Through a gateway off a busy street in Lier, you step into another world. The béguinage is a small walled neighbourhood of narrow cobbled lanes, whitewashed brick houses and a baroque church, where for centuries communities of beguines lived. These were religious women who chose a life of prayer, work and service without taking the permanent vows of nuns, living independently in their own houses but sharing a communal life. The béguinages of Flanders, about a dozen of them, were listed by UNESCO in 1998, and the one in Lier, with its quiet lanes and doorways topped with statues of saints, is one of the most charming.
Lier itself is a pleasant town on the Nete rivers, south east of Antwerp, with a historic centre of canals, gabled houses, a fine Gothic church dedicated to Saint Gummarus, and a market square with a town hall and belfry. Its most famous attraction is the Zimmer Tower, a medieval tower converted into a clock tower in the 1930s by the local clockmaker Louis Zimmer, who installed an astronomical clock with many dials, showing the time around the world, the phases of the moon, the tides and much more. The people of Lier are nicknamed schapenkoppen, sheep heads, after a legend in which their ancestors chose a cattle market over a university, and the local pastry, the Lierse vlaaike, is a small tart filled with a spiced syrup.
The riding around Lier is flat, through a densely populated landscape of towns, villages, fields and woods, with plenty of traffic and plenty of cyclists. It is not a destination for spectacular roads, but the town makes a good stop on a ride through Flanders, and the countryside to the east, in the Kempen region, offers quieter roads through heathland, pine forests and small villages. Antwerp, with its great port, cathedral and museums, is only a short ride away to the north west, and Mechelen, with its own béguinages and cathedral tower, is just to the south west.
Lier, a town of over thirty thousand people, has fuel, shops and plenty of cafes and restaurants, especially around the market square. Belgian beer and food are excellent, and a plate of mussels and fries, followed by a local tart and coffee, makes a fine lunch. The weather is mild and often damp, with rain possible at any time of year.