Trip to ypres (Ieper) Belgium

[Cloggy]

Can anyone give me tips for good riding roads and places to visit between ypres and Leuven?

In less than a month (22nd to 24th June) I''ll be going on a long weekend trip to Leuven in Belgium with a group from my work. The saturday is an organised trip to the ardennes, but we can ride our own route to and from the hostel (generally in smaller groups).

A mate and I were thinking of riding to ypres to visiting the in Flanders fields museum on the Friday, it will be reopening their doors on the 11th of June, after a major renovation.

I know it's a pretty flat area but it would be great to hear of any reasonable roads, and places of interest in the area.

Cheers :thumbup:

 

[Tagger]

Gent !


I have yet to take a WW1 tour with my bike as well. We visited those places quite often as a kid (schooltrips etc.) but for some reason i never got around to plotting out a tour ... which is stupid since it's only 70km away or something.

Very nice area, very sad history.


Yesterday i read another story of a farmer digging up 17 (small and disarmed) bombshells out of his ground, and this happens quite a lot. In a highly industrialised country, 100 years after the facts, to still find garbage of that nasty war... it kind of paints a picture of the amounts that have been dropped there i think.

 

[Cloggy]

Gent is a really pretty city :thumbup:, but visiting it would unfortunately take up too much time, especially if we want to visit the museum in Ypres.

Yes the history of the area is tragic, and the conditions were terrible, but this is a museum I've been wanting to visit for some time but never got around to it.

I was thinking about riding past the Waterloo memorial on the way to Leuven, but I have no idea what sort of roads they have around there.

I''ll just have to keep searching the interweb for a route.

 

[Tagger]

we made the mistake of looking for the "lion of waterloo" monument in waterloo once. who'd figure that that isn't in waterloo, but in Braine-l'Alleud (village next to it). beware of that !

The urban legend goes that the name was too hard for the brits to pronounce, so they said they were at waterloo in stead of Braine-l'Alleud (the abba song just wouldn't sound the same)

The area is a bit a transition between the ardennes (nice curvy roads) and flanders (flat ) so it's still ok but you just have to make sure to be tempted to take the easy roads.
Are you planning your trip on basecamp (/mapsource) ? i'll be happy to take a look at it to see if there are interesting areas on your route

 

[Cloggy]

Thanks for the info, I don't really have a route planned yet, just generally non motorways to waterloo and then up to Leuven. I generally use mapsource to plan my routes, but I also sometimes use Tyre to put a route together. I'll throw a route up when I have put one together, it would be great if you can take a look :thumbup:

 

[RedBear]

dont forget the flemish ardennes around my neighbourhood
Mont de l'enclus(Kluisberg) has a lot of awesome roads

 

[degake]

dont forget the flemish ardennes around my neighbourhood
Mont de l'enclus(Kluisberg) has a lot of awesome roads

Yep, Mont de l'Enclus has some very sweet roads... (But be sure to take the PAVED roads
I once followed my GPS to the top of Kluisbergen (recreational domain "Kluisbos") and hit some very VERY rural paths :ban:

Grtz,


Degake


p.s. If you want to take a quick tour around the Flemish Ardennes: Flemish Ardennes Motortour and Flemish Ardennes

 

[Cloggy]

Route ieper to Leuven

This is a quick route I threw together, any comments would be greatly appreciated. I don’t have much room to play with as we’re expected to be in Leuven about 6 in the evening for a Group meal.

The aprox Planning is leave at 8.00, 3 and half hours from Alkmaar to Ieper, on the motorway, 30 mins stop voor coffee (probably at the border), 2 and half hours at the museum and lunch and 3 and half hours riding to leuven, arrival at 18.00. I’m a bit concerned that we will hit the rush hour in the morning as well as in the late afternoon, and that it may take a bit longer.

Any info about roads to avoid, places to ride past etc would be great :thumbup:

 

[Cloggy]

Unfortunately due to the tight schedule we may have to skip visiting the Waterloo monument, depending on how far we have to walk to get to it from the road.

