CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
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.
A 238 km round trip from Aalst - roughly 3 h 25 in the saddle. On the way it passes Grand Béguinage of Leuven, Beffroi de Namur and back through Grand Béguinage of Leuven. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Aalst's Schepenhuis, the old aldermen's house on the Grote Markt, is reckoned to be the oldest surviving town hall in the Low Countries, its oldest parts going back to the thirteenth century, and its belfry, added later, carries the bells that once regulated the town's life. Together they are part of the UNESCO listing of the Belfries of Belgium and France. In front of them stands a statue of Dirk Martens, who set up one of the first printing presses in the Southern Netherlands here in the 1470s and later printed works by Erasmus and Thomas More.
Read the complete Belfort en Schepenhuis / Beffroi et maison write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Belfort en Schepenhuis / Beffroi et maison is where the day begins. Next is Grand Béguinage of Leuven.
Step through the gate of the Groot Begijnhof in Leuven and the city noise drops away. Cobbled lanes, small brick houses with white window frames and stepped gables, little bridges over the arms of the river Dijle, and a Gothic church in the middle: this is one of the largest béguinages in the Low Countries, part of the Flemish Béguinages group listed by UNESCO in 1998.
Read the complete Grand Béguinage of Leuven write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Grand Béguinage of Leuven comes up about 58 km into the recorded legs. Next is 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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 120 km into the recorded legs you reach Beffroi de Namur. Next is back through Grand Béguinage of Leuven.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Grand Béguinage of Leuven write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Grand Béguinage of Leuven, late in the day. Next is Belfort en Schepenhuis / Beffroi et maison.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Belfort en Schepenhuis / Beffroi et maison write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Belfort en Schepenhuis / Beffroi et maison. That is the ride.
Belfort en Schepenhuis / Beffroi et maison → Grand Béguinage of Leuven is 58 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Grand Béguinage of Leuven → Beffroi de Namur is 62 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Beffroi de Namur → back through Grand Béguinage of Leuven is 61 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Grand Béguinage of Leuven → Belfort en Schepenhuis / Beffroi et maison is 57 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.