Stiff Dyle

It is a circuit for cyclists who like to climb and descend. You have to climb a lot and the slopes are sometimes very hard. At 17%, Smeysberg is the icing on the cake. There are also tempting and fast descents. However, be careful, as there is a lot of cycling and walking in this area. Because there are also unpaved sections in the tour, the ride is not suitable for road bikes with tubes.

1. Head to the centre of Sint-Agatha-Rode at the Gothic church of St. Agatha (V), with Tree of Liberty from 1830, a plane tree almost 5 m in circumference of the trunk. With the church entrance on your right, begin. Direction St Agathastraat, which you follow on the right. On the T, turn right and continue cycling along the cemetery wall. Then turn left onto the first street, the Hoekstraat. Follow it to the intersection with Wolfshaegen. Cross the Grote Keistraat on the other side. You shouldn't take this literally, as the original pavers have now been replaced with concrete. A road sign indicates that from there it is a route for walkers, cyclists, horseback riders and agricultural vehicles. You now pedal on a narrow concrete path between the fields, on a largely hollow road. This takes you from 40 to 80 m in height.
2. Cross the intersection with the Nijvelsebaan and pedal into the Margijsbosweg. On a downhill hollow road, you cycle through the Margijsbos to the bridge over the IJse. Keep your hands on the brakes, as the road surface is quite rough and walkers pass too. Before the bridge, take the narrow dolomite path next to the IJse on the left. You follow the winding river through the forest and sometimes get a view to the right, to the houses built on the slope. Cross the Kleinwaverstraat and cycle along the IJse until you reach the next cross street. This is the Smeysberg (1), named after the eponymous "mountain". This doesn't even seem like an exaggeration, as the slope is steep up to 17%. The 600 m long track is very popular with cycle tourists, especially during the weekend. Pedal into the Smeysberg on the left. Cross the Nijvelsebaan and the Stroobantsstraat and continue pedaling straight. The name of the street has since been changed to Holeinde. At the end, you turn right towards Terlanen. Ignore the Vossekouter on the right and continue cycling along the Leuvensestraat to the centre of Terlanen. Leave the church on the right and turn left into Molenweg, direction Ottenburg. You cross the alley and on the right you can see the remains of the old water mill (1429) (2), a water mill with integrated underlying wheel, unprotected and renovated into one house.
3. Continue cycling, ignore the Onderbosstraat on the left and continue on the Neerpoortenstraat. Don't worry about side roads until you get to the Y-junction with a white chapel. Choose Ernest Langelezstraat on the right. Follow it until you turn left into Hasselheydestraat. After a forest strip, ignore the Neerpoortenstraat on the left. On the right is a white chapel (with picnic area-). You arrive at the Leuvensebaan and follow it on the left, direction Ottenburg Church. You don't need to go that far, as you turn right into the Tommestraat. It goes to the hamlet of De Tomme, where all roads are "dead-end". Therefore, at the first fork, turn left into Langeheidestraat. Keep following it until the end. Then follow Florivalstraat on the right. Ignore the Veeweidestraat to Sint-Agatha-Rode on the left and pedal a little further on the Dijle. The street is now called rue de Florival, so you are in Walloon Brabant. You pass in front of the former "Tudor battery factory" and the castle of Florival (3), until the French Revolution a Cistercian abbey, today a training center for civil protection. You arrive at the T-junction with a chapel on the other side and a florivar station behind. Pedal right, direction Archennes. You are parallel to the railway, cross it at Archennes station and continue to follow the rue de Florival straight. Beyond the church, it becomes the rue des Moulins. Past St. Elizabeth's School (with children's drawings on the wall), take the first street on the left. Preval is called the hollow road that takes you after a short climb into an open landscape with beautiful views. Continue cycling straight until you come to a T after another difficult climb. Turn left and at the next fork turn right to the church. Turn left onto Avenue Fernand Labby. There will be a road from the left. Continue straight ahead and after the last houses you drive on a paved road through an impressive and open agricultural landscape. Keep cycling on the "cobblestones" until, including the unpaved country roads, you get to a five-way jump. Take Rue de l'Abbaye diagonally to the right. Ignore a side road on the left, cross an intersection and continue cycling along Arthur Snaps Street. You are now in Pécrot. Continue to ignore all side roads and turn right at the end. Turn left with the road, but don't cross the tracks - where two trains collided head-on in 2001. Take rue de Précot on the right, direction Nethen, and follow it to the end. Just before the T of the church, you can see Zeebroeck Castle (19th century) (4) on the left.
4. Turn right, direction Hamme-Mille. Then turn left into the first street, it is not by chance the rue de Hamme-Mille. Keep following it until you can turn left into Tienne Vincent. It flows a little further into the Chemin de la Trace. On the fields on the left, right in front of you the 'Meerdaalwoud'. Pedal there. At the edge of the forest, you are at 'Boshuis La Trace' or 'Spoor'. There is also an original picnic area, made with tree trunks. Drive diagonally to the right, beyond the barrier, into the Meerdaalwoud. At the junction with the information panel, take the beautiful beech promenade on the left. Don't worry about side roads, cross the Walendreef and Kleine Dreef and continue straight until you reach the next barrier. Behind it is the Weertse Dreef. Follow this asphalt road straight to the left until you exit the forest. Then, at the first intersection, turn left into Oude Nethensebaan. You are now in Sint-Joris-Weert. Leave two streets on the right, then dive into the beautiful hollow road. The road surface is in poor condition and then turns into cobblestones. You arrive at a crossroads. On the left, it goes to the scout centre 'De Kluis'. Follow Polderstraat on the right. You don't need to pedal, because it goes down sharply. Be careful, because you are here in civilization. At the T-junction, turn left. In the bend you can take a look at the Weertmolen (1510) (5). The flour mill in Molenbeek is now part of an electric mill. You will then arrive in the rue de Weert Saint-Georges. Turn right, the railway below. On the triangular square, you keep left and turn immediately after, left into the Roodsestraat. You can follow them to Sint-Agatha-Rode.