Sonian Forest - Réserve forestière du Tict and Belfort

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Sonian Forest - Réserve forestière du Tict

   The beeches in the Sonian Forest grow so tall and straight that people call it the cathedral forest, and once you stand under them on a misty autumn morning the name stops sounding like tourist talk. This great woodland on the southeastern edge of Brussels covers thousands of hectares, and most of the famous columns of grey trunks were planted in the late eighteenth century, when the Austrian Habsburgs ruled these lands and their foresters reshaped the old wood. A few patches, including the Tict reserve near La Hulpe and Waterloo, are left to grow wild with no felling at all, and they form part of the UNESCO listing for the ancient and primeval beech forests of Europe, a chain of reserves stretching across the continent.

   Read the complete Sonian Forest - Réserve forestière du Tict write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Sonian Forest - Réserve forestière du Tict is where the day begins. Next is Sint-Pieterskerk / Belfort.

2. 2. 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.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Sint-Pieterskerk / Belfort comes up about 34 km into the recorded legs. Next is Maison & Atelier Horta.

3. 3. 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

   about 68 km into the recorded legs you reach Maison & Atelier Horta. Next is Belfort en Schepenhuis / Beffroi et maison.

4. 4. 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.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Belfort en Schepenhuis / Beffroi et maison, about halfway. Next is Belfort.

5. 5. Belfort

   Ghent has three towers standing in a row, and the middle one is the belfry, rising over the old centre between St Bavo's Cathedral and St Nicholas' Church. Begun in the fourteenth century, it was the town's watchtower, bell tower and strongroom, where the charters granting the city its privileges were locked away. On its spire sits a gilded dragon, the city's mascot, keeping an eye on things. The belfry, with the cloth hall attached to its base, is part of the UNESCO list of belfries of Belgium and France, and you can climb it, partly by lift, for one of the best views over the rooftops, canals and spires.

   Read the complete Belfort write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Belfort sits at 137 km, about halfway. Next is back through Belfort en Schepenhuis / Beffroi et maison.

6. 6. back through Belfort en Schepenhuis / Beffroi et maison

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Belfort en Schepenhuis / Beffroi et maison write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Belfort en Schepenhuis / Beffroi et maison comes up about 171 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Maison & Atelier Horta.

7. 7. back through 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

   about 206 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Maison & Atelier Horta. Next is back through Sint-Pieterskerk / Belfort.

8. 8. back through Sint-Pieterskerk / Belfort

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Sint-Pieterskerk / Belfort write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Sint-Pieterskerk / Belfort, late in the day. Next is Sonian Forest - Réserve forestière du Tict.

9. 9. Sonian Forest - Réserve forestière du Tict

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Sonian Forest - Réserve forestière du Tict write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   The route ends here after 271 km.