In the thirteenth century, a remarkable movement spread across the Low Countries. Women, often unmarried or widowed, chose to live together in communities devoted to prayer and work, without taking the permanent vows of nuns, keeping their property and the freedom to leave. They were called béguines, and their walled settlements, the béguinages, became towns within towns. The Groot Begijnhof of Mechelen, the great béguinage, is one of thirteen in Flanders listed by UNESCO, and at its height it housed well over a thousand women, making it one of the largest communities of its kind.
The béguinage is a quiet district of narrow streets, small houses and courtyards, near the river Dijle. The baroque church of St Alexius and St Catherine stands at its heart, with a rich interior. Unlike some béguinages, which are enclosed and compact, the Mechelen one is open and spread out, blending into the surrounding city. The last béguines in Belgium died in the early twenty-first century, and the houses are now occupied by ordinary residents, but the atmosphere of calm and retreat remains. Mechelen also has a smaller béguinage, the Klein Begijnhof, near the city centre.
The riding in and around Mechelen is mostly urban, with ring roads, traffic lights and cobbles in the old streets. If you come from Brussels or Antwerp, the motorways are fast but dull; the old roads through villages and along canals are more interesting. Bonheiden, to the east, has woods and heaths, and the river valleys of the Dijle and Nete offer pleasant rides on dykes and quiet lanes. Watch for cyclists, who are everywhere and have priority in many places, and for trams in the city.
Mechelen has fuel and every service. Food in the city is good, with Belgian classics such as stews, mussels and fries, and a wide range of beers, including those of the Het Anker brewery, whose buildings stand on land that once belonged to the béguinage. Park the bike on the edge of the old town, walk to the béguinage, and wander its streets without a plan. Look at the small statues of saints above the doors and the names of the houses; each one was once home to a woman who chose an independent life in an age when that was not easy.