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: planning record, not independently verified geometry.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distances and riding times are planning figures. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
A 363 km round trip from Leuven - roughly 6 h 16 in the saddle. It goes by way of Béguinage de Diest, Voormalig Stadhuis / Lakenhal, Béguinage de Hoogstraten and Mill Network at Kinderdijk-Elshout. It crosses from Belgium into Netherlands - carry ID and check the toll rules. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
The ride follows Béguinage de Diest → Voormalig Stadhuis / Lakenhal for 36 km.
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 is where the day begins. Next is Béguinage de Diest.
Diest has one of the largest béguinages in Flanders, a walled town within the town, with its own streets, gates, church and some ninety houses. The béguines were laywomen who lived a religious life without taking permanent vows, earning their own living and sharing a community, and their béguinages flourished in the Low Countries from the thirteenth century onward. The Flemish béguinages are listed together by UNESCO. In Diest, the béguinage has been restored with care, and its cobbled streets, whitewashed houses and quiet gardens feel worlds away from the traffic outside.
Read the complete Béguinage de Diest write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Béguinage de Diest comes up about 39 km into the recorded legs. Next is Voormalig Stadhuis / Lakenhal.
Rik Van Looy, one of the great Belgian cyclists of the 1950s and 1960s, was known as the Emperor of Herentals, which tells you something about the priorities of this town in the Kempen. Herentals lies on the flat heathland of the province of Antwerp, and in the middle of its market square stands the old town hall, built in the fourteenth century as a cloth hall, a lakenhal, when the town grew rich on wool and weaving. Its belfry is part of the UNESCO listing of belfries of Belgium and France, a symbol of civic pride and of the freedoms that merchants bought from their lords.
Read the complete Voormalig Stadhuis / Lakenhal write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 75 km into the recorded legs you reach Voormalig Stadhuis / Lakenhal. Next is Béguinage de Hoogstraten.
A béguinage is one of the most peaceful places in the Low Countries: a walled enclosure of small houses around a green courtyard and a church, built in the Middle Ages for béguines, women who lived a religious life of prayer and work without taking permanent vows. They could own property, leave if they wished and support themselves by weaving, teaching or nursing, which made the béguinages a unique form of female independence in medieval Europe. The béguinage at Hoogstraten, in the north of Antwerp province near the Dutch border, is one of thirteen Flemish béguinages on the World Heritage list, and it is a quiet, charming place, with whitewashed houses, a baroque church and a garden where time seems to slow.
Read the complete Béguinage de Hoogstraten write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Béguinage de Hoogstraten, about halfway. Next is Mill Network at Kinderdijk-Elshout.
Nineteen windmills stand in two rows along the canals at Kinderdijk, their sails turning slowly against the wide Dutch sky, and it is one of the most iconic sights in the Netherlands. They were built in the eighteenth century to pump water out of the Alblasserwaard, a low-lying polder between the rivers Lek and Noord, which would otherwise be flooded. Each mill lifted water from a lower canal to a higher one, and from there it was let out into the river. Over time steam, diesel and electric pumping stations took over the job, and the most recent ones still keep the polder dry today. The mill network was listed by UNESCO in 1997.
Read the complete Mill Network at Kinderdijk-Elshout write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Mill Network at Kinderdijk-Elshout sits at 182 km, about halfway. Next is back through Béguinage de Hoogstraten.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Béguinage de Hoogstraten write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Béguinage de Hoogstraten comes up about 255 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Voormalig Stadhuis / Lakenhal.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Voormalig Stadhuis / Lakenhal write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 289 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Voormalig Stadhuis / Lakenhal. Next is back through Béguinage de Diest.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Béguinage de Diest write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Béguinage de Diest, late in the day. Next is 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.
The route ends here after 363 km.
Grand Béguinage of Leuven → Béguinage de Diest is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Béguinage de Diest → Voormalig Stadhuis / Lakenhal is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Voormalig Stadhuis / Lakenhal → Béguinage de Hoogstraten is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Béguinage de Hoogstraten → Mill Network at Kinderdijk-Elshout is 73 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Mill Network at Kinderdijk-Elshout → back through Béguinage de Hoogstraten is 73 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Béguinage de Hoogstraten → back through Voormalig Stadhuis / Lakenhal is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Voormalig Stadhuis / Lakenhal → back through Béguinage de Diest is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Béguinage de Diest → Grand Béguinage of Leuven is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.