Tielt is a working town in the heart of West Flanders, a place of farmers' markets, textile history and flat roads, and its belfry rises above the market square like a stubborn finger pointing at the clouds. The Halletoren, the hall tower, stands on top of the old cloth hall, the building where merchants once inspected and traded woollen cloth, the source of Flanders' wealth in the Middle Ages. The belfry is one of the group of Belgian and French belfries that UNESCO listed together, symbols of the civic freedom that the cities of Flanders won from their lords, where the town charters were kept and the bells rang to call citizens to arms or to work.
Tielt's tower is modest compared to the giants of Bruges or Ghent, but that is part of its charm: you get a real market square, with cafés, shops and locals going about their business, rather than a tourist set. The town suffered in both world wars, and much of what you see has been rebuilt, but the proportions remain.
The riding around Tielt is about the Flemish countryside: flat, open fields of potatoes, maize and vegetables, poplar rows, farmhouses with red-tiled roofs, and villages built around tall church towers. Roads are generally well surfaced but narrow, with many roundabouts, cycle paths and speed bumps in villages, and the wind blowing in from the North Sea can be fierce. Cobbled sections appear here and there, especially in villages, and they are slippery when wet. The real joy is the sense of space and the light, which painters have loved for centuries.
Tielt has fuel, shops and plenty of cafés and restaurants. Try a plate of stoofvlees, beef stewed in beer, with fries, or waterzooi, a creamy stew from nearby Ghent. Flanders is famous for its beers, and the local cafés serve a huge range, from Trappist ales to sour reds. Bruges and Ghent are both less than an hour away, and the coast is a little further. For a different kind of history, the battlefields of the First World War around Ypres are a short ride to the southwest.