Why this ride
From Noyelles-Godault it runs 248 km to Noyelles-Godault; allow about 3 h 45 of riding. It goes by way of Terril 34, Beffroi de Bergues and back through Terril 34. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Terrils 87 et 92 and Beffroi de Bergues
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 248 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 45
- 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. Terrils 87 et 92
From a distance they look like hills, which in this flat country is reason enough to stare. The terrils numbered 87 and 92, on the edge of Noyelles-Godault and Dourges next to Hénin-Beaumont, are spoil heaps from the coal mines of the Nord-Pas de Calais basin, made of the shale and rock that came up with the coal over a century and more of mining. They are part of the Nord-Pas de Calais Mining Basin, inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 2012 as a whole cultural landscape: pits, headframes, miners' housing, schools, churches and these artificial black mountains, more than a hundred of which are protected.
Read the complete Terrils 87 et 92 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Terrils 87 et 92 is where the day begins. Next is Terril 34.
2. 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 comes up about 61 km into the recorded legs. Next is Beffroi de Bergues.
3. Beffroi de Bergues
Bergues found a new kind of fame in 2008, when the comedy Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis, filmed here, became one of the most successful French films of all time, and suddenly the whole country wanted to see the town where a postman from the south is exiled to the cold north and ends up falling in love with it. The film's best-known scenes include the belfry, from which the hero rings the carillon, and the town still welcomes visitors who come in search of the locations. But Bergues was a proud place long before cinema arrived. It is a small fortified town in French Flanders, surrounded by ramparts and canals, with fortifications improved by Vauban in the seventeenth century.
Read the complete Beffroi de Bergues write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 126 km into the recorded legs you reach Beffroi de Bergues. Next is back through Terril 34.
4. back through 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 through Terril 34, late in the day. Next is Terrils 87 et 92.
5. Terrils 87 et 92
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Terrils 87 et 92 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Terrils 87 et 92. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Terrils 87 et 92 to Terril 34
Terrils 87 et 92 → Terril 34 is 61 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Terril 34 to Beffroi de Bergues
Terril 34 → Beffroi de Bergues is 65 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Beffroi de Bergues to back through Terril 34
Beffroi de Bergues → back through Terril 34 is 64 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Terril 34 to Terrils 87 et 92
back through Terril 34 → Terrils 87 et 92 is 58 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.