Why this ride
A 147 km round trip from Brussels - roughly 2 h 29 in the saddle. The stops in between: Ancienne Halle avec Beffroi, Maison Guiete, Tour de Saint-Rombaut and back through Maison Guiete.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
La Grand-Place and Tour de Saint-Rombaut
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 147 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 29
- 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.
Scenic road chapters
La Grand-Place → Ancienne Halle avec Beffroi
The ride follows La Grand-Place → Ancienne Halle avec Beffroi for 31 km.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 31 km
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. La Grand-Place
The Grand-Place in Brussels is a square so densely decorated with gold, stone and sculpture that visitors tend to stop at the entrance and just stare. The Gothic town hall, with its slender tower, fills one side, and the guildhalls of the old trades, brewers, bakers, butchers and others, line the rest, each topped with gilded statues and ornate gables. Most of it was rebuilt after a French bombardment in 1695 destroyed the centre of the city, and the speed and ambition of the reconstruction is part of the story.
Read the complete La Grand-Place write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
La Grand-Place 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 31 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 52 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 105 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 114 km into the recorded legs. Next is La Grand-Place.
7. La Grand-Place
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete La Grand-Place write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
La Grand-Place closes the day.
Leg by leg
La Grand-Place to Ancienne Halle avec Beffroi
La Grand-Place → Ancienne Halle avec Beffroi is 31 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 La Grand-Place
back through Ancienne Halle avec Beffroi → La Grand-Place is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.