Why this ride
From Brussels it runs 70 km to Brussels; allow about 1 h 24 of riding. The stops in between: Ancienne Halle avec Beffroi, Tour de Saint-Rombaut, Flemish Béguinages and Grand Béguinage de Mechelen.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Brussels afternoon · Grand Béguinage de Mechelen
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 70 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 1 h 24
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Brussels
Brussels is a city that does not quite match its reputation. People think of meetings and regulations, and the capital of Europe is indeed full of both, but the town itself is full of odd, cheerful corners. The Grand-Place is the best-known, a cobbled square ringed by gilded guild houses and a lace-like town hall, and it is lovely at night when the lights come on. A few minutes' walk away, a small bronze boy relieves himself in a fountain and is regularly dressed in costumes by local clubs, which tells you something about the local sense of humour.
Read the complete Brussels write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Brussels is where the day begins. Next is Ancienne Halle avec Beffroi.
2. Ancienne Halle avec Beffroi
The Grote Markt of Mechelen is one of the grandest squares in Belgium, and on its eastern side stands the old cloth hall with its belfry, a building with a curious history. The hall was built in the fourteenth century, when Mechelen was a rich cloth-making town, and the belfry was planned to be a tall tower, but it was never finished. Its stump was eventually given a pointed roof, and later a sixteenth-century extension in the Renaissance style was begun to house the Great Council of the Netherlands, but that too remained unfinished. The belfry is part of the UNESCO listing of the belfries of Belgium and France.
Read the complete Ancienne Halle avec Beffroi write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Ancienne Halle avec Beffroi comes up about 34 km into the recorded legs. Next is Tour de Saint-Rombaut.
3. Tour de Saint-Rombaut
Saint Rumbold's Tower dominates the skyline of Mechelen like a very tall stone cliff. It is the bell tower of the cathedral, and it rises to about ninety-seven metres. It was begun in the fourteenth century and was meant to go higher, with a spire that would have made it among the tallest in Europe, but the money ran out and the tower was left with a flat top in the sixteenth century. That unfinished stump is somehow more memorable than a completed spire would have been. It is part of the UNESCO list of belfries of Belgium and France, and a ring of bells hangs inside, including two carillons, one of which is played by hand from a keyboard of wooden batons.
Read the complete Tour de Saint-Rombaut write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
At least about 35 km into the recorded legs you reach Tour de Saint-Rombaut. Next is Flemish Béguinages.
4. Flemish Béguinages
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.
Read the complete Flemish Béguinages write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Flemish Béguinages, about halfway. Next is Grand Béguinage de Mechelen.
5. Grand Béguinage de Mechelen
Mechelen's Grand Beguinage is a small town inside a town, and the first thing that hits you on walking through its gate is the silence. Behind the walls are cobbled lanes lined with small gabled houses, a quiet church, a green square and a canal arm of the Dijle river. For centuries this was the home of the beguines, women who lived a religious life without taking formal vows, supporting themselves by weaving, lace-making, nursing and teaching. The movement began in the Low Countries in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and at its height there were hundreds of beguinages. Mechelen's was one of the largest, and most of what stands today dates from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. It was listed by UNESCO in 1998 as part of the group of Flemish beguinages.
Read the complete Grand Béguinage de Mechelen write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Grand Béguinage de Mechelen sits at 31 km, about halfway. Next is back through Flemish Béguinages.
6. back through Flemish Béguinages
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Flemish Béguinages write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Flemish Béguinages comes up about 39 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Tour de Saint-Rombaut.
7. back through Tour de Saint-Rombaut
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Tour de Saint-Rombaut write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 40 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Tour de Saint-Rombaut. Next is back through Ancienne Halle avec Beffroi.
8. back through Ancienne Halle avec Beffroi
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Ancienne Halle avec Beffroi write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Ancienne Halle avec Beffroi, late in the day. Next is Brussels.
9. Brussels
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Brussels write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 70 km.
Leg by leg
Brussels to Ancienne Halle avec Beffroi
Brussels → Ancienne Halle avec Beffroi is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Ancienne Halle avec Beffroi to Brussels
back through Ancienne Halle avec Beffroi → Brussels is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.