Why this ride
A 170 km round trip from Namur - roughly 2 h 59 in the saddle. It goes by way of Beffroi de l'Hôtel de Ville de Charleroi, Beffroi de l'Hôtel de Ville de Binche, Bois du Cazier and back through Beffroi de l'Hôtel de Ville de Binche.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Beffroi de Namur and Bois du Cazier
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 170 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 59
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. 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. Beffroi de Namur
The belfry of Namur is a stout, round tower with a bulbous slate roof, not at all the slender Gothic spire people imagine when they hear the word. It started life in the fourteenth century as part of the town walls, the Tour Saint-Jacques, and later became the belfry, holding the bell that rang the hours and the curfew. It is one of the many towers in the World Heritage Site of the Belfries of Belgium and France.
Read the complete Beffroi de Namur write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Beffroi de Namur is where the day begins. Next is Beffroi de l'Hôtel de Ville de Charleroi.
2. Beffroi de l'Hôtel de Ville de Charleroi
Charleroi has a reputation, unfairly earned or not, as one of the grittiest cities in Belgium, and its belfry is a fine reason to look again. Rising from the town hall on the Place Charles II, the belfry was built in the 1930s in an elegant Art Deco style, replacing an older tower, and it is one of the belfries of Belgium and France listed by UNESCO. Its slender shape, topped with a dome and carillon, is a symbol of the city's pride and resilience, and inside, the town hall has a sumptuous Art Deco interior.
Read the complete Beffroi de l'Hôtel de Ville de Charleroi write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Beffroi de l'Hôtel de Ville de Charleroi comes up 32 km in. Next is Beffroi de l'Hôtel de Ville de Binche.
3. Beffroi de l'Hôtel de Ville de Binche
Once a year, on the Tuesday before Lent, the little town of Binche in Belgian Hainaut goes completely mad. The Gilles, men dressed in costumes decorated with heraldic lions, crowns and stars, wearing wooden clogs, padded humps and, in the afternoon, enormous hats of ostrich feathers, dance through the streets to the beat of drums from dawn until late at night, throwing oranges into the crowd. The carnival of Binche is one of the oldest and most famous in Europe and is listed by UNESCO as part of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity. If you are hit by an orange, it is considered a sign of luck, and throwing it back is not done.
Read the complete Beffroi de l'Hôtel de Ville de Binche write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
63 km in you reach Beffroi de l'Hôtel de Ville de Binche. Next is Bois du Cazier.
4. Bois du Cazier
On the morning of 8 August 1956, a fire broke out in the Bois du Cazier coal mine in Marcinelle, near Charleroi, after a mechanical error in the shaft loaded a lift cage with a wagon and cut an oil pipe and electric cables. Smoke filled the galleries within minutes. Two hundred and sixty-two miners died, and only thirteen were rescued. Most of the dead were immigrants, and one hundred and thirty-six of them were Italian, men who had come to Belgium under a 1946 agreement that exchanged Italian labour for Belgian coal. The disaster remains a deep wound in Belgian and Italian memory, and it changed mining safety rules across Europe.
Read the complete Bois du Cazier write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Bois du Cazier, about halfway. Next is back through Beffroi de l'Hôtel de Ville de Binche.
5. back through Beffroi de l'Hôtel de Ville de Binche
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Beffroi de l'Hôtel de Ville de Binche write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Beffroi de l'Hôtel de Ville de Binche sits at 126 km, about halfway. Next is back through Beffroi de l'Hôtel de Ville de Charleroi.
6. back through Beffroi de l'Hôtel de Ville de Charleroi
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Beffroi de l'Hôtel de Ville de Charleroi write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Beffroi de l'Hôtel de Ville de Charleroi comes up 158 km in. Next is Beffroi de Namur.
7. Beffroi de Namur
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Beffroi de Namur write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Beffroi de Namur closes the day.
Leg by leg
Beffroi de Namur to Beffroi de l'Hôtel de Ville de Charleroi
Beffroi de Namur → Beffroi de l'Hôtel de Ville de Charleroi is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Beffroi de l'Hôtel de Ville de Charleroi to Beffroi de l'Hôtel de Ville de Binche
Beffroi de l'Hôtel de Ville de Charleroi → Beffroi de l'Hôtel de Ville de Binche is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Beffroi de l'Hôtel de Ville de Binche to Bois du Cazier
Beffroi de l'Hôtel de Ville de Binche → Bois du Cazier is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Bois du Cazier to back through Beffroi de l'Hôtel de Ville de Binche
Bois du Cazier → back through Beffroi de l'Hôtel de Ville de Binche is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Beffroi de l'Hôtel de Ville de Binche to back through Beffroi de l'Hôtel de Ville de Charleroi
back through Beffroi de l'Hôtel de Ville de Binche → back through Beffroi de l'Hôtel de Ville de Charleroi is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Beffroi de l'Hôtel de Ville de Charleroi to Beffroi de Namur
back through Beffroi de l'Hôtel de Ville de Charleroi → Beffroi de Namur is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.