Why this ride
A 70 km round trip from Liévin - roughly 1 h 19 in the saddle. It goes by way of Cité des Soeurs, Cité de Rimbert and back through Cité des Soeurs. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Temple protestant and Cité de Rimbert
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 70 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 1 h 19
- 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. Temple protestant
Liévin is a town of thirty-four thousand people that grew up around coal, and the Protestant temple on its streets is a small reminder of how mixed the mining population was. The pits drew workers from Belgium, Poland, Italy and North Africa as well as from the French countryside, and the mining companies built churches, schools, shops and entire districts for them. In a region that was overwhelmingly Catholic, a temple stood a little apart, and its quiet presence says something about the way the basin took in newcomers.
Read the complete Temple protestant write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Temple protestant is where the day begins. Next is Cité des Soeurs.
2. Cité des Soeurs
At the western edge of the coalfield, where the plain of the mining basin starts to buckle into the chalk hills of Artois, the town of Barlin grew up around its pits. The Cité des Soeurs is one of its housing estates, rows of brick miners' houses with gardens, and Terril 244, a slag heap now furred with trees, stands nearby like a man-made hill. Both belong to the Nord-Pas de Calais Mining Basin World Heritage Site, which covers more than a hundred kilometres of coal country from the Belgian border westwards.
Read the complete Cité des Soeurs write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Cité des Soeurs comes up about 16 km into the recorded legs. Next is Cité de Rimbert.
3. Cité de Rimbert
West of Béthune, the coalfield starts to run out of flat land. The first chalk hills of Artois rise around Auchel and Cauchy-à-la-Tour, and the pit villages climb their slopes in neat rows of brick. The Cité de Rimbert is one of these, built by the mining company of Marles to house its workers, and it belongs to the long necklace of sites in the UNESCO-listed mining basin. Its houses, gardens and straight streets are a textbook example of company planning, with every family given a home, a vegetable plot and a short walk to the pit.
Read the complete Cité de Rimbert write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 34 km into the recorded legs you reach Cité de Rimbert. Next is back through Cité des Soeurs.
4. back through Cité des Soeurs
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cité des Soeurs write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Cité des Soeurs, late in the day. Next is Temple protestant.
5. Temple protestant
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Temple protestant write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Temple protestant. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Temple protestant to Cité des Soeurs
Temple protestant → Cité des Soeurs is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cité des Soeurs to Cité de Rimbert
Cité des Soeurs → Cité de Rimbert is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cité de Rimbert to back through Cité des Soeurs
Cité de Rimbert → back through Cité des Soeurs is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cité des Soeurs to Temple protestant
back through Cité des Soeurs → Temple protestant is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.