Beguinage de Sint-Truiden and Ancienne Halle avec Beffroi

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Beguinage de Sint-Truiden

   At the edge of Sint-Truiden, a market town in the fruit country of Haspengouw, a ring of low brick houses surrounds a large grassy courtyard with trees and a Gothic church in the middle. This is the béguinage, one of the Flemish béguinages listed together by UNESCO, where for centuries communities of laywomen lived devout lives of prayer and work without taking permanent vows. It is one of the largest and best preserved in the region, and it has a calm, almost village-like feel.

   Read the complete Beguinage de Sint-Truiden write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Beguinage de Sint-Truiden is where the day begins. Next is Beffroi de Gembloux.

2. 2. Beffroi de Gembloux

   Gembloux grew up around a Benedictine abbey founded in the tenth century, and for most of its history the monks ran the show. The abbey buildings, rebuilt in a grand classical style in the eighteenth century, now house a university faculty of agricultural sciences, fitting for a town surrounded by some of the richest farmland in Belgium. The belfry, a solid tower that was once part of a church and later became the town's civic symbol, stands in the centre and is part of the UNESCO listing of belfries of Belgium and France. Climbing it gives views over the rooftops and across the open fields of the Hesbaye.

   Read the complete Beffroi de Gembloux write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Beffroi de Gembloux comes up about 56 km into the recorded legs. Next is Ancienne Halle avec Beffroi.

3. 3. 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

   about 120 km into the recorded legs you reach Ancienne Halle avec Beffroi. Next is back through Beffroi de Gembloux.

4. 4. back through Beffroi de Gembloux

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Beffroi de Gembloux 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 Gembloux, late in the day. Next is Beguinage de Sint-Truiden.

5. 5. Beguinage de Sint-Truiden

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Beguinage de Sint-Truiden write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Back at Beguinage de Sint-Truiden. That is the ride.