Terril 34 and Château de l’Hermitage starting at Norrent-Fontes

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Terril 34

   A terril is a slag heap, a mountain of waste rock dumped beside a coal mine, and in the flat land of northern France these man-made hills are the closest thing to relief for miles around. Terril 34 is one of hundreds that dot the Nord-Pas-de-Calais Mining Basin, a UNESCO site since 2012, which recognises not only the heaps but also the pithead frames, miners' housing estates, schools, churches and railway lines that made up the landscape of coal mining in the region for nearly three centuries. This one sits near Norrent-Fontes and Lillers, at the western end of the basin, where it meets the chalk hills of Artois.

   Read the complete Terril 34 write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Terril 34 is where the day begins. Next is Cité Foch.

2. 2. Cité Foch

   Row upon row of identical brick houses, each with its small garden, outbuilding and front door painted in the colour of the mining company: that is a cité minière, and Cité Foch, between Hénin-Beaumont and Montigny-en-Gohelle, is one of the many hundreds that the coal companies built across northern France. They were designed to house miners and their families close to the pits, and they came in different forms over the decades, from the long terraces of the nineteenth century, the corons, to the garden cities of the early twentieth century, with semi-detached houses, wide streets and green spaces. Many of these neighbourhoods are included in the UNESCO listing of the mining basin.

   Read the complete Cité Foch write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Cité Foch comes up about 58 km into the recorded legs. Next is Château de l’Hermitage.

3. 3. Château de l’Hermitage

   On the Franco-Belgian border, in a forest that has never much cared which country it is in, a pale classical château stands in a clearing. The Château de l'Hermitage was built in the eighteenth century for the dukes of Croÿ, one of the great aristocratic families of the region, as a refined country retreat, and it sits just inside France, near Condé-sur-l'Escaut, at the edge of the forest of Bon-Secours. The family's title went back centuries, and their estates spread across both sides of what is now the border.

   Read the complete Château de l’Hermitage write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 133 km into the recorded legs you reach Château de l’Hermitage. Next is back through Cité Foch.

4. 4. back through Cité Foch

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Cité Foch write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Cité Foch, late in the day. Next is Terril 34.

5. 5. Terril 34

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Terril 34 write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Back at Terril 34. That is the ride.