Why this ride
From Escaudain it runs 72 km to Escaudain; allow about 1 h 22 of riding. On the way it passes Cités de Guesnain, Cité Crombez and back through Cités de Guesnain.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Paysage et ensemble miniers d’Escaudain and Cité Crombez
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 72 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 1 h 22
- 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. Paysage et ensemble miniers d’Escaudain
Escaudain sits in the old heartland of the Compagnie des mines d'Anzin, the oldest and once the most powerful of the coal companies in northern France, and the landscape around it is pure mining country: rows of brick terraces, spoil heaps, old railway embankments and the occasional headframe standing like a monument. This is the Valenciennes end of the coalfield, close to the Belgian border, and it was here that coal mining in the north began in the eighteenth century. The town and its surroundings form one of the many components of the Nord-Pas de Calais Mining Basin, which UNESCO inscribed in 2012 as an evolving cultural landscape.
Read the complete Paysage et ensemble miniers d’Escaudain write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Paysage et ensemble miniers d’Escaudain is where the day begins. Next is Cités de Guesnain.
2. Cités de Guesnain
A kilometre down the road from the workers' housing of Guesnain stands the best place in France to understand what coal really meant. The Centre Historique Minier at Lewarde occupies the old Delloye pit, which closed in 1971, and it walks you through the whole life of a mine: the lamp room, the showers where miners hung their clothes on chains up to the ceiling, the stables for the pit ponies, and a reconstructed gallery underground where you hear the noise of the picks and the creak of the props. Come here first, and every terrace and terril you pass afterwards will make more sense.
Read the complete Cités de Guesnain write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Cités de Guesnain comes up about 16 km into the recorded legs. Next is Cité Crombez.
3. Cité Crombez
Cité Crombez is a miners' settlement at Noyelles-Godault, on the eastern edge of Hénin-Beaumont, in the heart of the old coal basin between Lens and Douai. Built by the mining company to house its workers, it has the classic layout of brick houses, gardens and straight streets, and it is part of the Nord-Pas de Calais Mining Basin World Heritage site. Today it is a quiet residential area, surrounded by shopping centres, motorways and the remains of heavy industry.
Read the complete Cité Crombez 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 Crombez. Next is back through Cités de Guesnain.
4. back through Cités de Guesnain
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cités de Guesnain 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 Guesnain, late in the day. Next is Paysage et ensemble miniers d’Escaudain.
5. Paysage et ensemble miniers d’Escaudain
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Paysage et ensemble miniers d’Escaudain write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Paysage et ensemble miniers d’Escaudain. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Paysage et ensemble miniers d’Escaudain to Cités de Guesnain
Paysage et ensemble miniers d’Escaudain → Cités de Guesnain is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cités de Guesnain to Cité Crombez
Cités de Guesnain → Cité Crombez is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cité Crombez to back through Cités de Guesnain
Cité Crombez → back through Cités de Guesnain is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cités de Guesnain to Paysage et ensemble miniers d’Escaudain
back through Cités de Guesnain → Paysage et ensemble miniers d’Escaudain is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.