Why this ride
A 95 km round trip from Lier - roughly 1 h 41 in the saddle. It goes by way of Flemish Béguinages, Hôtel van Eetvelde and back through Flemish Béguinages. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Béguinage de Lier and Hôtel van Eetvelde
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 95 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 1 h 41
- 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. 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 is where the day begins. Next is Flemish Béguinages.
2. Flemish Béguinages
In the thirteenth century, a remarkable movement spread across the Low Countries. Women, often unmarried or widowed, chose to live together in communities devoted to prayer and work, without taking the permanent vows of nuns, keeping their property and the freedom to leave. They were called béguines, and their walled settlements, the béguinages, became towns within towns. The Groot Begijnhof of Mechelen, the great béguinage, is one of thirteen in Flanders listed by UNESCO, and at its height it housed well over a thousand women, making it one of the largest communities of its kind.
Read the complete Flemish Béguinages write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Flemish Béguinages comes up about 15 km into the recorded legs. Next is Hôtel van Eetvelde.
3. Hôtel van Eetvelde
Victor Horta built this house between 1895 and 1898 for Edmond van Eetvelde, a senior official who ran the affairs of King Leopold II's Congo Free State from Brussels, and it is impossible now to look at it without holding both of those facts at once: one of the most daring houses of the Art Nouveau age, paid for in a world shaped by the brutal exploitation of the Congo. Hôtel van Eetvelde stands on the Avenue Palmerston near the Square Ambiorix, in the European quarter, and with three other Horta houses it was inscribed in 2000 as the Major Town Houses of the Architect Victor Horta.
Read the complete Hôtel van Eetvelde write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 47 km into the recorded legs you reach Hôtel van Eetvelde. Next is back through Flemish Béguinages.
4. back through Flemish Béguinages
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Flemish Béguinages write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Flemish Béguinages, late in the day. Next is Béguinage de Lier.
5. 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 at Béguinage de Lier. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Béguinage de Lier to Flemish Béguinages
Béguinage de Lier → Flemish Béguinages is 15 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Flemish Béguinages to Hôtel van Eetvelde
Flemish Béguinages → Hôtel van Eetvelde is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Hôtel van Eetvelde to back through Flemish Béguinages
Hôtel van Eetvelde → back through Flemish Béguinages is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Flemish Béguinages to Béguinage de Lier
back through Flemish Béguinages → Béguinage de Lier is 15 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.