Why this ride
From Brussels it runs 149 km to Brussels; allow about 2 h 30 of riding. The stops in between: Ancienne Halle avec Beffroi, Maison Guiete, Tour de Saint-Rombaut and back through Maison Guiete.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Maison & Atelier Horta and Tour de Saint-Rombaut
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 149 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 30
- 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. Maison & Atelier Horta
From the street, the house at Rue Américaine in Saint-Gilles is pleasant but unassuming, a narrow town house of stone and iron among many others. Inside, it becomes something else entirely: a flowing space of curving wrought iron, stained glass, mosaic floors and woodwork that seems to grow like plant tendrils, all bathed in light from a glass roof over the stairwell. Victor Horta, one of the founders of Art Nouveau, built it as his home and studio between 1898 and 1901, and it is now a museum dedicated to his work. In 2000, it was listed by UNESCO together with three other Horta town houses in Brussels, including the Hôtel Tassel, often cited as the first true Art Nouveau building.
Read the complete Maison & Atelier Horta write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Maison & Atelier Horta 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 Maison & Atelier Horta.
7. Maison & Atelier Horta
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Maison & Atelier Horta write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Maison & Atelier Horta closes the day.
Leg by leg
Maison & Atelier Horta to Ancienne Halle avec Beffroi
Maison & Atelier Horta → 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 Maison & Atelier Horta
back through Ancienne Halle avec Beffroi → Maison & Atelier Horta is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.