read the complete Monument commémoratif Charles Mathieu write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Monument commémoratif Charles Mathieu is where the day begins. Next is Cités de la Justice et du Moulin.
2. 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
Cités de la Justice et du Moulin comes up about 30 km into the recorded legs. Next is Cité n°10.
3. Cité n°10
Sains-en-Gohelle is a former coal town in the heart of the Nord-Pas de Calais mining basin, and Cité n°10 is one of its old mining estates, rows of brick houses built for miners and their families around a pithead. The basin, which stretches about 120 kilometres from the Belgian border towards the west, was recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2012, and the cités, the slag heaps and the headframes are its most visible remains.
Read the complete Cité n°10 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 61 km into the recorded legs you reach Cité n°10. Next is Terril 34.
4. 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
Terril 34, about halfway. Next is Cité n°2.
5. 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 sits at 141 km, about halfway. Next is back through Terril 34.
6. 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 comes up about 165 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Cité n°10.
7. back through Cité n°10
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cité n°10 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 201 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Cité n°10. Next is back through Cités de la Justice et du Moulin.
8. 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, late in the day. Next is Monument commémoratif Charles Mathieu.
9. Monument commémoratif Charles Mathieu
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Monument commémoratif Charles Mathieu 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 264 km.
Leg by leg
Monument commémoratif Charles Mathieu to Cités de la Justice et du Moulin
Monument commémoratif Charles Mathieu → Cités de la Justice et du Moulin is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cités de la Justice et du Moulin to Cité n°10
Cités de la Justice et du Moulin → Cité n°10 is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cité n°10 to Terril 34
Cité n°10 → Terril 34 is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Terril 34 to Cité n°2
Terril 34 → Cité n°2 is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cité n°2 to back through Terril 34
Cité n°2 → back through Terril 34 is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Terril 34 to back through Cité n°10
back through Terril 34 → back through Cité n°10 is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cité n°10 to back through Cités de la Justice et du Moulin
back through Cité n°10 → back through Cités de la Justice et du Moulin is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cités de la Justice et du Moulin to Monument commémoratif Charles Mathieu
back through Cités de la Justice et du Moulin → Monument commémoratif Charles Mathieu is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
More motorcycle rides nearby
- Terril Renard and Cité n°2 · 264 km
- Fosse Mathilde and Cité n°2 · 267 km
- Beffroi de Béthune and Paysage et ensemble miniers d’Auchy-les-Mi · 147 km
- Fosse Delloye and Cité n°2 · 268 km