Stadhuis en Belforttoren and Beffroi de Thuin

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Stadhuis en Belforttoren

   Lier's Grote Markt is one of those squares that makes you slow down without being asked. In the middle stands an elegant eighteenth-century town hall in pale stone, and grafted onto its side is something much older: a slim Gothic belfry from the fourteenth century, its four corner turrets giving it the look of a castle chess piece. Together they belong to the group of Belgian and French belfries listed by UNESCO, symbols of the moment when medieval towns won their freedoms and built towers to prove it.

   Read the complete Stadhuis en Belforttoren write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Stadhuis en Belforttoren is where the day begins. Next is Sonian Forest - Réserve forestière du Tict.

2. 2. 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 comes up about 55 km into the recorded legs. Next is Beffroi de Thuin.

3. 3. Beffroi de Thuin

   Thuin sits on a rocky spur above the Sambre, and from the river it looks like a town that climbed a hill to keep its feet dry. At the top stands the belfry, a tall square tower with an onion-shaped spire that was originally the bell tower of a collegiate church and survived when the church itself did not. Since 1999 it has been part of the UNESCO listing of belfries of Belgium and France, a reminder that towns in this region measured their freedom in bells, towers and charters.

   Read the complete Beffroi de Thuin write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   about 114 km into the recorded legs you reach Beffroi de Thuin. Next is back through Sonian Forest - Réserve forestière du Tict.

4. 4. back through 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

   back through Sonian Forest - Réserve forestière du Tict, late in the day. Next is Stadhuis en Belforttoren.

5. 5. Stadhuis en Belforttoren

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Stadhuis en Belforttoren write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Back at Stadhuis en Belforttoren. That is the ride.