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.
A 295 km round trip from Zoutleeuw - roughly 5 h 09 in the saddle. The stops in between: Onze-Lieve-Lievevrouwebasiliek met Stadsto, Béguinage de Diest, Voormalig Stadhuis / Lakenhal and Béguinage de Hoogstraten. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
This part of the ride is 36 km of Béguinage de Diest → Voormalig Stadhuis / Lakenhal.
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 is where the day begins. Next is Onze-Lieve-Lievevrouwebasiliek met Stadsto.
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 comes up 39 km in. Next is Béguinage de Diest.
Diest has one of the largest béguinages in Flanders, a walled town within the town, with its own streets, gates, church and some ninety houses. The béguines were laywomen who lived a religious life without taking permanent vows, earning their own living and sharing a community, and their béguinages flourished in the Low Countries from the thirteenth century onward. The Flemish béguinages are listed together by UNESCO. In Diest, the béguinage has been restored with care, and its cobbled streets, whitewashed houses and quiet gardens feel worlds away from the traffic outside.
Read the complete Béguinage de Diest write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
77 km in you reach Béguinage de Diest. Next is Voormalig Stadhuis / Lakenhal.
Rik Van Looy, one of the great Belgian cyclists of the 1950s and 1960s, was known as the Emperor of Herentals, which tells you something about the priorities of this town in the Kempen. Herentals lies on the flat heathland of the province of Antwerp, and in the middle of its market square stands the old town hall, built in the fourteenth century as a cloth hall, a lakenhal, when the town grew rich on wool and weaving. Its belfry is part of the UNESCO listing of belfries of Belgium and France, a symbol of civic pride and of the freedoms that merchants bought from their lords.
Read the complete Voormalig Stadhuis / Lakenhal write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Voormalig Stadhuis / Lakenhal, about halfway. Next is Béguinage de Hoogstraten.
A béguinage is one of the most peaceful places in the Low Countries: a walled enclosure of small houses around a green courtyard and a church, built in the Middle Ages for béguines, women who lived a religious life of prayer and work without taking permanent vows. They could own property, leave if they wished and support themselves by weaving, teaching or nursing, which made the béguinages a unique form of female independence in medieval Europe. The béguinage at Hoogstraten, in the north of Antwerp province near the Dutch border, is one of thirteen Flemish béguinages on the World Heritage list, and it is a quiet, charming place, with whitewashed houses, a baroque church and a garden where time seems to slow.
Read the complete Béguinage de Hoogstraten write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Béguinage de Hoogstraten sits at 154 km, about halfway. Next is back through Voormalig Stadhuis / Lakenhal.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Voormalig Stadhuis / Lakenhal write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Voormalig Stadhuis / Lakenhal comes up 193 km in. Next is back through Béguinage de Diest.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Béguinage de Diest write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
231 km in you reach back through Béguinage de Diest. Next is back through 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.
back through Onze-Lieve-Lievevrouwebasiliek met Stadsto, late in the day. Next is 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.
The route ends here after 295 km.
Sint-Leonarduskerk → Onze-Lieve-Lievevrouwebasiliek met Stadsto is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Onze-Lieve-Lievevrouwebasiliek met Stadsto → Béguinage de Diest is 49 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Béguinage de Diest → Voormalig Stadhuis / Lakenhal is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Voormalig Stadhuis / Lakenhal → Béguinage de Hoogstraten is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Béguinage de Hoogstraten → back through Voormalig Stadhuis / Lakenhal is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Voormalig Stadhuis / Lakenhal → back through Béguinage de Diest is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Béguinage de Diest → back through Onze-Lieve-Lievevrouwebasiliek met Stadsto is 49 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Onze-Lieve-Lievevrouwebasiliek met Stadsto → Sint-Leonarduskerk is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.