Why this ride
A 149 km round trip from Brussels - roughly 2 h 28 in the saddle. On the way it passes Ancienne Halle avec Beffroi, Maison Guiete, Tour de Saint-Rombaut and back through Maison Guiete.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Hôtel Tassel and Tour de Saint-Rombaut
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 149 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 28
- 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. Hôtel Tassel
In 1893, a young architect named Victor Horta finished a town house in Brussels for a professor called Emile Tassel, and in doing so he changed the course of European design. The Hotel Tassel is generally regarded as the first true Art Nouveau building. Its facade looks restrained from the street, with a curved bay window and a bit of ironwork, but inside, the staircase is a revelation. Slim iron columns split into whiplash curves that spread across the walls and ceiling, mosaics ripple across the floor, and the whole space seems to grow like a plant.
Read the complete Hôtel Tassel write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Hôtel Tassel is where the day begins. Next is Ancienne Halle avec Beffroi.
2. Ancienne Halle avec Beffroi
The Grote Markt of Mechelen is one of the grandest squares in Belgium, and on its eastern side stands the old cloth hall with its belfry, a building with a curious history. The hall was built in the fourteenth century, when Mechelen was a rich cloth-making town, and the belfry was planned to be a tall tower, but it was never finished. Its stump was eventually given a pointed roof, and later a sixteenth-century extension in the Renaissance style was begun to house the Great Council of the Netherlands, but that too remained unfinished. The belfry is part of the UNESCO listing of the belfries of Belgium and France.
Read the complete Ancienne Halle avec Beffroi write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Ancienne Halle avec Beffroi comes up about 32 km into the recorded legs. Next is Maison Guiete.
3. Maison Guiete
In a leafy residential street in the southern suburbs of Antwerp, there is a white house that looks as if it has walked in from a different century. The Maison Guiette, as it is usually spelled, was designed by Le Corbusier in 1926 for the painter René Guiette, and it was his first building in Belgium. Since 2016 it has been one of the sites in the UNESCO listing of Le Corbusier's architectural work, alongside the Villa Savoye, the Unité d'Habitation in Marseille and buildings on several continents.
Read the complete Maison Guiete write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 53 km into the recorded legs you reach Maison Guiete. Next is Tour de Saint-Rombaut.
4. Tour de Saint-Rombaut
Saint Rumbold's Tower dominates the skyline of Mechelen like a very tall stone cliff. It is the bell tower of the cathedral, and it rises to about ninety-seven metres. It was begun in the fourteenth century and was meant to go higher, with a spire that would have made it among the tallest in Europe, but the money ran out and the tower was left with a flat top in the sixteenth century. That unfinished stump is somehow more memorable than a completed spire would have been. It is part of the UNESCO list of belfries of Belgium and France, and a ring of bells hangs inside, including two carillons, one of which is played by hand from a keyboard of wooden batons.
Read the complete Tour de Saint-Rombaut write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Tour de Saint-Rombaut, about halfway. Next is back through Maison Guiete.
5. back through Maison Guiete
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Maison Guiete write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Maison Guiete sits at 109 km, about halfway. Next is back through Ancienne Halle avec Beffroi.
6. back through Ancienne Halle avec Beffroi
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Ancienne Halle avec Beffroi write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Ancienne Halle avec Beffroi comes up about 115 km into the recorded legs. Next is Hôtel Tassel.
7. Hôtel Tassel
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Hôtel Tassel write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Hôtel Tassel closes the day.
Leg by leg
Hôtel Tassel to Ancienne Halle avec Beffroi
Hôtel Tassel → Ancienne Halle avec Beffroi is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Ancienne Halle avec Beffroi to Maison Guiete
Ancienne Halle avec Beffroi → Maison Guiete is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Maison Guiete to Tour de Saint-Rombaut
Maison Guiete → Tour de Saint-Rombaut is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Tour de Saint-Rombaut to back through Maison Guiete
Tour de Saint-Rombaut → back through Maison Guiete is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Maison Guiete to back through Ancienne Halle avec Beffroi
back through Maison Guiete → back through Ancienne Halle avec Beffroi is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Ancienne Halle avec Beffroi to Hôtel Tassel
back through Ancienne Halle avec Beffroi → Hôtel Tassel is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.