Why this ride
From Mechelen it runs 61 km to Mechelen; allow about 1 h 30 of riding. It goes by way of Béguinage de Lier, Maison Guiete and back through Béguinage de Lier. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Tour de Saint-Rombaut and Maison Guiete
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 61 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 1 h 30
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
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.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Tour de Saint-Rombaut
Saint Rumbold's Tower dominates the skyline of Mechelen like a very tall stone cliff. It is the bell tower of the cathedral, and it rises to about ninety-seven metres. It was begun in the fourteenth century and was meant to go higher, with a spire that would have made it among the tallest in Europe, but the money ran out and the tower was left with a flat top in the sixteenth century. That unfinished stump is somehow more memorable than a completed spire would have been. It is part of the UNESCO list of belfries of Belgium and France, and a ring of bells hangs inside, including two carillons, one of which is played by hand from a keyboard of wooden batons.
Read the complete Tour de Saint-Rombaut write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Tour de Saint-Rombaut is where the day begins. Next is Béguinage de Lier.
2. Béguinage de Lier
Through a gateway off a busy street in Lier, you step into another world. The béguinage is a small walled neighbourhood of narrow cobbled lanes, whitewashed brick houses and a baroque church, where for centuries communities of beguines lived. These were religious women who chose a life of prayer, work and service without taking the permanent vows of nuns, living independently in their own houses but sharing a communal life. The béguinages of Flanders, about a dozen of them, were listed by UNESCO in 1998, and the one in Lier, with its quiet lanes and doorways topped with statues of saints, is one of the most charming.
Read the complete Béguinage de Lier write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Béguinage de Lier comes up about 15 km into the recorded legs. Next is Maison Guiete.
3. Maison Guiete
In a leafy residential street in the southern suburbs of Antwerp, there is a white house that looks as if it has walked in from a different century. The Maison Guiette, as it is usually spelled, was designed by Le Corbusier in 1926 for the painter René Guiette, and it was his first building in Belgium. Since 2016 it has been one of the sites in the UNESCO listing of Le Corbusier's architectural work, alongside the Villa Savoye, the Unité d'Habitation in Marseille and buildings on several continents.
Read the complete Maison Guiete write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 31 km into the recorded legs you reach Maison Guiete. Next is back through Béguinage de Lier.
4. back through Béguinage de Lier
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Béguinage de Lier write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Béguinage de Lier, late in the day. Next is Tour de Saint-Rombaut.
5. Tour de Saint-Rombaut
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Tour de Saint-Rombaut write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Tour de Saint-Rombaut. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Tour de Saint-Rombaut to Béguinage de Lier
Tour de Saint-Rombaut → Béguinage de Lier is 15 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Béguinage de Lier to Maison Guiete
Béguinage de Lier → Maison Guiete is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Maison Guiete to back through Béguinage de Lier
Maison Guiete → back through Béguinage de Lier is 15 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Béguinage de Lier to Tour de Saint-Rombaut
back through Béguinage de Lier → Tour de Saint-Rombaut is 15 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.