Why this ride
A 253 km round trip from Charleroi - roughly 3 h 31 in the saddle. The stops in between: Sonian Forest - Grippensdelle B, Sint-Leonarduskerk and back through Sonian Forest - Grippensdelle B. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Bois du Cazier and Sint-Leonarduskerk
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 253 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 31
- 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. 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 is where the day begins. Next is Sonian Forest - Grippensdelle B.
2. Sonian Forest - Grippensdelle B
Imagine a cathedral built entirely of beech trunks, grey and smooth, rising forty metres or more to a roof of leaves, and you have the Sonian Forest at its finest. This great wood on the south-eastern edge of Brussels, the Forêt de Soignes or Zoniënwoud, covers thousands of hectares, and its most remarkable stands, including the Grippensdelle reserve near Hoeilaart, are part of the transnational World Heritage Site of the Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of Europe, inscribed in 2017.
Read the complete Sonian Forest - Grippensdelle B write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Sonian Forest - Grippensdelle B comes up about 60 km into the recorded legs. Next is Sint-Leonarduskerk.
3. Sint-Leonarduskerk
The church of Saint Leonard rises over the little town of Zoutleeuw, in the fruit-growing country east of Leuven, and it is far grander than the size of the place suggests. In the Middle Ages the town, known in French as Léau, was a prosperous trading centre on a route between Brabant and Liège, and its burghers put their money into stone. Work on the church began in the thirteenth century and went on for generations, giving a late Gothic body with a tall tower, rich sculpture and a lofty, light interior with white walls and tall windows.
Read the complete Sint-Leonarduskerk write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 126 km into the recorded legs you reach Sint-Leonarduskerk. Next is back through Sonian Forest - Grippensdelle B.
4. back through Sonian Forest - Grippensdelle B
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Sonian Forest - Grippensdelle B write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Sonian Forest - Grippensdelle B, late in the day. Next is Bois du Cazier.
5. Bois du Cazier
Return visit. Read the place description above.
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
Back at Bois du Cazier. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Bois du Cazier to Sonian Forest - Grippensdelle B
Bois du Cazier → Sonian Forest - Grippensdelle B is 60 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Sonian Forest - Grippensdelle B to Sint-Leonarduskerk
Sonian Forest - Grippensdelle B → Sint-Leonarduskerk is 66 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Sint-Leonarduskerk to back through Sonian Forest - Grippensdelle B
Sint-Leonarduskerk → back through Sonian Forest - Grippensdelle B is 65 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Sonian Forest - Grippensdelle B to Bois du Cazier
back through Sonian Forest - Grippensdelle B → Bois du Cazier is 62 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.