Why this ride
From Harnes it runs 71 km to Harnes; allow about 1 h 29 of riding. On the way it passes Château Mercier et maisons d’ingénieur, Cités du Nouveau Monde et des Fleurs and back through Château Mercier et maisons d’ingénieur.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Paysage et ensemble miniers d’Estevelles e and Cités du Nouveau Monde et des Fleurs
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 71 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 1 h 29
- 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’Estevelles e
Estevelles is a small town where the mining basin meets the waterways of the Deûle, between Pont-à-Vendin and Carvin. The label points to one of the mining ensembles of the area, part of the UNESCO-listed basin: a pit, a cité, perhaps a spoil heap, all together telling the story of how coal shaped every aspect of local life. The mining companies built not only houses but churches, schools, health centres and gardens, controlling their workers' lives from cradle to grave. The cités around here, with their neat rows of brick houses and small vegetable gardens, still house many descendants of miners.
Read the complete Paysage et ensemble miniers d’Estevelles e 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’Estevelles e is where the day begins. Next is Château Mercier et maisons d’ingénieur.
2. Château Mercier et maisons d’ingénieur
Mining companies built for rank as well as for need. The ordinary miners got brick cottages in terraces, but the engineers and directors got something grander, detached houses with larger gardens and, for the top man, a house that was called a château and looked like one. Château Mercier at Mazingarbe belongs to that tradition, and the ride titles pair it with the engineers' houses. A walk through the old cité shows you the whole hierarchy of a company town in a few hundred metres, from the pit and the cottages to the engineers' row and the director's lawn. UNESCO's 2012 listing of the mining basin covers this social geography as much as the machinery.
Read the complete Château Mercier et maisons d’ingénieur write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Château Mercier et maisons d’ingénieur comes up about 16 km into the recorded legs. Next is Cités du Nouveau Monde et des Fleurs.
3. Cités du Nouveau Monde et des Fleurs
The coal companies were not short of optimism when they named their housing. In Bruay-la-Buissière, two neighbouring cités were called the New World and the Flowers, and their brick houses with front gardens, laid out along tidy streets, were meant to sell a better life to the families who came from across France, Poland, Italy and North Africa to work the pits. They belong to the Nord-Pas de Calais Mining Basin World Heritage Site, and they remain ordinary homes, so look respectfully.
Read the complete Cités du Nouveau Monde et des Fleurs write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 35 km into the recorded legs you reach Cités du Nouveau Monde et des Fleurs. Next is back through Château Mercier et maisons d’ingénieur.
4. back through Château Mercier et maisons d’ingénieur
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Château Mercier et maisons d’ingénieur write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Château Mercier et maisons d’ingénieur, late in the day. Next is Paysage et ensemble miniers d’Estevelles e.
5. Paysage et ensemble miniers d’Estevelles e
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Paysage et ensemble miniers d’Estevelles e 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’Estevelles e. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Paysage et ensemble miniers d’Estevelles e to Château Mercier et maisons d’ingénieur
Paysage et ensemble miniers d’Estevelles e → Château Mercier et maisons d’ingénieur is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Château Mercier et maisons d’ingénieur to Cités du Nouveau Monde et des Fleurs
Château Mercier et maisons d’ingénieur → Cités du Nouveau Monde et des Fleurs is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cités du Nouveau Monde et des Fleurs to back through Château Mercier et maisons d’ingénieur
Cités du Nouveau Monde et des Fleurs → back through Château Mercier et maisons d’ingénieur is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Château Mercier et maisons d’ingénieur to Paysage et ensemble miniers d’Estevelles e
back through Château Mercier et maisons d’ingénieur → Paysage et ensemble miniers d’Estevelles e is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.