Why this ride
283 km from Herentals to Herentals, about 4 h 59 of riding. It goes by way of Béguinage de Hoogstraten, Stadhuis, Stadhuis met Belfort and Petit Béguinage de Gent. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Voormalig Stadhuis / Lakenhal and Petit Béguinage de Gent
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 283 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 4 h 59
- 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.
Scenic road chapters
Voormalig Stadhuis / Lakenhal → Béguinage de Hoogstraten
The ride follows Voormalig Stadhuis / Lakenhal → Béguinage de Hoogstraten for 30 km.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 30 km
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Voormalig Stadhuis / Lakenhal
Rik Van Looy, one of the great Belgian cyclists of the 1950s and 1960s, was known as the Emperor of Herentals, which tells you something about the priorities of this town in the Kempen. Herentals lies on the flat heathland of the province of Antwerp, and in the middle of its market square stands the old town hall, built in the fourteenth century as a cloth hall, a lakenhal, when the town grew rich on wool and weaving. Its belfry is part of the UNESCO listing of belfries of Belgium and France, a symbol of civic pride and of the freedoms that merchants bought from their lords.
Read the complete Voormalig Stadhuis / Lakenhal write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Voormalig Stadhuis / Lakenhal is where the day begins. Next is Béguinage de Hoogstraten.
2. Béguinage de Hoogstraten
A béguinage is one of the most peaceful places in the Low Countries: a walled enclosure of small houses around a green courtyard and a church, built in the Middle Ages for béguines, women who lived a religious life of prayer and work without taking permanent vows. They could own property, leave if they wished and support themselves by weaving, teaching or nursing, which made the béguinages a unique form of female independence in medieval Europe. The béguinage at Hoogstraten, in the north of Antwerp province near the Dutch border, is one of thirteen Flemish béguinages on the World Heritage list, and it is a quiet, charming place, with whitewashed houses, a baroque church and a garden where time seems to slow.
Read the complete Béguinage de Hoogstraten write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Béguinage de Hoogstraten comes up about 30 km into the recorded legs. Next is Stadhuis.
3. Stadhuis
Antwerp's Stadhuis faces the Grote Markt with all the confidence of a city that once ran the world's busiest port. It was built between 1561 and 1565 to a design by Cornelis Floris de Vriendt, a Renaissance palace with a long, symmetrical front, tiers of columns and a central tower topped by statues. Four hundred and more years later it still serves as the city hall, and its gilded flags, carved reliefs and rows of tall windows catch the evening light beautifully.
Read the complete Stadhuis write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 70 km into the recorded legs you reach Stadhuis. Next is Stadhuis met Belfort.
4. Stadhuis met Belfort
Dendermonde sits where the Dender gives up and pours itself into the Scheldt, and the old town hall on the Grote Markt is the thing you aim for when you roll in. Its belfry is one of the Flemish and Walloon towers grouped together by UNESCO as the Belfries of Belgium and France, and the reason those towers matter is simple: in the medieval Low Countries a belfry was the civic answer to the church spire. It held the town charters, the bell that called the citizens, and the watchman who looked out for fire and for armies. Dendermonde needed the watchman more than most, because a town at a river junction is a town everybody wants, and it was besieged, burned and rebuilt more than once, most brutally in 1914 when German troops set much of it alight.
Read the complete Stadhuis met Belfort write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Stadhuis met Belfort, about halfway. Next is Petit Béguinage de Gent.
5. Petit Béguinage de Gent
Push open a gate off a busy Ghent street and the noise drops away. The Klein Begijnhof, the Small Béguinage, is a walled enclave of whitewashed and brick houses with stepped gables around a green courtyard and a Baroque church. Béguines were lay women who lived in community, devoted to prayer and work but without taking permanent vows, and this béguinage was founded in the thirteenth century. Most of the present buildings date from the seventeenth century. Together with other Flemish béguinages, it is on the UNESCO World Heritage list, and it remains one of the calmest places in the city.
Read the complete Petit Béguinage de Gent write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Petit Béguinage de Gent sits at 153 km, about halfway. Next is back through Stadhuis met Belfort.
6. back through Stadhuis met Belfort
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Stadhuis met Belfort write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Stadhuis met Belfort comes up about 175 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Stadhuis.
7. back through Stadhuis
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Stadhuis write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 213 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Stadhuis. Next is back through Béguinage de Hoogstraten.
8. back through Béguinage de Hoogstraten
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Béguinage de Hoogstraten 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 Hoogstraten, late in the day. Next is Voormalig Stadhuis / Lakenhal.
9. Voormalig Stadhuis / Lakenhal
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Voormalig Stadhuis / Lakenhal 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 283 km.
Leg by leg
Voormalig Stadhuis / Lakenhal to Béguinage de Hoogstraten
Voormalig Stadhuis / Lakenhal → Béguinage de Hoogstraten is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Béguinage de Hoogstraten to Stadhuis
Béguinage de Hoogstraten → Stadhuis is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Stadhuis to Stadhuis met Belfort
Stadhuis → Stadhuis met Belfort is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Stadhuis met Belfort to Petit Béguinage de Gent
Stadhuis met Belfort → Petit Béguinage de Gent is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Petit Béguinage de Gent to back through Stadhuis met Belfort
Petit Béguinage de Gent → back through Stadhuis met Belfort is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Stadhuis met Belfort to back through Stadhuis
back through Stadhuis met Belfort → back through Stadhuis is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Stadhuis to back through Béguinage de Hoogstraten
back through Stadhuis → back through Béguinage de Hoogstraten is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Béguinage de Hoogstraten to Voormalig Stadhuis / Lakenhal
back through Béguinage de Hoogstraten → Voormalig Stadhuis / Lakenhal is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
More motorcycle rides nearby
- Antwerp day out · Wortel · 287 km
- Stadhuis and Flemish Béguinages · 69 km