Why this ride
A 155 km round trip from Aachen - roughly 2 h 30 in the saddle. The stops in between: Blegny-Mine, Béguinage de Tongeren and back through Blegny-Mine. It crosses from Germany into Belgium - carry ID and check the toll rules.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Aachen Cathedral and Béguinage de Tongeren
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 155 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 30
- 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.
Scenic road chapters
Aachen Cathedral → Blegny-Mine
37 km through ground somebody thought worth listing. The road passes it rather than bypassing it — speed drops and stays down. Park rather than crawl through.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 42 km
Belgian Ardennes Scenic Loop
For about 35 km this is Belgian Ardennes Scenic Loop, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it. Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 35 km
- Named road
- Belgian Ardennes Scenic Loop
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Aachen Cathedral
Charlemagne chose Aachen for its hot springs, and the springs still bubble up under the old town, smelling faintly of sulphur at the fountains where they surface. Around the end of the eighth century he built a palace here and, at its heart, a chapel: an octagon under a dome, ringed by a sixteen-sided ambulatory, designed by Odo of Metz with columns and marble shipped from Ravenna and Rome. That chapel is the core of Aachen Cathedral, and in 1978 it became the first site in Germany on the World Heritage list.
Read the complete Aachen Cathedral write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Aachen Cathedral is where the day begins. Next is Blegny-Mine.
2. Blegny-Mine
Blegny-Mine is one of the few places in Europe where you can still go down a real coal mine in the lift cage, with former miners as your guides. The mine, in the Pays de Herve northeast of Liège, closed in 1980, and it was soon turned into a museum, with guided tours that take you down to galleries tens of metres underground, where you can see the machinery, the narrow seams and the conditions in which miners worked. In 2012, it was listed by UNESCO as one of the four Major Mining Sites of Wallonia, along with Grand-Hornu, Bois-du-Luc and Bois du Cazier. It is a powerful reminder of how coal built the industrial wealth of Belgium, and at what cost.
Read the complete Blegny-Mine write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Blegny-Mine comes up about 42 km into the recorded legs. Next is Béguinage de Tongeren.
3. Béguinage de Tongeren
Tongeren calls itself the oldest town in Belgium, and it has a Roman name, a Gallic hero and a weekly antiques market to back up the claim. Under the Romans it was Atuatuca Tungrorum, and in the main square stands a romantic nineteenth-century statue of Ambiorix, the chieftain who gave Julius Caesar a very bad winter. A few minutes' walk from all that pomp lies the béguinage, a quiet quarter of low brick houses, cobbled lanes and small gardens that once housed communities of beguines, religious women who lived a semi-independent life without taking the full vows of nuns.
Read the complete Béguinage de Tongeren write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 77 km into the recorded legs you reach Béguinage de Tongeren. Next is back through Blegny-Mine.
4. back through Blegny-Mine
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Blegny-Mine write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Blegny-Mine, late in the day. Next is Aachen Cathedral.
5. Aachen Cathedral
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Aachen Cathedral write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Aachen Cathedral. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Aachen Cathedral to Blegny-Mine
Aachen Cathedral → Blegny-Mine is 42 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Blegny-Mine to Béguinage de Tongeren
Blegny-Mine → Béguinage de Tongeren is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Béguinage de Tongeren to back through Blegny-Mine
Béguinage de Tongeren → back through Blegny-Mine is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Blegny-Mine to Aachen Cathedral
back through Blegny-Mine → Aachen Cathedral is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.