Why this ride
76 km from Wallers to Wallers, about 1 h 21 of riding. It goes by way of Ensemble minier des Argales, Terril 140 and back through Ensemble minier des Argales. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Paysage et ensemble miniers de Wallers-Are and Terril 140
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 76 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 1 h 21
- 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 Wallers-Are
Anyone who follows cycling knows the Trouée d'Arenberg, the arrow-straight cobbled lane through the forest near Wallers where Paris-Roubaix often breaks apart. What fewer know is that the lane passes the gate of a colliery, and that the colliery is one of the jewels of the Nord-Pas de Calais Mining Basin World Heritage Site. Fosse Arenberg, with its three steel headframes and brick engine houses, closed in 1989, and a few years later Claude Berri filmed his version of Zola's Germinal here, using the pithead and the cités around it as a ready-made nineteenth-century mining town.
Read the complete Paysage et ensemble miniers de Wallers-Are 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 Wallers-Are is where the day begins. Next is Ensemble minier des Argales.
2. Ensemble minier des Argales
At Rieulay, in the middle of the Scarpe valley, the terril des Argales is one of the largest spoil heaps in France, a vast, flat-topped plateau of mining waste stretching for well over a kilometre. Once a stark, black wasteland, it has been transformed into a nature and leisure area, with a lake at its foot, trails, viewpoints and a nature reserve where rare plants and birds have found a home. The site, together with nearby mining remains, is part of the Nord-Pas-de-Calais Mining Basin, listed by UNESCO in 2012.
Read the complete Ensemble minier des Argales write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Ensemble minier des Argales comes up about 19 km into the recorded legs. Next is Terril 140.
3. Terril 140
Rising out of the flat fields north of Douai, the black, cone-shaped hill of Terril 140 is not a natural feature at all: it is a heap of mining waste, the spoil left over from decades of coal extraction. The mining basin of Nord-Pas-de-Calais, listed by UNESCO in 2012 as a cultural landscape, is studded with hundreds of these terrils, some flat-topped, some pointed, and together with the pitheads, workers' housing and railways they tell the story of an industry that shaped the region for nearly three centuries.
Read the complete Terril 140 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 38 km into the recorded legs you reach Terril 140. Next is back through Ensemble minier des Argales.
4. back through Ensemble minier des Argales
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Ensemble minier des Argales write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Ensemble minier des Argales, late in the day. Next is Paysage et ensemble miniers de Wallers-Are.
5. Paysage et ensemble miniers de Wallers-Are
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Paysage et ensemble miniers de Wallers-Are 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 Wallers-Are. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Paysage et ensemble miniers de Wallers-Are to Ensemble minier des Argales
Paysage et ensemble miniers de Wallers-Are → Ensemble minier des Argales is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Ensemble minier des Argales to Terril 140
Ensemble minier des Argales → Terril 140 is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Terril 140 to back through Ensemble minier des Argales
Terril 140 → back through Ensemble minier des Argales is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Ensemble minier des Argales to Paysage et ensemble miniers de Wallers-Are
back through Ensemble minier des Argales → Paysage et ensemble miniers de Wallers-Are is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.