Why this ride
279 km from Mechelen to Mechelen, about 4 h 40 of riding. On the way it passes Stadhuis met Belfort, Petit Béguinage de Gent, \Halletoren\ ou Belfort and Belfort en Stadhuis. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Flemish Béguinages and Belfort en Stadhuis
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 279 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 4 h 40
- 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. 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 is where the day begins. Next is Stadhuis met Belfort.
2. 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 comes up about 31 km into the recorded legs. Next is Petit Béguinage de Gent.
3. Petit Béguinage de Gent
Push open a gate off a busy Ghent street and the noise drops away. The Klein Begijnhof, the Small Béguinage, is a walled enclave of whitewashed and brick houses with stepped gables around a green courtyard and a Baroque church. Béguines were lay women who lived in community, devoted to prayer and work but without taking permanent vows, and this béguinage was founded in the thirteenth century. Most of the present buildings date from the seventeenth century. Together with other Flemish béguinages, it is on the UNESCO World Heritage list, and it remains one of the calmest places in the city.
Read the complete Petit Béguinage de Gent write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 65 km into the recorded legs you reach Petit Béguinage de Gent. Next is \Halletoren\ ou Belfort.
4. \Halletoren\ ou Belfort
Tielt is a working town in the heart of West Flanders, a place of farmers' markets, textile history and flat roads, and its belfry rises above the market square like a stubborn finger pointing at the clouds. The Halletoren, the hall tower, stands on top of the old cloth hall, the building where merchants once inspected and traded woollen cloth, the source of Flanders' wealth in the Middle Ages. The belfry is one of the group of Belgian and French belfries that UNESCO listed together, symbols of the civic freedom that the cities of Flanders won from their lords, where the town charters were kept and the bells rang to call citizens to arms or to work.
Read the complete \Halletoren\ ou Belfort write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
\Halletoren\ ou Belfort, about halfway. Next is Belfort en Stadhuis.
5. Belfort en Stadhuis
British soldiers marching to the front in the First World War left Ypres by the road that led east towards Menen, and the gate they passed through became the Menin Gate, now a memorial bearing the names of more than fifty thousand soldiers with no known grave. Menen itself, about twenty kilometres from Ypres, sits right on the French border, on the river Leie, which the French call the Lys, and its town hall and belfry, standing on the market square, are part of the UNESCO listing of the belfries of Belgium and France. The belfry, like much of the town, was damaged in the war and rebuilt, and it remains the proud symbol of the town's civic history.
Read the complete Belfort en Stadhuis write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Belfort en Stadhuis sits at 146 km, about halfway. Next is back through \Halletoren\ ou Belfort.
6. back through \Halletoren\ ou Belfort
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete \Halletoren\ ou Belfort write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through \Halletoren\ ou Belfort comes up about 177 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Petit Béguinage de Gent.
7. back through Petit Béguinage de Gent
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Petit Béguinage de Gent write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 216 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Petit Béguinage de Gent. Next is back through Stadhuis met Belfort.
8. back through Stadhuis met Belfort
Return visit. Read the place description above.
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
back through Stadhuis met Belfort, late in the day. Next is Flemish Béguinages.
9. 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
The route ends here after 279 km.
Leg by leg
Flemish Béguinages to Stadhuis met Belfort
Flemish Béguinages → Stadhuis met Belfort is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Stadhuis met Belfort to Petit Béguinage de Gent
Stadhuis met Belfort → Petit Béguinage de Gent is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Petit Béguinage de Gent to \Halletoren\ ou Belfort
Petit Béguinage de Gent → \Halletoren\ ou Belfort is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
\Halletoren\ ou Belfort to Belfort en Stadhuis
\Halletoren\ ou Belfort → Belfort en Stadhuis is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Belfort en Stadhuis to back through \Halletoren\ ou Belfort
Belfort en Stadhuis → back through \Halletoren\ ou Belfort is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through \Halletoren\ ou Belfort to back through Petit Béguinage de Gent
back through \Halletoren\ ou Belfort → back through Petit Béguinage de Gent is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Petit Béguinage de Gent to back through Stadhuis met Belfort
back through Petit Béguinage de Gent → back through Stadhuis met Belfort is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Stadhuis met Belfort to Flemish Béguinages
back through Stadhuis met Belfort → Flemish Béguinages is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.