Sonian Forest - Réserve forestière du Tict and Sint-Pieterskerk / Belfort starting at Waterloo

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 Grand Béguinage of Leuven.

2. 2. Grand Béguinage of Leuven

   Step through the gate of the Groot Begijnhof in Leuven and the city noise drops away. Cobbled lanes, small brick houses with white window frames and stepped gables, little bridges over the arms of the river Dijle, and a Gothic church in the middle: this is one of the largest béguinages in the Low Countries, part of the Flemish Béguinages group listed by UNESCO in 1998.

   Read the complete Grand Béguinage of Leuven write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Grand Béguinage of Leuven comes up about 35 km into the recorded legs. Next is Sint-Germanuskerk met Stadstoren.

3. 3. 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.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   about 61 km into the recorded legs you reach Sint-Germanuskerk met Stadstoren. Next is Sint-Pieterskerk / Belfort.

4. 4. 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, about halfway. Next is back through Sint-Germanuskerk met Stadstoren.

5. 5. back through Sint-Germanuskerk met Stadstoren

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Sint-Germanuskerk met Stadstoren write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   back through Sint-Germanuskerk met Stadstoren sits at 111 km, about halfway. Next is back through Grand Béguinage of Leuven.

6. 6. back through Grand Béguinage of Leuven

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Grand Béguinage of Leuven write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   back through Grand Béguinage of Leuven comes up about 155 km into the recorded legs. Next is Sonian Forest - Réserve forestière du Tict.

7. 7. 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

   Sonian Forest - Réserve forestière du Tict closes the day.