Just outside Jeongeup, in a village of low houses and persimmon trees, stands Museong-seowon, a Confucian academy that has served its community for centuries. It honours Choe Chi-won, the great ninth-century scholar of the Silla kingdom who served as magistrate in this area and whose poems and essays made him one of Korea's most celebrated writers. Seowon were private academies where young men studied the Confucian classics and the memory of revered scholars was honoured with rites, and Museong is one of nine inscribed together by UNESCO in 2019.
What makes Museong special is its closeness to ordinary life. Many seowon were built in secluded valleys; this one sits in the middle of a village, and it was one of the few that survived when the regent Heungseon Daewongun ordered most academies closed in the 1870s. The buildings, a lecture hall and a shrine set behind simple gates and walls, are modest and elegant, with wooden floors and tiled roofs. The region has another claim to history: the Donghak peasant uprising of 1894, which began near Jeongeup, shook the Joseon dynasty and helped trigger the war between China and Japan.
The riding around Jeongeup is gentle and rural, through rice fields, villages and low hills, with the Naejangsan mountains rising to the south. Naejangsan national park is one of the most famous places in Korea for autumn colour, with its maple trees turning crimson in late October and early November, and the roads into the park are beautiful but crowded in that season. As elsewhere in Korea, motorcycles are kept off the expressways, so you will be on national and local roads, which are well surfaced and suit relaxed touring.
Jeongeup, a city of well over a hundred thousand people, is six kilometres off and takes care of petrol and beds without fuss. Local cooking in the Jeolla provinces is famous across Korea for its rich flavours and the generous number of side dishes, and a meal here is part of the pleasure. The academy is often quiet, and you may have the place to yourself; respect the buildings, which are still used for ceremonies, and take off your shoes if you step onto the wooden floors.