Paysage et ensemble miniers de Fouquières- and Beffroi de Gravelines

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Paysage et ensemble miniers de Fouquières-

   On 10 March 1906 a fire in a pit at Courrières, a few kilometres from here, set off a coal-dust explosion that ran through the galleries of three linked mines and killed 1,099 men and boys. It is the worst mining disaster in European history. Rescue teams came from Germany's Westphalian coalfield and worked alongside French crews, a rare moment of cooperation between two countries that would be at war within a decade. Twenty days after the explosion, thirteen survivors were found alive, which astonished the country. The disaster led to strikes and a national debate on safety and the role of the state, with the interior minister, Georges Clemenceau, sending troops to the area, and it changed mining law in France.

   Read the complete Paysage et ensemble miniers de Fouquières- 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 Fouquières- is where the day begins. Next is Terril 244.

2. 2. Terril 244

   Way out at the western tip of the coalfield, near the villages of Mametz and Norrent-Fontes, Terril 244 marks the place where coal mining reached its limit. Beyond it, the land belongs to farmers, and the next towns, Aire-sur-la-Lys and Saint-Omer, have more to do with canals, marshes and markets than with mines. The heap stands as a solitary landmark in the fields, smaller than the giants further east, and its green-covered slopes blend into the landscape. It is one of the outlying components of the Nord-Pas de Calais Mining Basin listed by UNESCO, a reminder that the coalfield stretched for over a hundred kilometres from the Belgian border to here.

   Read the complete Terril 244 write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Terril 244 comes up about 57 km into the recorded legs. Next is Beffroi de Gravelines.

3. 3. Beffroi de Gravelines

   Gravelines sits right where the river Aa meets the Channel, between Calais and Dunkirk, and it still wears its walls. The town is wrapped in Vauban-era fortifications, a star of brick ramparts, bastions and water-filled moats that you can walk or ride around, and in the middle of it rises the belfry, one of the towers listed by UNESCO among the belfries of northern France and Belgium. It is a solid, sober tower rather than a showpiece, built to watch, warn and ring the hours for a frontier town that changed hands more than once.

   Read the complete Beffroi de Gravelines write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 113 km into the recorded legs you reach Beffroi de Gravelines. Next is back through Terril 244.

4. 4. back through Terril 244

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Terril 244 write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Terril 244, late in the day. Next is Paysage et ensemble miniers de Fouquières-.

5. 5. Paysage et ensemble miniers de Fouquières-

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Paysage et ensemble miniers de Fouquières- 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 de Fouquières-. That is the ride.