Why this ride
A 70 km round trip from Sallaumines - roughly 1 h 18 in the saddle. The stops in between: Ensemble minier de la fosse Cornuault, Cité du Pont and back through Ensemble minier de la fosse Cornuault.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Monument commémoratif de la Catastrophe de and Cité du Pont
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 70 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 1 h 18
- 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 de la Catastrophe de
On the morning of 10 March 1906, an explosion tore through the galleries of the Courrières mining company, killing well over a thousand miners. It remains the worst mining disaster in European history. Most of the victims came from the towns of Méricourt, Sallaumines and Billy-Montigny, and many were buried in a mass grave nearby. Twenty days after the explosion, thirteen survivors emerged from the darkness, having found their way through the ruined galleries, and their story became famous across Europe. The memorials in and around Sallaumines honour the dead and the rescuers, including German miners from Westphalia who came to help.
Read the complete Monument commémoratif de la Catastrophe de write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Monument commémoratif de la Catastrophe de is where the day begins. Next is Ensemble minier de la fosse Cornuault.
2. Ensemble minier de la fosse Cornuault
The flat country between Douai and Lens does not look like much from a motorway, but it holds one of the great industrial landscapes of Europe. For more than two centuries coal was dug from under these fields, and the mining basin of the Nord-Pas de Calais was listed by UNESCO in 2012 as an evolving cultural landscape of pits, slag heaps, railway lines and workers' housing. The Fosse Cornuault at Évin-Malmaison is one piece of that vast mosaic, a former colliery site with its associated buildings, set among the brick villages of the eastern part of the basin.
Read the complete Ensemble minier de la fosse Cornuault write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Ensemble minier de la fosse Cornuault comes up about 17 km into the recorded legs. Next is Cité du Pont.
3. Cité du Pont
Wingles sits on the northern edge of the coal basin, between Lens and La Bassée, where the mining towns give way to the canals and fields of the Weppes and the outskirts of Lille. The Cité du Pont is one of its miners' settlements, rows of brick houses built for the workers of the local pits, and it is part of the Nord-Pas de Calais Mining Basin World Heritage site. The name, the bridge settlement, hints at the importance of the waterways that crisscross this flat land.
Read the complete Cité du Pont write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 36 km into the recorded legs you reach Cité du Pont. Next is back through Ensemble minier de la fosse Cornuault.
4. back through Ensemble minier de la fosse Cornuault
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Ensemble minier de la fosse Cornuault write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Ensemble minier de la fosse Cornuault, late in the day. Next is Monument commémoratif de la Catastrophe de.
5. Monument commémoratif de la Catastrophe de
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Monument commémoratif de la Catastrophe de 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 de la Catastrophe de. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Monument commémoratif de la Catastrophe de to Ensemble minier de la fosse Cornuault
Monument commémoratif de la Catastrophe de → Ensemble minier de la fosse Cornuault is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Ensemble minier de la fosse Cornuault to Cité du Pont
Ensemble minier de la fosse Cornuault → Cité du Pont is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cité du Pont to back through Ensemble minier de la fosse Cornuault
Cité du Pont → back through Ensemble minier de la fosse Cornuault is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Ensemble minier de la fosse Cornuault to Monument commémoratif de la Catastrophe de
back through Ensemble minier de la fosse Cornuault → Monument commémoratif de la Catastrophe de is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.