CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
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.
From Gent it runs 266 km to Gent; allow about 4 h 43 of riding. It goes by way of Stadhuis met Belfort, Belfort en Schepenhuis / Beffroi et maison, Béguinage de Dendermonde and back through Belfort en Schepenhuis / Beffroi et maison. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
Ghent likes to think of itself as the city that Bruges forgot to be. It is a large, lively, slightly rebellious town at the meeting of the Leie and the Scheldt, and for centuries it was one of the biggest cities north of the Alps, a textile power whose weavers and guilds fought dukes and counts. The memory of that stubbornness lingers. Locals are known as the noose-bearers, after a day in 1540 when citizens were made to parade in nooses to atone for rebelling against Emperor Charles V, who was born in the town.
Read the complete Ghent write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Ghent is where the day begins. Next is Stadhuis met Belfort.
Eeklo is the capital of the Meetjesland, the flat, green region of East Flanders between Ghent and Bruges, close to the Dutch border, and its town hall with a belfry, the Stadhuis met Belfort, stands on the market square as the symbol of the town. It is one of the belfries of Belgium and France listed by UNESCO, a group of civic towers that embodied the freedom and power of the medieval towns of Flanders. Eeklo's belfry is modest compared with those of Bruges and Ghent, but it has its own charm, rising above a town that most visitors pass through without stopping.
Read the complete Stadhuis met Belfort write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Stadhuis met Belfort comes up about 21 km into the recorded legs. Next is Stadhuis met Belfort.
Oudenaarde's town hall looks like something carved from lace. Built in the early sixteenth century in the late Gothic style, it has a facade covered with pointed arches, niches and statues, and a slender belfry topped with a gilded crown on which stands a small knight known locally as Hanske de Krijger, Little John the Warrior. The building is one of the finest of its kind in Flanders, and it is listed by UNESCO among the belfries of Belgium and France. Inside, there are displays of the tapestries for which Oudenaarde was famous across Europe in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, especially its verdures, woven scenes of forests and greenery.
Read the complete Stadhuis met Belfort write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 68 km into the recorded legs you reach Stadhuis met Belfort. Next is Belfort en Schepenhuis / Beffroi et maison.
Aalst's Schepenhuis, the old aldermen's house on the Grote Markt, is reckoned to be the oldest surviving town hall in the Low Countries, its oldest parts going back to the thirteenth century, and its belfry, added later, carries the bells that once regulated the town's life. Together they are part of the UNESCO listing of the Belfries of Belgium and France. In front of them stands a statue of Dirk Martens, who set up one of the first printing presses in the Southern Netherlands here in the 1470s and later printed works by Erasmus and Thomas More.
Read the complete Belfort en Schepenhuis / Beffroi et maison write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Belfort en Schepenhuis / Beffroi et maison, about halfway. Next is Béguinage de Dendermonde.
Push open the gate of the Dendermonde béguinage and the traffic noise of the ring road simply drops away. Inside is a quiet triangle of grass, whitewashed houses with green shutters and a modest church, where for centuries communities of beguines lived. These were laywomen who chose a shared religious life without taking permanent vows, earning their keep with lacework, nursing and teaching. The béguinage is one of thirteen in Flanders listed together by UNESCO, and it is among the most intimate of them.
Read the complete Béguinage de Dendermonde write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Béguinage de Dendermonde sits at 134 km, about halfway. Next is back through Belfort en Schepenhuis / Beffroi et maison.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Belfort en Schepenhuis / Beffroi et maison write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Belfort en Schepenhuis / Beffroi et maison comes up about 148 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Stadhuis met Belfort.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Stadhuis met Belfort write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 200 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Stadhuis met Belfort. Next is back through Stadhuis met Belfort.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Stadhuis met Belfort write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Stadhuis met Belfort, late in the day. Next is Ghent.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Ghent write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 266 km.
Ghent → Stadhuis met Belfort is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Stadhuis met Belfort → Stadhuis met Belfort is 47 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Stadhuis met Belfort → Belfort en Schepenhuis / Beffroi et maison is 50 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Belfort en Schepenhuis / Beffroi et maison → Béguinage de Dendermonde is 15 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Béguinage de Dendermonde → back through Belfort en Schepenhuis / Beffroi et maison is 15 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Belfort en Schepenhuis / Beffroi et maison → back through Stadhuis met Belfort is 52 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Stadhuis met Belfort → back through Stadhuis met Belfort is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Stadhuis met Belfort → Ghent is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.