Roeselare sits in the heart of West Flanders, and the flat countryside around it is dense with cycling roads and First World War history. Six kilometres northwest, in the village of Hooglede, the Hooglede German War Cemetery is a sombre counterpoint to the white-stoned Allied cemeteries of the region — worth the short trip if you have any interest in how the war is remembered.
For a fuller day out, Ypres is about half an hour to the southwest. It was flattened in the war and rebuilt brick by brick in its medieval style, and the surrounding fields hold dozens of memorials and cemeteries; the Last Post is still sounded under the Menin Gate every evening. Kortrijk, a similar distance to the south, is a lively river city with medieval Broel towers, a strong linen heritage, and a good café scene — a change of register from the battlefields.
If you are here for the riding, the same roads that the spring classics use run straight out of town in every direction, and a rented bike will take you across the West Flemish plain as easily as a car.
