Why this ride
From Barlin it runs 130 km to Barlin; allow about 2 h 53 of riding. The stops in between: Monument aux morts, Terril 32, Bâtiment de la Goutte de Lait and Terril 31.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Paysage et ensemble miniers de Barlin and Terril 31
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 130 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 53
- 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 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 is where the day begins. Next is Monument aux morts.
2. Monument aux morts
In the centre of Auchel, the war memorial stands as it does in every French town and village, listing the names of the men who died in the First and Second World Wars, and in mining towns these lists are often heartbreakingly long. But the memorials of the coalfield have a particular resonance, because the front line of the First World War ran through the edge of the mining basin, only a few kilometres east of here. The Germans occupied Lens and the eastern pits for most of the war, and when they withdrew in 1918, they flooded and sabotaged the mines, which took years to restore. Auchel and the western towns, on the Allied side, kept producing coal for the war effort under constant pressure.
Read the complete Monument aux morts write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Monument aux morts comes up about 16 km into the recorded legs. Next is Terril 32.
3. Terril 32
Out on the western fringe of the coal basin, where the mining country fades into the farmland of the Lys valley and the edge of the Artois hills, Terril 32 rises near Norrent-Fontes, Mametz and Thérouanne. This is the far end of the seam, a long way from the dense cités around Lens and Douai, and the countryside feels it: smaller villages, more fields, more trees, and pits that were fewer and further between. The heap stands almost like a lone hill above the cropland, a reminder that coal reached even here.
Read the complete Terril 32 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 31 km into the recorded legs you reach Terril 32. Next is Bâtiment de la Goutte de Lait.
4. Bâtiment de la Goutte de Lait
Mining companies in northern France did more than dig coal. They built housing, schools, churches, shops and clinics, so that workers' lives were shaped from birth to burial by the company, and the Goutte de Lait, the Drop of Milk, is a piece of that system. The name refers to the charitable clinics set up across France from the late nineteenth century to give mothers advice and clean milk for their babies, in an age when infant mortality was terrifying. In Auchel, the building belonged to the mining community, and it is listed as part of the Nord-Pas de Calais Mining Basin.
Read the complete Bâtiment de la Goutte de Lait write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Bâtiment de la Goutte de Lait, about halfway. Next is Terril 31.
5. Terril 31
A terril is a coal slag heap, and in the old Artois coalfield they punctuate the horizon like unfinished pyramids. This one, numbered 31 in the local inventory of the mining basin, lies on the southern fringe of the field, near Norrent-Fontes and Mametz, where the plain of the Lys starts to tilt against the low hills of Artois. Heaps like this were built up over decades from the waste rock hauled out of the pits, and many are conical, a few are flat-topped and some stretch in long ridges. Left alone, they have turned into oddities of nature, with warm black soil that suits unusual plants, birch scrub, and in summer a surprising number of butterflies.
Read the complete Terril 31 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Terril 31 sits at 70 km, about halfway. Next is back through Bâtiment de la Goutte de Lait.
6. back through Bâtiment de la Goutte de Lait
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Bâtiment de la Goutte de Lait write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Bâtiment de la Goutte de Lait comes up about 81 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Terril 32.
7. back through Terril 32
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Terril 32 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 96 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Terril 32. Next is back through Monument aux morts.
8. back through Monument aux morts
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Monument aux morts write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Monument aux morts, late in the day. Next is Paysage et ensemble miniers de Barlin.
9. Paysage et ensemble miniers de Barlin
Return visit. Read the place description above.
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
The route ends here after 130 km.
Leg by leg
Paysage et ensemble miniers de Barlin to Monument aux morts
Paysage et ensemble miniers de Barlin → Monument aux morts is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Monument aux morts to Terril 32
Monument aux morts → Terril 32 is 15 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Terril 32 to Bâtiment de la Goutte de Lait
Terril 32 → Bâtiment de la Goutte de Lait is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Bâtiment de la Goutte de Lait to Terril 31
Bâtiment de la Goutte de Lait → Terril 31 is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Terril 31 to back through Bâtiment de la Goutte de Lait
Terril 31 → back through Bâtiment de la Goutte de Lait is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Bâtiment de la Goutte de Lait to back through Terril 32
back through Bâtiment de la Goutte de Lait → back through Terril 32 is 15 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Terril 32 to back through Monument aux morts
back through Terril 32 → back through Monument aux morts is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Monument aux morts to Paysage et ensemble miniers de Barlin
back through Monument aux morts → Paysage et ensemble miniers de Barlin is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.