CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
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.
168 km from Leuven to Leuven, about 3 h 08 of riding. The stops in between: Sint-Germanuskerk met Stadstoren, Béguinage de Diest, Beguinage de Sint-Truiden and back through Béguinage de Diest. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
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.
Sint-Pieterskerk / Belfort is where the day begins. Next is Sint-Germanuskerk met Stadstoren.
Tienen means sugar to most Belgians. The town in the east of Flemish Brabant has been the home of Belgium's largest sugar refinery since the nineteenth century, and the smell of sugar beet being processed hangs over the town in autumn during the campaign, when trucks loaded with beets roll in from the surrounding fields. The Sint-Germanuskerk, the church of Saint Germanus, with its massive tower serving as the town's belfry, stands near the huge Grote Markt, one of the largest market squares in Belgium, and it is part of the UNESCO listing of the belfries of Belgium and France. The tower, a mix of Romanesque and Gothic, has a carillon whose bells ring out over the town.
Read the complete Sint-Germanuskerk met Stadstoren write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Sint-Germanuskerk met Stadstoren comes up about 35 km into the recorded legs. 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.
about 60 km into the recorded legs you reach Béguinage de Diest. Next is Beguinage de Sint-Truiden.
At the edge of Sint-Truiden, a market town in the fruit country of Haspengouw, a ring of low brick houses surrounds a large grassy courtyard with trees and a Gothic church in the middle. This is the béguinage, one of the Flemish béguinages listed together by UNESCO, where for centuries communities of laywomen lived devout lives of prayer and work without taking permanent vows. It is one of the largest and best preserved in the region, and it has a calm, almost village-like feel.
Read the complete Beguinage de Sint-Truiden write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Beguinage de Sint-Truiden, about halfway. 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.
back through Béguinage de Diest sits at 109 km, about halfway. Next is back through Sint-Germanuskerk met Stadstoren.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Sint-Germanuskerk met Stadstoren write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Sint-Germanuskerk met Stadstoren comes up about 134 km into the recorded legs. Next is 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.
Sint-Pieterskerk / Belfort closes the day.
Sint-Pieterskerk / Belfort → Sint-Germanuskerk met Stadstoren is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Sint-Germanuskerk met Stadstoren → Béguinage de Diest is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Béguinage de Diest → Beguinage de Sint-Truiden is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Beguinage de Sint-Truiden → back through Béguinage de Diest is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Béguinage de Diest → back through Sint-Germanuskerk met Stadstoren is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Sint-Germanuskerk met Stadstoren → Sint-Pieterskerk / Belfort is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.