Why this ride
223 km from Ledeberg to Ledeberg, about 2 h 54 of riding. It goes by way of Maison Guiete, Sonian Forest - Forest Reserve “Joseph Zwa and back through Maison Guiete. Much of it runs through woodland.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Petit Béguinage de Gent and Sonian Forest - Forest Reserve “Joseph Zwa
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 223 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 54
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
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.
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. Petit Béguinage de Gent
Push open a gate off a busy Ghent street and the noise drops away. The Klein Begijnhof, the Small Béguinage, is a walled enclave of whitewashed and brick houses with stepped gables around a green courtyard and a Baroque church. Béguines were lay women who lived in community, devoted to prayer and work but without taking permanent vows, and this béguinage was founded in the thirteenth century. Most of the present buildings date from the seventeenth century. Together with other Flemish béguinages, it is on the UNESCO World Heritage list, and it remains one of the calmest places in the city.
Read the complete Petit Béguinage de Gent write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Petit Béguinage de Gent is where the day begins. Next is Maison Guiete.
2. 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
Maison Guiete comes up 65 km in. Next is Sonian Forest - Forest Reserve “Joseph Zwa.
3. Sonian Forest - Forest Reserve “Joseph Zwa
Brussels has a forest on its doorstep, and a very good one. The Sonian Forest, Forêt de Soignes or Zoniënwoud depending on who is speaking, spreads over the south-eastern edge of the city in a dark green arc of about four and a half thousand hectares, and its core is beech, tall, grey and straight as columns. The forest is shared among three regions of Belgium, and the Joseph Zwaenepoel reserve is a protected section in the Flemish part, where the managers let nature take its course and fallen trees are left to rot. It is part of the UNESCO listing for ancient and primeval beech forests, extended in 2017 to include the Sonian Forest.
Read the complete Sonian Forest - Forest Reserve “Joseph Zwa write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
130 km in you reach Sonian Forest - Forest Reserve “Joseph Zwa. Next is back through Maison Guiete.
4. 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, late in the day. Next is Petit Béguinage de Gent.
5. Petit Béguinage de Gent
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Petit Béguinage de Gent write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Petit Béguinage de Gent. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Petit Béguinage de Gent to Maison Guiete
Petit Béguinage de Gent → Maison Guiete is 65 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Maison Guiete to Sonian Forest - Forest Reserve “Joseph Zwa
Maison Guiete → Sonian Forest - Forest Reserve “Joseph Zwa is 64 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Sonian Forest - Forest Reserve “Joseph Zwa to back through Maison Guiete
Sonian Forest - Forest Reserve “Joseph Zwa → back through Maison Guiete is 64 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Maison Guiete to Petit Béguinage de Gent
back through Maison Guiete → Petit Béguinage de Gent is 65 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.