Why this ride
A 153 km round trip from Auby - roughly 2 h 47 in the saddle. The stops in between: Cité Saint-Paul, Paysage et ensemble miniers de Grenay-Mazi, Terrils Jumeaux 28 and Terril 49.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Terril 140 and Terril 49
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 153 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 47
- 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 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
Terril 140 is where the day begins. Next is Cité Saint-Paul.
2. Cité Saint-Paul
The mining basin of northern France is a flat, open country that seems to have been built entirely by hand, and among the first things you notice are the hills that nature never put there. They are the terrils, the slag heaps of the coal mines, some of them more than a hundred metres high, and around Courrières they punctuate the horizon between rows of brick houses. The Cité Saint-Paul belongs to this world: a miners' housing estate, laid out by the mining company with its rows of uniform houses, gardens, schools and a church, so that a worker could live, shop and pray within the company's reach.
Read the complete Cité Saint-Paul write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Cité Saint-Paul comes up 17 km in. Next is Paysage et ensemble miniers de Grenay-Mazi.
3. 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
34 km in you reach Paysage et ensemble miniers de Grenay-Mazi. Next is Terrils Jumeaux 28.
4. Terrils Jumeaux 28
Two near-perfect black cones rise from the farmland between Ruitz, Maisnil-lès-Ruitz and Haillicourt, and once you have spotted them you will keep seeing them for miles. These twin terrils, the spoil heaps of former coal pits, are among the tallest in the Nord-Pas de Calais basin and have become something of a regional emblem. They look volcanic, which in a way they are: shale and waste rock tipped there for decades by the mining companies, slowly settling into steep, smooth pyramids that turn purple-grey in rain and almost silver in bright sun.
Read the complete Terrils Jumeaux 28 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Terrils Jumeaux 28, about halfway. Next is Terril 49.
5. 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 sits at 67 km, about halfway. Next is back through Terrils Jumeaux 28.
6. back through Terrils Jumeaux 28
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Terrils Jumeaux 28 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Terrils Jumeaux 28 comes up 84 km in. Next is back through Paysage et ensemble miniers de Grenay-Mazi.
7. back through Paysage et ensemble miniers de Grenay-Mazi
Return visit. Read the place description above.
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
101 km in you reach back through Paysage et ensemble miniers de Grenay-Mazi. Next is back through Cité Saint-Paul.
8. back through Cité Saint-Paul
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cité Saint-Paul write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Cité Saint-Paul, late in the day. Next is Terril 140.
9. Terril 140
Return visit. Read the place description above.
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
The route ends here after 153 km.
Leg by leg
Terril 140 to Cité Saint-Paul
Terril 140 → Cité Saint-Paul is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cité Saint-Paul to Paysage et ensemble miniers de Grenay-Mazi
Cité Saint-Paul → Paysage et ensemble miniers de Grenay-Mazi is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Paysage et ensemble miniers de Grenay-Mazi to Terrils Jumeaux 28
Paysage et ensemble miniers de Grenay-Mazi → Terrils Jumeaux 28 is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Terrils Jumeaux 28 to Terril 49
Terrils Jumeaux 28 → Terril 49 is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Terril 49 to back through Terrils Jumeaux 28
Terril 49 → back through Terrils Jumeaux 28 is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Terrils Jumeaux 28 to back through Paysage et ensemble miniers de Grenay-Mazi
back through Terrils Jumeaux 28 → back through Paysage et ensemble miniers de Grenay-Mazi is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Paysage et ensemble miniers de Grenay-Mazi to back through Cité Saint-Paul
back through Paysage et ensemble miniers de Grenay-Mazi → back through Cité Saint-Paul is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cité Saint-Paul to Terril 140
back through Cité Saint-Paul → Terril 140 is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.