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.
From Brussels it runs 157 km to Brussels; allow about 2 h 53 of riding. The stops in between: Grand Béguinage of Leuven, Sint-Germanuskerk met Stadstoren, Béguinage de Diest and back through Sint-Germanuskerk met Stadstoren. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Brussels is a city you ride into rather than through, and Avenue Louise is one of its grand approaches. The Hôtel Solvay stands on it, number 224, a townhouse that the architect Victor Horta designed in the 1890s for the industrialist Armand Solvay, whose family fortune came from soda production. Horta was in his early thirties when he started working on houses like this, and he was one of the founders of Art Nouveau. Here he gave everything a whiplash curve: the iron balcony, the stair rail, the stained glass, even the door handles. Several of his town houses are now on the UNESCO list together.
Read the complete Hôtel Solvay write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Hôtel Solvay 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 28 km into the recorded legs. Next is Sint-Germanuskerk met Stadstoren.
Tienen means sugar to most Belgians. The town in the east of Flemish Brabant has been the home of Belgium's largest sugar refinery since the nineteenth century, and the smell of sugar beet being processed hangs over the town in autumn during the campaign, when trucks loaded with beets roll in from the surrounding fields. The Sint-Germanuskerk, the church of Saint Germanus, with its massive tower serving as the town's belfry, stands near the huge Grote Markt, one of the largest market squares in Belgium, and it is part of the UNESCO listing of the belfries of Belgium and France. The tower, a mix of Romanesque and Gothic, has a carillon whose bells ring out over the town.
Read the complete Sint-Germanuskerk met Stadstoren write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 53 km into the recorded legs you reach Sint-Germanuskerk met Stadstoren. 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, about halfway. Next is back through Sint-Germanuskerk met Stadstoren.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Sint-Germanuskerk met Stadstoren write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Sint-Germanuskerk met Stadstoren sits at 115 km, about halfway. 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 comes up about 126 km into the recorded legs. Next is Hôtel Solvay.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Hôtel Solvay write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Hôtel Solvay closes the day.
Hôtel Solvay → Grand Béguinage of Leuven is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Grand Béguinage of Leuven → Sint-Germanuskerk met Stadstoren is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Sint-Germanuskerk met Stadstoren → Béguinage de Diest is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Béguinage de Diest → back through Sint-Germanuskerk met Stadstoren is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Sint-Germanuskerk met Stadstoren → back through Grand Béguinage of Leuven is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Grand Béguinage of Leuven → Hôtel Solvay is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.