Why this ride
A 261 km round trip from Escaudain - roughly 3 h 45 in the saddle. It goes by way of Cité Crombez, Cité des Soeurs, Terrils 87 et 92 and Paysage et ensemble miniers de Barlin. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Paysage et ensemble miniers d’Escaudain and Paysage et ensemble miniers de Barlin
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 261 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 45
- 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 Cité Crombez.
2. 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
Cité Crombez comes up about 34 km into the recorded legs. Next is Cité des Soeurs.
3. Cité des Soeurs
At the western edge of the coalfield, where the plain of the mining basin starts to buckle into the chalk hills of Artois, the town of Barlin grew up around its pits. The Cité des Soeurs is one of its housing estates, rows of brick miners' houses with gardens, and Terril 244, a slag heap now furred with trees, stands nearby like a man-made hill. Both belong to the Nord-Pas de Calais Mining Basin World Heritage Site, which covers more than a hundred kilometres of coal country from the Belgian border westwards.
Read the complete Cité des Soeurs write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 67 km into the recorded legs you reach Cité des Soeurs. Next is Terrils 87 et 92.
4. Terrils 87 et 92
From a distance they look like hills, which in this flat country is reason enough to stare. The terrils numbered 87 and 92, on the edge of Noyelles-Godault and Dourges next to Hénin-Beaumont, are spoil heaps from the coal mines of the Nord-Pas de Calais basin, made of the shale and rock that came up with the coal over a century and more of mining. They are part of the Nord-Pas de Calais Mining Basin, inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 2012 as a whole cultural landscape: pits, headframes, miners' housing, schools, churches and these artificial black mountains, more than a hundred of which are protected.
Read the complete Terrils 87 et 92 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Terrils 87 et 92, about halfway. Next is Paysage et ensemble miniers de Barlin.
5. Paysage et ensemble miniers de Barlin
Barlin is where the coalfield starts to run into hills. To the west, the land rises gently into the Artois uplands, and the mining town sits at the transition, its slag heaps, workers' houses and pit buildings now part of the Nord-Pas-de-Calais Mining Basin World Heritage site. It is a quieter corner than Lens or Douai, and the mix of industrial history and rolling countryside makes it a pleasant place to pause.
Read the complete Paysage et ensemble miniers de Barlin 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 de Barlin sits at 141 km, about halfway. Next is back through Terrils 87 et 92.
6. back through Terrils 87 et 92
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Terrils 87 et 92 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Terrils 87 et 92 comes up about 163 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Cité des Soeurs.
7. back through Cité des Soeurs
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cité des Soeurs write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 196 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Cité des Soeurs. Next is back through Cité Crombez.
8. 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
back through Cité Crombez, 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 261 km.
Leg by leg
Paysage et ensemble miniers d’Escaudain to Cité Crombez
Paysage et ensemble miniers d’Escaudain → Cité Crombez is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cité Crombez to Cité des Soeurs
Cité Crombez → Cité des Soeurs is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cité des Soeurs to Terrils 87 et 92
Cité des Soeurs → Terrils 87 et 92 is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Terrils 87 et 92 to Paysage et ensemble miniers de Barlin
Terrils 87 et 92 → Paysage et ensemble miniers de Barlin is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Paysage et ensemble miniers de Barlin to back through Terrils 87 et 92
Paysage et ensemble miniers de Barlin → back through Terrils 87 et 92 is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Terrils 87 et 92 to back through Cité des Soeurs
back through Terrils 87 et 92 → back through Cité des Soeurs is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cité des Soeurs to back through Cité Crombez
back through Cité des Soeurs → back through Cité Crombez is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cité Crombez to Paysage et ensemble miniers d’Escaudain
back through Cité Crombez → Paysage et ensemble miniers d’Escaudain is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.