 

[Cloggy]

Just a week to go now, really looking forward to it, we'll be staying in the "jeugdherberg De Blauwput" in Leuven, on Saturday we'll be riding around the Ardennes and will be stopping at the citadel in Dinant for Lunch.
If anyone has any comments about the Route ieper to Leuven please let me know :thumbup:

 

[Cloggy]

looking forward to the trip tomorrow, the weather forecast is not too bad, a bit of rain tomorrow but dry on Saturday :thumbup:

 

[Tagger]

have fun !

 

[degake]

looking forward to the trip tomorrow, the weather forecast is not too bad, a bit of rain tomorrow but dry on Saturday :thumbup:

You might encounter a lot of motorcycles near the Belgian coast, as there is a motorcycle event during the weekend callef "motorstad" at Blankenberge
(it might even be worth some detour )

Grtz,


Degake


Sent from my New iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[Cloggy]

have fun !

Thanks, will do :thumbup:

You might encounter a lot of motorcycles near the Belgian coast, as there is a motorcycle event during the weekend called "motorstad" at Blankenberge
(it might even be worth some detour )

Grtz,


Degake


Sent from my New iPad using Tapatalk HD

Thanks for the warning about Motorstad in Blankenberge :thumbup: I think we'll be OK, it may be busy from Antwerp to Gent but thats not too bad, after visiting the "in flanders field" museum we'll be heading back eastward, which may mean a lot of waving to other riders, but that's not too bad

 

[ste]

Thanks, will do :thumbup:



Thanks for the warning about Motorstad in Blankenberge :thumbup: I think we'll be OK, it may be busy from Antwerp to Gent but thats not too bad, after visiting the "in flanders field" museum we'll be heading back eastward, which may mean a lot of waving to other riders, but that's not too bad

i hope you will have your ipad with you so u can check out the forum LOL
make sure us europeans are towing the line
anyways have a good trip

 

[Cloggy]

i hope you will have your ipad with you so u can check out the forum LOL
make sure us europeans are towing the line

No Ipad here, but luckily there's rarely any need for any action as most people follow the rules, just the occasional spammer to get rid of :thumbup:

anyways have a good trip

Thanks, will do, especially with all those great Belgian beers :iconbeer: (in the evening of course )

 

[degake]

No Ipad here, but luckily there's rarely any need for any action as most people follow the rules, just the occasional spammer to get rid of :thumbup:



Thanks, will do, especially with all those great Belgian beers :iconbeer: (in the evening of course )

I'm looking forward to see the pictures and review of your weekend :thumbup:
It looks like you're going to have some decent weather....
Tomorrow will be around 20°C with some clouds, sunday will be a bit colder at 17°C with a slight chance for some rain...
At least it's better than the bad weather that passed today :rockon:

Grtz,


Degake

 

[degake]

I've just reviewed the route you posted a while ago...

Are you still taking break at Ronse, going from Ieper to Leuven?
If so, what time would you think you'll be around there?

My girlfriend's parents live in Ronse, and it might be that I'll be there with my FZ, if the weather is decent
If you want to drink something in Ronse, there are a few nice cafés at the Grote Markt in Ronse.

Grtz,


Degake

 

[Cloggy]

I've just reviewed the route you posted a while ago...

Are you still taking break at Ronse, going from Ieper to Leuven?
If so, what time would you think you'll be around there?

My girlfriend's parents live in Ronse, and it might be that I'll be there with my FZ, if the weather is decent
If you want to drink something in Ronse, there are a few nice cafés at the Grote Markt in Ronse.

Grtz,


Degake

Sounds like a great plan, but unfortunately we won't have too much time to play with, Ronse is a great place to stop, its on the route anyway :thumbup:

I'll PM my tel Number.

 

[Cloggy]

Havent heard anything from you yet. Well be in ronse about half an hour later than planned hope they have wifi.