Why this ride
163 km from Auchel to Auchel, about 2 h 45 of riding. The stops in between: Terril 49, Paysage et ensemble miniers de Libercourt, Paysage et ensemble miniers de Grenay-Mazi and back through Paysage et ensemble miniers de Libercourt.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Terril 14 and Paysage et ensemble miniers de Grenay-Mazi
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 163 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 45
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. 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 49.
2. Terril 49
Terril 49 rises above the fields between Vermelles, Mazingarbe and Noyelles-lès-Vermelles, one of the dozens of spoil heaps that punctuate the landscape of the Gohelle. Like many of them, it has gone green, with trees and scrub covering slopes once black and bare, and it has become a refuge for wildlife in a landscape of intensive farming and urban sprawl. Lizards, rare insects and birds of prey thrive on the warm, dry slopes of the terrils, which retain heat like stone.
Read the complete Terril 49 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Terril 49 comes up 25 km in. Next is Paysage et ensemble miniers de Libercourt.
3. Paysage et ensemble miniers de Libercourt
Libercourt is a young town by French standards. It grew in the early twentieth century around a coal company's pits and a railway line, on land that had been farm and marsh, and the planners laid it out from scratch, with straight streets, a station and cités of brick cottages in tidy rows. Many of the miners who filled them came from Poland, recruited in large numbers between the wars, and Polish names, church services and recipes marked the mining villages of the north for generations.
Read the complete Paysage et ensemble miniers de Libercourt write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
49 km in you reach Paysage et ensemble miniers de Libercourt. Next is Paysage et ensemble miniers de Grenay-Mazi.
4. Paysage et ensemble miniers de Grenay-Mazi
Take any road across the Artois plain around Grenay and you will see the shape of the mining basin on the skyline: conical slag heaps, called terrils, rising out of the farmland and cités, and tall brick pit-head buildings that once housed the winding gear. This area lies between Lens and Béthune, in a district called the Gohelle, and it was mined intensively from the nineteenth century until the last pit closed in 1990. The Grenay and Mazingarbe sites are part of the UNESCO-listed mining basin, which recognises both the buildings and the landscape, and the way company housing, railways and spoil heaps shaped one another.
Read the complete Paysage et ensemble miniers de Grenay-Mazi 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 Grenay-Mazi, about halfway. Next is back through Paysage et ensemble miniers de Libercourt.
5. back through Paysage et ensemble miniers de Libercourt
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Paysage et ensemble miniers de Libercourt write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Paysage et ensemble miniers de Libercourt sits at 99 km, about halfway. Next is back through Terril 49.
6. back through Terril 49
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Terril 49 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Terril 49 comes up 123 km in. Next is Terril 14.
7. 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
Terril 14 closes the day.
Leg by leg
Terril 14 to Terril 49
Terril 14 → Terril 49 is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Terril 49 to Paysage et ensemble miniers de Libercourt
Terril 49 → Paysage et ensemble miniers de Libercourt is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Paysage et ensemble miniers de Libercourt to Paysage et ensemble miniers de Grenay-Mazi
Paysage et ensemble miniers de Libercourt → Paysage et ensemble miniers de Grenay-Mazi is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Paysage et ensemble miniers de Grenay-Mazi to back through Paysage et ensemble miniers de Libercourt
Paysage et ensemble miniers de Grenay-Mazi → back through Paysage et ensemble miniers de Libercourt is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Paysage et ensemble miniers de Libercourt to back through Terril 49
back through Paysage et ensemble miniers de Libercourt → back through Terril 49 is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Terril 49 to Terril 14
back through Terril 49 → Terril 14 is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.