Why this ride
A 64 km round trip from Escaudain - roughly 1 h 08 in the saddle. On the way it passes Cités du Champ fleuri et du Garage, Terril 140 and back through Cités du Champ fleuri et du Garage.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Monument commémoratif Charles Mathieu and Terril 140
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 64 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 1 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 du Champ fleuri et du Garage.
2. Cités du Champ fleuri et du Garage
Coal made this corner of northern France, and coal left it with a landscape unlike anywhere else in the country: slag heaps rising like black pyramids from the fields, pithead frames standing over old shafts and long rows of brick miners' houses lining the streets of every town. The Nord-Pas de Calais Mining Basin was listed by UNESCO in 2012, and the Cités du Champ Fleuri et du Garage, near Masny and Lewarde, are among its typical housing estates, built by mining companies to house workers and their families close to the pits.
Read the complete Cités du Champ fleuri et du Garage write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Cités du Champ fleuri et du Garage comes up about 16 km into the recorded legs. Next is Terril 140.
3. Terril 140
Rising out of the flat fields north of Douai, the black, cone-shaped hill of Terril 140 is not a natural feature at all: it is a heap of mining waste, the spoil left over from decades of coal extraction. The mining basin of Nord-Pas-de-Calais, listed by UNESCO in 2012 as a cultural landscape, is studded with hundreds of these terrils, some flat-topped, some pointed, and together with the pitheads, workers' housing and railways they tell the story of an industry that shaped the region for nearly three centuries.
Read the complete Terril 140 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 33 km into the recorded legs you reach Terril 140. Next is back through Cités du Champ fleuri et du Garage.
4. back through Cités du Champ fleuri et du Garage
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cités du Champ fleuri et du Garage write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Cités du Champ fleuri et du Garage, late in the day. Next is Monument commémoratif Charles Mathieu.
5. 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
Back at Monument commémoratif Charles Mathieu. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Monument commémoratif Charles Mathieu to Cités du Champ fleuri et du Garage
Monument commémoratif Charles Mathieu → Cités du Champ fleuri et du Garage is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cités du Champ fleuri et du Garage to Terril 140
Cités du Champ fleuri et du Garage → Terril 140 is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Terril 140 to back through Cités du Champ fleuri et du Garage
Terril 140 → back through Cités du Champ fleuri et du Garage is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cités du Champ fleuri et du Garage to Monument commémoratif Charles Mathieu
back through Cités du Champ fleuri et du Garage → Monument commémoratif Charles Mathieu is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.