CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
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Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
From Tongeren it runs 279 km to Tongeren; allow about 4 h 50 of riding. The stops in between: Sint-Leonarduskerk, Sint-Pieterskerk / Belfort, Maison & Atelier Horta and Belfort en Schepenhuis / Beffroi et maison. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Tongeren likes to remind you that it is the oldest town in Belgium, and it has a strong claim. The Romans founded a settlement here, Atuatuca Tungrorum, on the road between Cologne and Bavay, and the remains of its walls can still be seen around the town. Before that, the area was home to the Eburones, a Celtic tribe whose chieftain Ambiorix famously ambushed and destroyed a Roman legion in 54 BC. His statue, a heroic nineteenth-century figure with a winged helmet and a magnificent moustache, stands in the main square, the Grote Markt.
Read the complete Onze-Lieve-Lievevrouwebasiliek met Stadsto write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Onze-Lieve-Lievevrouwebasiliek met Stadsto is where the day begins. Next is Sint-Leonarduskerk.
The church of Saint Leonard rises over the little town of Zoutleeuw, in the fruit-growing country east of Leuven, and it is far grander than the size of the place suggests. In the Middle Ages the town, known in French as Léau, was a prosperous trading centre on a route between Brabant and Liège, and its burghers put their money into stone. Work on the church began in the thirteenth century and went on for generations, giving a late Gothic body with a tall tower, rich sculpture and a lofty, light interior with white walls and tall windows.
Read the complete Sint-Leonarduskerk write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Sint-Leonarduskerk comes up 36 km in. Next is Sint-Pieterskerk / Belfort.
Leuven is a university town through and through. Its university, founded in 1425, is the oldest in the Low Countries, and its students fill the streets, cafés and squares, giving the city a youthful energy. At its heart is the Grote Markt, dominated by two buildings: the Town Hall, a Gothic masterpiece covered in hundreds of statues, and opposite it, the Church of St Peter, a great Gothic church whose tower was never finished but which is part of the UNESCO-listed Belfries of Belgium and France.
Read the complete Sint-Pieterskerk / Belfort write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
71 km in you reach Sint-Pieterskerk / Belfort. Next is 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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Maison & Atelier Horta, about halfway. Next is Belfort en Schepenhuis / Beffroi et maison.
Aalst's Schepenhuis, the old aldermen's house on the Grote Markt, is reckoned to be the oldest surviving town hall in the Low Countries, its oldest parts going back to the thirteenth century, and its belfry, added later, carries the bells that once regulated the town's life. Together they are part of the UNESCO listing of the Belfries of Belgium and France. In front of them stands a statue of Dirk Martens, who set up one of the first printing presses in the Southern Netherlands here in the 1470s and later printed works by Erasmus and Thomas More.
Read the complete Belfort en Schepenhuis / Beffroi et maison write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Belfort en Schepenhuis / Beffroi et maison sits at 142 km, about halfway. Next is back through Maison & Atelier Horta.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Maison & Atelier Horta write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Maison & Atelier Horta comes up 178 km in. Next is back through Sint-Pieterskerk / Belfort.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Sint-Pieterskerk / Belfort write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
213 km in you reach back through Sint-Pieterskerk / Belfort. Next is back through Sint-Leonarduskerk.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Sint-Leonarduskerk write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Sint-Leonarduskerk, late in the day. Next is Onze-Lieve-Lievevrouwebasiliek met Stadsto.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Onze-Lieve-Lievevrouwebasiliek met Stadsto write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 279 km.
Onze-Lieve-Lievevrouwebasiliek met Stadsto → Sint-Leonarduskerk is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Sint-Leonarduskerk → Sint-Pieterskerk / Belfort is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Sint-Pieterskerk / Belfort → Maison & Atelier Horta is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Maison & Atelier Horta → Belfort en Schepenhuis / Beffroi et maison is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Belfort en Schepenhuis / Beffroi et maison → back through Maison & Atelier Horta is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Maison & Atelier Horta → back through Sint-Pieterskerk / Belfort is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Sint-Pieterskerk / Belfort → back through Sint-Leonarduskerk is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Sint-Leonarduskerk → Onze-Lieve-Lievevrouwebasiliek met Stadsto is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.