Cycling Heaven!

South Korea Stage 1 – Mon 2nd Nov 2015 – Seoul to Yangpyeong (54 Km)

Weather: 5⁰C min – 17⁰C max, fine, cloudy and/or smog

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“Anyone who’s ever gone on a long-distance bicycle tour will tell you that it’s all about the people you meet along the way” ~ Darren Alff, Bicycle Touring Pro

Exhilarating, pulsating, spectacular, superb, marvellous … none of these superlatives adequately describe today’s first stage of my ride from Seoul to Busan in South Korea. Setting off from Seoul at about 8:15 am headed for Yangpyeong about 53 Km east along the Hangang river, I didn’t quite know what to expect today. Perhaps I was a little apprehensive because I wasn’t 100% sure that I had solved my initial GPS navigational problems. My concerns were unfounded because good old Garmin functioned like a dream and took me right to the door of my hanok. Even if it hadn’t worked my simple cue-sheet backup would have got me there … “follow the bike path on the south side of the Hanagang River; at the 38 Km mark cross the river; follow the bike path on the north of the Hangang River; at the 49 Km mark cross back to the other side; at the 51 Km mark turn left until the 53.7 Km at which point you have reached your destination”.

The first 51 Km was all on perfect, smooth, wide, well sign-posted bike path that was a joy to ride on. My expectation was that the scenery along the river might be a bit bland and uninteresting, but how wrong I was! Even the Seoul smog gave the river a beautiful silvery sheen in some of the photos.

Here are some of the points of interest along the river:

• Some interesting sculptures in the parkland beside the river.
• Several large fitness stations. No need to join a gym in South Korea when you can exercise for free.
• A few reasonable looking restaurants on pontoons floating on the river.
• Lots of ramshackle cafes and coffee joints.
• A game of baseball in progress.
• Beautiful trees lining the river with spectacular autumn colouring.
• An eerie canopy that had enveloped some of the trees like a sticky web left over from Halloween two days ago.
• Hundreds of parachutists in military garb dropping out of the sky.
• A roadside bike shop where I bought a bright orange riding jacket. Do you like it?
• A bike tunnel that the path goes through.
• Artists at work decorating a wall.
• Farmers flailing what looked like straw.

After I left the bike path at the 51 Km mark my route was a quiet country road that wound through farm land leading to the little village of Buyong-ri (in Yangseo-myun district in Yangpyeong-gu county in Kyungki-do province) where I am staying tonight. After four days of the hustle and bustle of Seoul this rural setting makes a nice contrast. Farmers tend their vegetables, a lady sits on the ground bundling up what look like spring onions, an old lady sits shelling the seeds out of an enormous pile of chillies, a farmer makes stooks of straw that look like little thatched teepees.

I was looking forward to staying in a real traditional house with a family to experience first-hand some Korean lifestyle and culture, but I never imagined in my wildest dreams that the Hwajeong Hanok and surrounding garden would be so perfect. And I did remember to take my shoes off at the door before being asked! The lady of the house speaks little English but nevertheless made me feel very welcome. Her husband is working until 6 pm but I spoke to him on the phone and he sounds nice too. I was even treated to a lovely cup of home-made tea from persimmon leaves. Later when her husband came home from work I was invited to join them for a meal of home-made Mandu Korean Dumplings
 followed by some more of that delicious and vitamin-rich persimmon tea … just sensational!!! We chatted for an hour or so and I learned so much from this lovely couple. Hwajeong Hanok will certainly get a high rating from me on Booking.com.

As Darren Alff suggests in the quote above, it is the people you meet along the way that make bike touring so special, which was certainly my experience today. First there was the group of five colourfully clad riders I met sitting by the riverside, then there were two riders I made friends with while I was waiting for my pizza at lunchtime (delicious by the way), and now there is the host family here at the hanok. Wherever you go in the world you make friends with other cyclists, it is a real fraternity.

So while my friends in Sydney and Melbourne are being battered by storms, here am I relaxing in a beautiful little village in South Korea. Life does not get any more serene than this. I don’t even know what horses are running in the Melbourne Cup tomorrow. Good luck to everyone, I hope you all win heaps!