This bike tour takes you through narrow, traffic-free asphalt roads past a few chapels and farms. Bring a satchel, as these farms sell tasty cheese and beef. A souvenir for home!

Text and photos Stan Verelst
 

The itinerary
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Go to the church of Roeulx on the Place de la Chapelle. At the crossroads, with the church on your left, pedal in the rue Emile Vandervelde RD, between the Fortis office and the pottery of Ledoux Primeurs. At the traffic light LA, direction Soignies. In front of the entrance of the Château du Roeulx, turn with the RA road and follow All Directions, pass in front of the post office. At the junction of the Shell RA service station towards Mignault and Écaussinnes.

Ignore the side streets and pedal at the fork with an RA cul-de-sac. Ignore a street on the right, then turn LA, direction Mignault and Écaussinnes. You pedal on a narrow bike path, next to a wide paved road. A bike path in Wallonia, we do not come across it every day. So enjoy.

You first cross the wood of the Haie du Roeulx, then an open agricultural landscape with beautiful views. Ignore the secondary roads and pedal along the Mignault agglomeration sign. When the bike path ends, you continue cycling RD, passing a beautiful octagonal brick chapel to the first intersection.

Flirting with the N57
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LA in the rue des Déportés, after the church of Mignault. Ignore the side streets, pass the village school and leave the road for Naast. Continue on RD by a hollow road, then continue through the open countryside to the junction with the White Chapel of Saint-Donat. LA along the impressive Ferme de la Courte (1) and further through the landscape in the open field with a 360° panorama. At the T RA crossroads by rue Camille Bouyère.

At the next fork, choose RA, and then skip another street on the left. Then continue by bike to the roundabout on the N57b. Take the third exit, direction Écaussinnes. At the intersection with the Chapel of Our Lady of Lourdes, RD through the fields to the bend of another road. RA direction Soignies and Braine-le-Comte. Ignore all side streets until you can turn into Rue Jules Blondeau in the centre of Écaussinnes LA. Ignore Rue du Roi Albert on the right and turn towards LA, direction Naast and Soignies. Turn further on RA onto Profondrieux Street, a street for local traffic.

After the end of the Écaussinnes agglomeration sign, you will arrive at the road parallel with the N57. RA passed the nameplate of Braine-le-Comte, which is next to the busy artery, on your left. You now begin a real "flirtation" with the N57, although it feels more like a LAT relationship, for a while, then away from it, then "together" again.

Ignore a secondary road on the right and take the first exit at the roundabout. You then cycle away from the N57. At the LA T-junction and at the intersection with the Next RD Road. Skip some secondary roads on the right and cycle parallel to the N57 again. Turn left onto the road and pedal under the N57 along the railway.

Stream with a disappearing trick
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At the first crossing, turn into Los Angeles, away from the railroad tracks, cross a hollow road and continue through the open landscape to the T. LA junction, along the Soignies nameplate, one last time to the N57. Il RA de Ruelle Magerdot in. Ignore a road on the left and continue cycling along the edge of the forest and through the forest and past the entrance to the castle of St. Vincent. When you leave the forest, you pedal along a square and ignore a street on the right.

At the first intersection, at the last house, LA by the rue des Blaviers. Meet at the crossroads of the Ferme de la Loge. RA Rue de la Maladrie. Leave the rue des Prés Mercq on the right and continue on RD passing the Naast nameplate and a curious white chapel with a stone dome with a cross on it.

Immediately after, you see a winding stream on the left, which plunges under the street. Across the road, you can't see it anymore and it seems to disappear under a building of a construction company. Behind her, it sinks quietly. This stream is the Senne, which has its source nearby. At the fork, you turn RA and immediately cross a road and pedal further RD to the center of Naast.

Ignore the side streets, walk along the square with the church and choose at the intersection with the road to Soignies, Thieusies and Le Roeulx RD next to the Louis Delhaize shop. Between the loose buildings, you go out next to again.

Ignore the side streets and the road to Soignies then, in front of some terraced houses from 1841, turn into LA of Chemin de la Ghésardrée. Turn right with this road and continue cycling to the N55. RD of Chemin du Cornet. Skip the back roads and cycle along Ferme Le Bailli, where you can buy cheese.

Commedia dell'arte
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Continue pedaling through the open landscape. Ignore the Chemin du Saussois on the right, ignore the Chemin des Écoliers and walk along the Ferme de la Coulbrie, where you can buy packs of beef weighing 6, 10 and 15 kg. Then ignore the Brick Mill Way on the right, then at the first farmhouse on the right, pay attention to the curious front door with two striking statues of the Commedia dell'arte on the roof. This is the Ferme des Bonhommes.

Continue cycling through the countryside to the T-junction next to the Ferme des Planques. LA by rue Gérard, direction Thieusies and Naast. Ignore the secondary roads and pedal to the T-junction in the Hamlet of Sirieu with the brick chapel with the cross LA, direction Soignies and Beside. A little further in RA in Tamisette Street. You pass a farmhouse with a chapel with a white cross embedded in the wall and a panel with Living Heritage and a Brabant draft horse on it.

Enjoy the open scenery and pass the veterinarian's gated farm and further between the fields to the T-junction. The sign indicates Chemin de la Barrière de Gottignies, but this is where the Rue de la Reine begins. At the next fork again LA and immediately after RA. At the crossroads with unpaved left, RD. You cycle along the edge of the forest and a number of ponds, although you will see very few of them, as they are hidden in the greenery.

Ignore on the left the chapel and the road reserved for agricultural vehicles, cyclists, walkers and cyclists. You may have already cycled about this in 2015, with the Pasar bike chapels and square farms around Thieusies. Continue cycling through a hollow road to the T-junction with the chapel. On the right, it goes to Gottignies. LA along the wall of the park of the Château du Roeulx. You pass in front of the Roeulx agglomeration sign and turn at the first LA intersection and follow the Chaussée de Mons to the Roeulx church.

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Road conditions: narrow paved roads with reduced traffic, bike path next to a busier road, main road section in the centre of Roeulx