Paysage et ensemble miniers de Noeux-les- and Ancienne Fosse n°2 et mine-image

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Paysage et ensemble miniers de Noeux-les-

   Noeux-les-Mines stands between Béthune and Lens, and its skyline is dominated by two things: tall slag heaps, the terrils, and the old pithead structures that survive from the coal years. It is the surviving heart of a mine, with its headframe, winding house, baths and offices, plus the housing, school and church that went with it. The UNESCO listing of 2012 includes the Noeux-les-Mines area among its many components, for the sake of the whole landscape rather than any one building.

   Read the complete Paysage et ensemble miniers de Noeux-les- 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 Noeux-les- is where the day begins. Next is Cité n°2 62 Pas-de-Calais.

2. 2. Cité n°2 62 Pas-de-Calais

   The mining basin of Nord-Pas-de-Calais is flat country made hilly by hand. Around Lens, the heaps of slag left by two centuries of coal digging rise like black pyramids above the fields, and the red-brick miners' houses stand in long, tidy terraces, row after row, called corons. This particular stop lies in the town of Lens, in a cité, the name for a company-built miners' estate, and the numbers in the label come from the way the mining companies numbered their pits and estates.

   Read the complete Cité n°2 62 Pas-de-Calais write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Cité n°2 62 Pas-de-Calais comes up about 17 km into the recorded legs. Next is Ancienne Fosse n°2 et mine-image.

3. 3. Ancienne Fosse n°2 et mine-image

   Oignies holds a special place in the history of northern France: it is where coal mining in the Pas-de-Calais began and where it ended. In 1842, coal was found here during a search for water on the estate of a local landowner, Henriette de Clercq, starting a rush that transformed the region. And on 21 December 1990, the last tonne of coal in the Nord-Pas de Calais basin was brought up from the 9-9bis pit in Oignies, ending more than two and a half centuries of mining in the region. The old Fosse n°2 and its mine-image, a training gallery where young miners learned their trade above ground, are part of the World Heritage site.

   Read the complete Ancienne Fosse n°2 et mine-image 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 Ancienne Fosse n°2 et mine-image. Next is back through Cité n°2 62 Pas-de-Calais.

4. 4. back through Cité n°2 62 Pas-de-Calais

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Cité n°2 62 Pas-de-Calais write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   back through Cité n°2 62 Pas-de-Calais, late in the day. Next is Paysage et ensemble miniers de Noeux-les-.

5. 5. Paysage et ensemble miniers de Noeux-les-

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

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