Why this ride
From Mechelen it runs 62 km to Mechelen; allow about 1 h 33 of riding. It goes by way of Béguinage de Lier, Maison Guiete and back through Béguinage de Lier. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Ancienne Halle avec Beffroi and Maison Guiete
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 62 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 1 h 33
- 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. 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 is where the day begins. Next is Béguinage de Lier.
2. Béguinage de Lier
Through a gateway off a busy street in Lier, you step into another world. The béguinage is a small walled neighbourhood of narrow cobbled lanes, whitewashed brick houses and a baroque church, where for centuries communities of beguines lived. These were religious women who chose a life of prayer, work and service without taking the permanent vows of nuns, living independently in their own houses but sharing a communal life. The béguinages of Flanders, about a dozen of them, were listed by UNESCO in 1998, and the one in Lier, with its quiet lanes and doorways topped with statues of saints, is one of the most charming.
Read the complete Béguinage de Lier write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Béguinage de Lier comes up about 16 km into the recorded legs. Next is Maison Guiete.
3. Maison Guiete
In a leafy residential street in the southern suburbs of Antwerp, there is a white house that looks as if it has walked in from a different century. The Maison Guiette, as it is usually spelled, was designed by Le Corbusier in 1926 for the painter René Guiette, and it was his first building in Belgium. Since 2016 it has been one of the sites in the UNESCO listing of Le Corbusier's architectural work, alongside the Villa Savoye, the Unité d'Habitation in Marseille and buildings on several continents.
Read the complete Maison Guiete write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 32 km into the recorded legs you reach Maison Guiete. Next is back through Béguinage de Lier.
4. back through Béguinage de Lier
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Béguinage de Lier write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Béguinage de Lier, late in the day. Next is Ancienne Halle avec Beffroi.
5. 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 at Ancienne Halle avec Beffroi. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Ancienne Halle avec Beffroi to Béguinage de Lier
Ancienne Halle avec Beffroi → Béguinage de Lier is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Béguinage de Lier to Maison Guiete
Béguinage de Lier → Maison Guiete is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Maison Guiete to back through Béguinage de Lier
Maison Guiete → back through Béguinage de Lier is 15 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Béguinage de Lier to Ancienne Halle avec Beffroi
back through Béguinage de Lier → Ancienne Halle avec Beffroi is 15 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.