Why this ride
From Auchel it runs 114 km to Auchel; allow about 2 h 07 of riding. It goes by way of Terril 32, Cité n°10 and back through Terril 32. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Terril 14 and Cité n°10
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 114 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 07
- 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. Terril 14
Auchel lies on the western rim of the coalfield, where the black seams run out against the chalk hills of the Artois, and Terril 14 rises above the town and its neighbour Marles-les-Mines as a long, dark ridge softened by birch and grass. The heap is built of shale and waste rock brought up from the pits of the old company that worked this corner of the basin, and like many of the terrils, it has been left to nature since mining ended. Its slopes are now home to plants that love warm, dry ground, and the summit offers a view over the rooftops of the mining towns toward the green hills to the west. It belongs to the vast mining landscape listed by UNESCO in 2012.
Read the complete Terril 14 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Terril 14 is where the day begins. Next is Terril 32.
2. 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
Terril 32 comes up about 16 km into the recorded legs. Next is Cité n°10.
3. Cité n°10
Sains-en-Gohelle is a former coal town in the heart of the Nord-Pas de Calais mining basin, and Cité n°10 is one of its old mining estates, rows of brick houses built for miners and their families around a pithead. The basin, which stretches about 120 kilometres from the Belgian border towards the west, was recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2012, and the cités, the slag heaps and the headframes are its most visible remains.
Read the complete Cité n°10 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 57 km into the recorded legs you reach Cité n°10. Next is back through Terril 32.
4. 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
back through Terril 32, late in the day. Next is Terril 14.
5. Terril 14
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Terril 14 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Terril 14. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Terril 14 to Terril 32
Terril 14 → Terril 32 is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Terril 32 to Cité n°10
Terril 32 → Cité n°10 is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cité n°10 to back through Terril 32
Cité n°10 → back through Terril 32 is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Terril 32 to Terril 14
back through Terril 32 → Terril 14 is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.