Saturday Jun 10 2016
7 stamp day
We were up and out of the hotel by 7:45 am to try to avoid the heat. Rode through the little town of Mokgyeri on our way out. Bottom left picture is of Kimchi jars - which are everywhere! Bottom right photo is Wayne's stylish way of replacing the plug he lost somewhere along the track.
The first checkpoint Binaesum Center was very disappointing after the after the lovely grand ones at big very well designed weirs - I don't even think I took a photo of the poor excuse for a bridge they put this checkpoint next to. It was more like a low lying flood control concrete bar. The bridge led in to a US army training place, this whole area is apparently famous because it was used in a block buster historic movie or TV show about something in Korean History ... (bottom right picture)
We found a place to rest and have a snack after about 40kms and were impressed with the sorting of rubbish for recycling in such a remote place. The river and surrounds was very pretty around these parts, with much wildlife and cultural artifacts in the form of Jangseung or village guardians. They look like totem poles placed in random places, however, they are usually placed on the outside of villages to protect them.
We continued riding through different farms, industrial culture and were impressed with the sports facilities set up by the governments for the people to use free of charge. There were mini golf courses, croquet, climbing walls, bike parks, camping grounds all free to use.
We popped out onto a main road and there were many police and road blocks going on. We soon figured out that the Tour de Korea was following us again and we had a short break from riding to watch the group go by. I was amazed at how many vehicles and people are involved in such an event.
Here is some video footage of what we saw.
We then went the wrong way for a few kilometres before realising it and then had a long hill to ride up to get back to this point of the video being taken.
We stopped for a break with food and liquids for about 30minutes, and then we were off again heading for Yeojubo.
This was quite a pleasant ride along the river close to a town with especially built bike ramps to cater for cyclists. The one problem was that the signage was not very good in that the signs for the certification centre were few & far between. The other places had signs from about 3kms out, this one only from 1km out. We thought we had missed it and Wayne headed back the way we had come to find it, of course as soon I turned the next corner the 1km sign was there. I waited for about 30mins for him to return and we got stamped and proceeded. Yeojubo stamp station
Lunch stop at 77kms. We sheltered from the sun in the local air conditioned CU, ate our way through burgers, jelly fruit & ice cream. After lunch the plan was to get our stamp at the Ipobo Wier then find some shade to sleep in for a few hours until the heat of the day passed.
We found some shade and slept and sat until 4:30pm when a northerly came through and reduced the temperature significantly, however, it was a head wind for the direction we were travelling which made the afternoon ride a bit tougher. we also had a few locals join us to relish the shade, one man spoke great english and we had a conversation about our trip so far. He was on an electric bike and headed our way.
We had another checkpoint - this was the Yangpyeong Art Museum - the booth was around the back of the gallery in the car park and it was after closing time for the gallery, so we didn't go in and continued along the bike track.
Then the highlight of the day came upon us as we entered the outer precincts of Seoul. Tunnels!! These were so good, they were about 10 degrees cooler than the outside and some lasted for about 400m. We messed around in the tunnels taking photos and spending as much time in the cool as we could.
Onward we rode - we were now over the 100km mark and I was tired. We got to another checkpoint which was at the bottom of an old train bridge now cycling bridge in a very pretty location. This checkpoint was called - Balgeun Gwangiang (밝은광장 ). It was a bonus stamp for another river we may get to ride another day.
And then it got dark ... and we continued to ride along an old train line to the next checkpoint, which was not too far away This was Neungnae Station which as its name implies was an old railway station and it looked like a lovely spot, it was a Saturday night so there were many people around.
It was our last stamp for the day - Hoorah! up to 107 kms for the day. Now to find somewhere to stay. The trail we were on was a bit remote, and we passed many restaurants, but not many places that were hotels. We stopped to have a look at one of the apps to see where they had pin pointed hotels, and while we were stopped a korean gentleman stopped and asked if he could help us. With limited Korean & English between us, we managed to communicate that we were looking for somewhere to stay. He said - "follow me" ... and for the next 20 minutes he took on a wild ride through parts of Hanam at break neck speed which I found to be quite difficult to keep up with him after 107kms of riding and a very full day. Wayne was thinking that he was thankful it wasn't him riding at the pace we were going ... He delivered us to a hotel in town. Our crazy fast cyclist was our lifesaver for this very long day.
We checked into our last love hotel for the trip (The Thema Hotel), and it was ok. Once the lodgings were secured & we were cleaned up we went out seeking food at 9:45pm and found it at a local Korean Burger place - I wanted to steer clear of anything spicy so I ordered the European Cheese Burger. It was the spiciest thing I had eaten in Korea all week! There was nothing European about it, it was all chilli.
A very long but happy day. The body is much stronger than at the beginning of the trip.
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