Lens, Northern France by Eurapart

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Lens, Pas de Calais, France

Location
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Calais ¦Dunkerque¦ Cassel¦ St Omer¦ Le Touquet¦ Lille¦ Arras¦ Boulogne¦ Abbeville ¦ Douai ¦ Montreuil ¦ Ieper¦ Lens¦ Cambrai
Nord Locations

"Other uses have been found for the derelict mining sites such as the Nouex les mines complex. Here you can ski down the spoil tip, now a dry ski slope and go water-skiing on the man-made lake."
Tourist Information
Syndicat d'Initiative
26 rue de la Paix
62300 LENS
Tel: 33(0)3 21 67 66 66
Fax:33(0)3 21 67 65 66
Email: lensoftour@aol.com

Musée de l'Ecole et de la Mine de Harnes
20/24 rue de Montceau
62440 HARNES
Tel: 33(0)3 21 20 46 70

M Jean Wisniewski
72, rue de Cop
62160 Bully-les-Mines
Tel: 33(0)3 21 29 34 55

Center Denis Papin
rue Emile Zola
62590 OIGNIES
Tel/Fax 33(0)3 21 69 42 04

Colline de Notre-Dame de Lorette
62153 ABLAIN-SAINT-NAZAIRE
Tel: 33(0)3 21 45 15 80

Food and fuel
Lens has plenty of Hypermarkets and is close to the French Autoroute system.

Hypermarkets
E Leclerc Centre E Leclerc 67 boulevard Basly 62300 LENS	Tel 03 21 67 35 91 Fax 03 21 74 18 54	Fuel
E Leclerc Rue de l'Abbaye BP 25 62218 LOISON SOUS LENS	Tel 03 21 13 05 03 Fax 0321 42 99 96	Fuel
Auchan RN 43 62950 NOYELLES-GODAULT	Tel 03 21 69 83 83 Mon - Sat 8h30 - 21h00	Flunch Cafeteria

Where to stay
Lens being a large industrial centre has numerous hotels.
Budget Hotels
Hotels with Internet Booking:-
Hotel Formule 1 - 1 Hotel
Premiere Classe - 1 Hotels
Mister Bed - 1 Hotel
Tourist Hotels
Campanile - 1 Hotel
Balladins Hotel - 1 Hotel

Before you lies a giant chess game with squares of green maize and golden wheat, ornate belltower playing pieces pierce the skyline.
Your move!
Lens
Lens is not known as a tourist destination but has a few attractions in the vicinity that merit a visit and makes a reasonable touring centre. Being a large industrial centre Lens does have some hotels and hypermarkets. Lens was occupied by the Germans between 1914 to 1918 and suffered badly losing half the population. The a bombing raid in 1944 destroyed a thousand buildings including the church Saint Leger.
Lens is now the centre of an agglomeration of 350,000 inhabitants. The Town Hall is a modern building unusual in France.
Lens used to be a coal mining centre in the Pas de Calais coalfield and is surrounded by conical spoil tips. I know this may not be the commonly held view, but I have always been impressed by spoil tips. I remember as a child wondering how many mile of tunnels there must be underground if these mountains arose from their excavation. The truth is more impressive as the spoil tips are a mere fraction of the material dug from under the ground. Then when you consider the old tall spoil tips comprise of material excavated by hand!
Lens mine

The coal mines have now all closed but a few sets of headgear and buildings have been preserved. If you would like to learn more about mining in Northern France the pay a visit to the Centre Historique Minierde Lewarde.
A smaller museum can be found at the Musée de l'Ecole et de la Mine de Harnes. This is both a mining museum and school museum.
Other uses have been found for the derelict mining sites such as the Nouex les mines complex. Here you can ski down the spoil tip, now a dry ski slope and go water-skiing on the man-made lake.
Bully-les-Mines has an experimental orchard on the spoil tips. Visit from September 20 on for guided visit and tastings.
Another mining related museum can be found at Oignies. The Musée Vivant du Chemin de Fer sur fond d'Epopée Minière is based on the site of the old No2 pit at Oignies. You can see the restored winding engine. At the Center Denis Papin the industrial history of Northern France is explained. The Museum is open April to September on the 2nd and 4th Sunday 14h to 19h.
Visit Notre-Dame de Lorrette site of a 12 month long battle in the First World War. Between October 1914 and October 1915 the fighting claimed 100 000 lives. The site now has a French War Cemetery and ossuary with its lantern tower rising to 52m. This and seven other ossuaries contain the remains of 20 000 unknown soldiers. There is a 1914-1918 museum
(Musée du Souvenir) with 2000 exhibits from World War 1 including reconstructions of dugouts with bilingual laser animations. Outside on the battlefield there are further exhibits such as machine guns, shells, barbed wire etc.

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