Peasants, Produce and Pretty Pictures

South Korea Stage 3 – Wed 4th Nov 2015 – Yeoju to Chungju (60 Km)

Weather: 4⁰C min – 19⁰C max, heavy fog, clearing to blue sky around 11:30 am

Route PhotosTown PhotosVideoOSM MapTrip MapsGarmin
 
 
 

” I think it’s very healthy to spend time alone. You need to know how to be alone and not be defined by another person “ ~ Oscar Wilde

When I awoke this morning the first thing I did was open the curtains to admire the view from my 10^th floor room. However, the fog was so thick I could barely see the ground! I therefore decided to delay the start of my ride in the hope that the fog would lift, but at 10 am it was still just as heavy so I set off into the gloom anyway. The good news is that by about 11:30 am it had turned into a most perfect sunny autumn day, in fact it was warm enough to remove my ski gloves.

Once the fog had lifted the ride today from Yeoju to Chungju was probably the most scenic and interesting so far. The only hiccough was me getting a little too adventurous. At one point I decided to deviate from the path to check out a couple of little villages. However, I got well and truly lost and had to retrace my steps to get back to the beaten track, which is why you will notice that the actual Garmin route (see link above) shows 77 Km compared to the planned 60 Km. Never mind, the scenery was good and I made good time after that so I ended up checking into my hotel by about 4 pm.

Here are some of the interesting features of today’s ride:

• The architecture of the houses varied from traditional Korean, to little weather board cottages, to tumble-down mud houses.
• The cycle way took me around a loop of Gangcheonseom Island, with lots of dead, weird-shaped trees. This section of the path was compacted earth and there were feral kids running everywhere that I had to watch.
• The scenery today was spectacular, with stunning autumn trees lining the path and the route winding past beautifully gnarled conifers and crystal clear streams teeming with little fish.
• Much of the ride was through fertile river flats, where there was amazing variety of produce growing. Peasants were everywhere, busily tending their vegetable patches, spraying apple trees, bundling up straw into stooks, burning stubble, and harvesting some sort of tuberous, yam-like, root vegetable that was about 40 cm long and as round as your arm.
• South Koreans like their food spicy, so I was not surprised to see a sea of large, bright red, chillies drying in the sun.
• I was fascinated by a small dam I went past that had about 50 fisherman sitting in arm-chairs around the bank, most of them sheltered by canvas canopies. Must have been a fishing contest.
• I went past what initially looked like a small golf course, but when I got closer I could see they were playing a game with putters and large plastic balls much larger than normal golf balls. It looked liked like a cross between golf and croquet.

Unlike the previous two days, the only person I made friends with today was Quan who I shared an outdoor table with while enjoying a lunch of one banana, one Cornetto ice cream cone, and about six yummy mini jam donuts. On the cycle path several oncoming cyclists bowed politely to me in response to my waves, but I didn’t get to actually talk to any of them. Still, as Oscar Wilde indicates in the above quote, it is OK to be alone. Naturally I miss my dear wife, but at least I get to skype her every day.

Chungju, where I am staying tonight, is a city in North Chungcheong province of South Korea. The city is famous for the annual martial arts festival and the apple festival held in October, so I have just missed these. Of particular note is that the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon grew up here in Chungju. I would have liked to see the Chungju Lake (where the 2013 World Rowing Championships were held) and the Chungju Dam 6 km northeast of Chungju, but time did not allow.

I have now completed the Hangang River Cycleway and tomorrow commence the Saejae Cycleway. As I was approaching the city of Chungju where I am staying tonight I couldn’t help noticing the huge mountain range on the other side of the city, but that is a problem for tomorrow. I’m off to bed now.

Well it took me much longer to get to bed than I expected because when I used the toilet I discovered that technology has gone completely mad. All I wanted to do was flush the toilet here at my hotel in Chungju, but I was faced with an array of buttons, all in South Korean Hanguel characters. I started randomly pressing buttons but all I got was a jet of water that drenched me from top to bottom. There was lots of whirring and hissing (and still is), but the water in the bowl continued to well up. Finally, completely overtaken by panic, I found an old-fashioned silver button under the vanity basin that sent the water in the bowl spiralling on its merry way.