Four Days in Flanders: A Region Alive with Cycling History
As day breaks on a small, cobbled farm track in North East Belgium it is both nearly impossible to imagine, but also very easy to imagine, the thousands of screaming fans lining the road as the professional pelotons thunder up the hill and cut through the village of Kwaremont.
You have watched this spectacle over and over again, every Spring, since you fell in love with the gritty, strongman racing of the classics. And yet when you’re there on a lovely Summer’s day in June, it feels a world away from the sleepiness and village life of this part of the world.
As far as cycling holidays go, it’s easy to overlook Flanders in search of more reliable sunshine and smoother tarmac (instead of mostly concrete slabs and cobbles). But I’ve never ridden up a climb and heard, over the laboured breathing and chain bouncing off its cogs, like actually heard the screaming fans in my ears.
The whole region feels alive with cycling history
Alive with tales of beautifully hard races fought, won, and lost. And from the UK, it’s within driving distance. You can leave your house (depending where you start of course) early morning, and be on the Kwaremont in the afternoon.
We packed up the car and left Derbyshire around 6:30am, which usually gives a clear run down to Folkestone for the tunnel. A 30 minute crossing means you’re in France before you’ve even got going on Le Shuttle. And within two hours on the other side you’re seeing a big yellow sign welcoming you to Flanders with the instantly recognisable lion. Hard not to get excited by now.
If you’re travelling around the classics, expect to stay a bit further out of the main hubs like the town of Oudemaarde (home to the Ronde Van Vlaanderen museum and finish line now of the Ronde itself).
But if, like us, you’re visiting in the summer months when the peloton has headed further south for its campaign, the Hotel Leopold is your best bet. Cycling murals on the walls, a secure bike storage garage and stroopwaffles for breakfast.
A three night stay is enough if you’re prepared for a packed schedule, four nights would be ideal to allow for enough time to ride each of the three routes marked by the Cycling in Flanders. This allows for a shakedown ride on arrival and a farewell blast if you’re not quite done with the cobbles before you head home.
The routes have it all, the Kwaremont-Paterberg-Koppenberg trio, the Muur van Geerardsbergen, and plenty of other sectors that you’ll have heard during commentary that just sound hard (Wolvenberg anyone?).
Set your bike up well for it, and double, triple check all the bolts are tight before you head out for the first ride. I took my titanium road bike with 32mm tyres and I always run inner tubes so they were at around 60psi which felt ideal.
Off the bike there are plenty of restaurants in Oudenaarde, and we sat each evening in the square with a Belgian beer feeling very European. And make sure you allocate an afternoon for the museum tour and café at the end, it’s a wonderful capsule of cycling culture.
So sit down, watch the Ronde, and then get in touch to start arranging your visit to the home of cycling.
