Why this ride
From Escaudain it runs 131 km to Escaudain; allow about 2 h 28 of riding. On the way it passes Cités de Guesnain, Cité Crombez, Gare de Lens and Monument à Madame Declercq.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Paysage et ensemble miniers d’Escaudain and Monument à Madame Declercq
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 131 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 28
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. 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 17 km in. 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
35 km in you reach Cité Crombez. Next is Gare de Lens.
4. Gare de Lens
Lens station looks like a locomotive, which is exactly what its architects intended. The Art Deco building, completed in the 1920s to replace a station destroyed in the First World War, has a long low front with a tall central block that suggests a train at speed, and its brick and stone are laid out with real flair. Inside and out it was designed to tell people that this was a town that had survived and meant to thrive, and few stations of its date achieve the effect so well.
Read the complete Gare de Lens write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Gare de Lens, about halfway. Next is Monument à Madame Declercq.
5. Monument à Madame Declercq
Oignies is a small town in the Pas-de-Calais, at the edge of the old coal basin near the border with the Nord, with a monument at its heart to the people who lived and died by the pits.
Read the complete Monument à Madame Declercq write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Monument à Madame Declercq sits at 70 km, about halfway. Next is back through Gare de Lens.
6. back through Gare de Lens
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Gare de Lens write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Gare de Lens comes up 87 km in. Next is back through Cité Crombez.
7. back through Cité Crombez
Return visit. Read the place description above.
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
104 km in you reach back through Cité Crombez. Next is back through Cités de Guesnain.
8. 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.
9. 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
The route ends here after 131 km.
Leg by leg
Paysage et ensemble miniers d’Escaudain to Cités de Guesnain
Paysage et ensemble miniers d’Escaudain → Cités de Guesnain is 18 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 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cité Crombez to Gare de Lens
Cité Crombez → Gare de Lens is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Gare de Lens to Monument à Madame Declercq
Gare de Lens → Monument à Madame Declercq is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Monument à Madame Declercq to back through Gare de Lens
Monument à Madame Declercq → back through Gare de Lens is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Gare de Lens to back through Cité Crombez
back through Gare de Lens → back through Cité Crombez is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cité Crombez to back through Cités de Guesnain
back through Cité Crombez → back through Cités de Guesnain is 18 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 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.