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: planning record, not independently verified geometry.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distances and riding times are planning figures. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
From Eeklo it runs 293 km to Eeklo; allow about 5 h 03 of riding. On the way it passes \Halletoren\ ou Belfort, Stadhuis met Belfort, Notre-Dame Cathedral in Tournai and Cité du Rivage ancienne. It crosses from Belgium into France - carry ID and check the toll rules. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Speed drops and stays down. Park rather than crawl through. 41 km through ground somebody thought worth listing. The road passes it rather than bypassing it.
Eeklo is the capital of the Meetjesland, the flat, green region of East Flanders between Ghent and Bruges, close to the Dutch border, and its town hall with a belfry, the Stadhuis met Belfort, stands on the market square as the symbol of the town. It is one of the belfries of Belgium and France listed by UNESCO, a group of civic towers that embodied the freedom and power of the medieval towns of Flanders. Eeklo's belfry is modest compared with those of Bruges and Ghent, but it has its own charm, rising above a town that most visitors pass through without stopping.
Read the complete Stadhuis met Belfort write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Stadhuis met Belfort is where the day begins. Next is \Halletoren\ ou Belfort.
Tielt is a working town in the heart of West Flanders, a place of farmers' markets, textile history and flat roads, and its belfry rises above the market square like a stubborn finger pointing at the clouds. The Halletoren, the hall tower, stands on top of the old cloth hall, the building where merchants once inspected and traded woollen cloth, the source of Flanders' wealth in the Middle Ages. The belfry is one of the group of Belgian and French belfries that UNESCO listed together, symbols of the civic freedom that the cities of Flanders won from their lords, where the town charters were kept and the bells rang to call citizens to arms or to work.
Read the complete \Halletoren\ ou Belfort write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
\Halletoren\ ou Belfort comes up about 36 km into the recorded legs. Next is Stadhuis met Belfort.
Oudenaarde's town hall looks like something carved from lace. Built in the early sixteenth century in the late Gothic style, it has a facade covered with pointed arches, niches and statues, and a slender belfry topped with a gilded crown on which stands a small knight known locally as Hanske de Krijger, Little John the Warrior. The building is one of the finest of its kind in Flanders, and it is listed by UNESCO among the belfries of Belgium and France. Inside, there are displays of the tapestries for which Oudenaarde was famous across Europe in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, especially its verdures, woven scenes of forests and greenery.
Read the complete Stadhuis met Belfort write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 71 km into the recorded legs you reach Stadhuis met Belfort. Next is Notre-Dame Cathedral in Tournai.
Five towers. That is what everyone remembers about Tournai's cathedral, and when you first see them rising above the rooftops of this old city on the Scheldt, they seem almost too many for one building. The cathedral of Notre-Dame is one of the great churches of Europe, with a massive Romanesque nave and transept from the twelfth century and a later Gothic choir, tall and light, built in the following century. The combination is a lesson in medieval architecture, and it earned the building a place on the UNESCO World Heritage list. It has been under long restoration after a storm in 1999 damaged the structure, so parts may be covered in scaffolding when you visit.
Read the complete Notre-Dame Cathedral in Tournai write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Notre-Dame Cathedral in Tournai, about halfway. Next is Cité du Rivage ancienne.
Brick terraced houses, small gardens and a straight street running toward the Escaut: at first glance the Cité du Rivage in Bruay-sur-l'Escaut looks like any working-class neighbourhood in northern France. It is part of something much larger. In 2012, UNESCO listed the Nord-Pas de Calais Mining Basin, a landscape of pit villages, headframes, slag heaps and railways stretching over a hundred kilometres, as a monument to three centuries of coal. This cité is one of its many fragments, an early housing development built by the mining companies to keep their workers close to the pits.
Read the complete Cité du Rivage ancienne write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Cité du Rivage ancienne sits at 147 km, about halfway. Next is back through Notre-Dame Cathedral in Tournai.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Notre-Dame Cathedral in Tournai write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Notre-Dame Cathedral in Tournai comes up about 180 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Stadhuis met Belfort.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Stadhuis met Belfort write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 221 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Stadhuis met Belfort. Next is back through \Halletoren\ ou Belfort.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete \Halletoren\ ou Belfort write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through \Halletoren\ ou Belfort, late in the day. Next is Stadhuis met Belfort.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Stadhuis met Belfort write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 293 km.
Stadhuis met Belfort → \Halletoren\ ou Belfort is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
\Halletoren\ ou Belfort → Stadhuis met Belfort is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Stadhuis met Belfort → Notre-Dame Cathedral in Tournai is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Notre-Dame Cathedral in Tournai → Cité du Rivage ancienne is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cité du Rivage ancienne → back through Notre-Dame Cathedral in Tournai is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Notre-Dame Cathedral in Tournai → back through Stadhuis met Belfort is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Stadhuis met Belfort → back through \Halletoren\ ou Belfort is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through \Halletoren\ ou Belfort → Stadhuis met Belfort is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.