CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
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.
From Pecquencourt it runs 81 km to Pecquencourt; allow about 1 h 29 of riding. The stops in between: Ensemble minier de la fosse Cornuault, Monument commémoratif de la Catastrophe de and back through Ensemble minier de la fosse Cornuault.
East of Douai, the Scarpe river winds through a green valley of marshes, woods and meadows, and rising out of it, near Pecquencourt and Lallaing, are the heaps numbered 143 and 143a, spoil from the mines that once operated here. Today they are part of the Scarpe-Escaut regional nature park and the World Heritage listing of the mining basin, and they are covered with trees and paths, home to birds and plants.
Read the complete Terrils 143 et 143 a write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Terrils 143 et 143 a is where the day begins. Next is Ensemble minier de la fosse Cornuault.
The flat country between Douai and Lens does not look like much from a motorway, but it holds one of the great industrial landscapes of Europe. For more than two centuries coal was dug from under these fields, and the mining basin of the Nord-Pas de Calais was listed by UNESCO in 2012 as an evolving cultural landscape of pits, slag heaps, railway lines and workers' housing. The Fosse Cornuault at Évin-Malmaison is one piece of that vast mosaic, a former colliery site with its associated buildings, set among the brick villages of the eastern part of the basin.
Read the complete Ensemble minier de la fosse Cornuault write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Ensemble minier de la fosse Cornuault comes up about 24 km into the recorded legs. Next is Monument commémoratif de la Catastrophe de.
On the morning of 10 March 1906, an explosion tore through the galleries of the Courrières mining company, killing well over a thousand miners. It remains the worst mining disaster in European history. Most of the victims came from the towns of Méricourt, Sallaumines and Billy-Montigny, and many were buried in a mass grave nearby. Twenty days after the explosion, thirteen survivors emerged from the darkness, having found their way through the ruined galleries, and their story became famous across Europe. The memorials in and around Sallaumines honour the dead and the rescuers, including German miners from Westphalia who came to help.
Read the complete Monument commémoratif de la Catastrophe de write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 40 km into the recorded legs you reach Monument commémoratif de la Catastrophe de. Next is back through Ensemble minier de la fosse Cornuault.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Ensemble minier de la fosse Cornuault write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Ensemble minier de la fosse Cornuault, late in the day. Next is Terrils 143 et 143 a.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Terrils 143 et 143 a write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Terrils 143 et 143 a. That is the ride.
Terrils 143 et 143 a → Ensemble minier de la fosse Cornuault is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Ensemble minier de la fosse Cornuault → Monument commémoratif de la Catastrophe de is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Monument commémoratif de la Catastrophe de → back through Ensemble minier de la fosse Cornuault is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Ensemble minier de la fosse Cornuault → Terrils 143 et 143 a is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.