Why this ride
From Diest it runs 284 km to Diest; allow about 5 h 06 of riding. It goes by way of Voormalig Stadhuis / Lakenhal, Béguinage de Hoogstraten, Stadhuis and Stadhuis met Belfort. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Béguinage de Diest and Stadhuis met Belfort
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 284 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 5 h 06
- 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.
Scenic road chapters
Béguinage de Diest → Voormalig Stadhuis / Lakenhal
The ride follows Béguinage de Diest → Voormalig Stadhuis / Lakenhal for 36 km.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 36 km
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Béguinage de Diest
Diest has one of the largest béguinages in Flanders, a walled town within the town, with its own streets, gates, church and some ninety houses. The béguines were laywomen who lived a religious life without taking permanent vows, earning their own living and sharing a community, and their béguinages flourished in the Low Countries from the thirteenth century onward. The Flemish béguinages are listed together by UNESCO. In Diest, the béguinage has been restored with care, and its cobbled streets, whitewashed houses and quiet gardens feel worlds away from the traffic outside.
Read the complete Béguinage de Diest write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Béguinage de Diest is where the day begins. Next is Voormalig Stadhuis / Lakenhal.
2. Voormalig Stadhuis / Lakenhal
Rik Van Looy, one of the great Belgian cyclists of the 1950s and 1960s, was known as the Emperor of Herentals, which tells you something about the priorities of this town in the Kempen. Herentals lies on the flat heathland of the province of Antwerp, and in the middle of its market square stands the old town hall, built in the fourteenth century as a cloth hall, a lakenhal, when the town grew rich on wool and weaving. Its belfry is part of the UNESCO listing of belfries of Belgium and France, a symbol of civic pride and of the freedoms that merchants bought from their lords.
Read the complete Voormalig Stadhuis / Lakenhal write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Voormalig Stadhuis / Lakenhal comes up 39 km in. Next is Béguinage de Hoogstraten.
3. Béguinage de Hoogstraten
A béguinage is one of the most peaceful places in the Low Countries: a walled enclosure of small houses around a green courtyard and a church, built in the Middle Ages for béguines, women who lived a religious life of prayer and work without taking permanent vows. They could own property, leave if they wished and support themselves by weaving, teaching or nursing, which made the béguinages a unique form of female independence in medieval Europe. The béguinage at Hoogstraten, in the north of Antwerp province near the Dutch border, is one of thirteen Flemish béguinages on the World Heritage list, and it is a quiet, charming place, with whitewashed houses, a baroque church and a garden where time seems to slow.
Read the complete Béguinage de Hoogstraten write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
77 km in you reach Béguinage de Hoogstraten. Next is Stadhuis.
4. Stadhuis
Antwerp's Stadhuis faces the Grote Markt with all the confidence of a city that once ran the world's busiest port. It was built between 1561 and 1565 to a design by Cornelis Floris de Vriendt, a Renaissance palace with a long, symmetrical front, tiers of columns and a central tower topped by statues. Four hundred and more years later it still serves as the city hall, and its gilded flags, carved reliefs and rows of tall windows catch the evening light beautifully.
Read the complete Stadhuis write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Stadhuis, about halfway. Next is Stadhuis met Belfort.
5. Stadhuis met Belfort
Dendermonde sits where the Dender gives up and pours itself into the Scheldt, and the old town hall on the Grote Markt is the thing you aim for when you roll in. Its belfry is one of the Flemish and Walloon towers grouped together by UNESCO as the Belfries of Belgium and France, and the reason those towers matter is simple: in the medieval Low Countries a belfry was the civic answer to the church spire. It held the town charters, the bell that called the citizens, and the watchman who looked out for fire and for armies. Dendermonde needed the watchman more than most, because a town at a river junction is a town everybody wants, and it was besieged, burned and rebuilt more than once, most brutally in 1914 when German troops set much of it alight.
Read the complete Stadhuis met Belfort write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Stadhuis met Belfort sits at 154 km, about halfway. Next is back through Stadhuis.
6. back through Stadhuis
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Stadhuis write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Stadhuis comes up 193 km in. Next is back through Béguinage de Hoogstraten.
7. back through Béguinage de Hoogstraten
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Béguinage de Hoogstraten write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
231 km in you reach back through Béguinage de Hoogstraten. Next is back through Voormalig Stadhuis / Lakenhal.
8. back through Voormalig Stadhuis / Lakenhal
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Voormalig Stadhuis / Lakenhal write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Voormalig Stadhuis / Lakenhal, late in the day. Next is Béguinage de Diest.
9. Béguinage de Diest
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Béguinage de Diest 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 284 km.
Leg by leg
Béguinage de Diest to Voormalig Stadhuis / Lakenhal
Béguinage de Diest → Voormalig Stadhuis / Lakenhal is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Voormalig Stadhuis / Lakenhal to Béguinage de Hoogstraten
Voormalig Stadhuis / Lakenhal → Béguinage de Hoogstraten is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Béguinage de Hoogstraten to Stadhuis
Béguinage de Hoogstraten → Stadhuis is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Stadhuis to Stadhuis met Belfort
Stadhuis → Stadhuis met Belfort is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Stadhuis met Belfort to back through Stadhuis
Stadhuis met Belfort → back through Stadhuis is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Stadhuis to back through Béguinage de Hoogstraten
back through Stadhuis → back through Béguinage de Hoogstraten is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Béguinage de Hoogstraten to back through Voormalig Stadhuis / Lakenhal
back through Béguinage de Hoogstraten → back through Voormalig Stadhuis / Lakenhal is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Voormalig Stadhuis / Lakenhal to Béguinage de Diest
back through Voormalig Stadhuis / Lakenhal → Béguinage de Diest is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.