Photo : Jérémy Jännick / Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)
Le Terril du Mont de L'Ermite
The Mont de l'Ermite slag heap, also called Terril Sabatier, is at Raismes, in the Nord, on the edge of the Raismes-Saint-Amand-Wallers state forest. Terrils are the hills formed by the spoil from coal extraction: the thin, much-faulted coal seams of the Nord forced miners to bring up large quantities of waste rock.
This one rises to about 98 metres' altitude, some sources giving a little over 100 metres. Wooded, it is climbed by a spiral path. From the summit, you discover a panorama over the Valenciennes area and the forest. The terril is also the high point of the Course des terrils, an event that brings together several thousand runners each year around Raismes, with routes crossing the forest and several old terrils. It gives an example of the reconquest of a mining site by vegetation.
