Tour de Wavre

This one is still from last weekend. Finally Peter and myself managed to go for the famous Tour de Wavre again. A nice 85k tour around Wavre area, avoiding the heavily populated La Hulpe, Genval and Rixensart neighbourhoods.


Leaving the city via Bois de la Cambre and Foret des Soignes is ok on weekends, when it is closed to traffic. The cyclingpath along Lorrainedreef and Duboislaan to Groenendaal is ok but not great. From Hoeilaart to Maleizen and further to Rosieres is easy. And quiet. Then just after passing under the E411 the fun part with some hills start.

After the climb, the industrial zone of Wavre is some flat riding along newly built cycling pathes. However, thre built the Belgian way: ridiculosly high curbstones and other road bike nightmares. From Ottenburg we could have taken the shortcut via Florivalstraat but decided to do an additional loop via Nethen. The street to Grez-Doiceau is badly paved but roadworks started on some parts and in the future it might be much improved.

Unable to keep pace with Peter on the chemin de l'Herbe in Bonlez

From Grez-Doiceau we took the way through quiet Bonlez and uphill on the chemin de'l Herbe. It is a quiet little road until then. From there to Wavre we followed the N243, Chausse de Huy which has apart from lots of traffic also one of the typical horrible bike path. But I haven't found any better way to Wavre so far.

On top chemin de'l Herbe

Finally Rue Saint Anne, quite steep, brought us out of Wavre and back, downhill into Rosiere. We took the same way back through Hoeilaart and Foret de Soignes. Nice Satruday morning ride.

After work cycling Brussels

A 45k round that can easily be done afterwork - with the right equipment when it is dark. I have a quite strong headlight with which I can ride even if there is no street light. The 5€ decathlon one will not do. And even if there is street light in the countryside I'd recommend a really strong light. I got a B+M Ixon Pure with 30 Lux that lasts for about 5-6 hours.

The track and map is available here.




I like this way out of town after work because there is a reasonable bike path as from Woluwe Shopping and traffic on Broqueville is not too bad, even at rush hour. From the airport I took the bike path that runs along the highspeed train to Leuven, just until Veltem Beisem. From there a road with hardly any traffic goes to Nederokkerzeel.

from Veltem-Beisem to Nederokkerzeel

This quiet little town has several well paved small country roads that go back towards Brussels. I chose the most direct one, although without any street light. It runs directly towards the airport.

towards the airport

From there I took the same way back. It's just very convenient, especially in the dark.

When I started riding at night as well I felt a bit uneasy in the beginning. But so far I had no problems at all being seen (provided some proper lighting and my neon winter jersey). In fact it's even more secure than during daytime hours I feel.