Seoul is a city of ten million people, and it still has forested royal burial grounds on its edge. The Joseon dynasty, which ruled Korea from 1392 to 1910, buried its kings and queens in forty tombs scattered around the capital, each placed according to the rules of geomancy, with a hill behind, water in front, and a quiet clearing for ancestral rites. Nearly all of them survive, and in 2009 they were inscribed together as a World Heritage site. The cluster on this stretch of the map, east of the city towards Guri, belongs to that family of graves.
The layout is consistent and quite moving. A red-spiked gate marks the entrance, a stone-paved path leads to a hall where rituals were performed, and beyond, on a green hill, rises the grass-covered mound itself, ringed by a low stone fence and guarded by stone sheep, tigers and officials. Civil and military officials stand in stone on either side, patient for five centuries. The tombs were not for sightseeing, and that gives the groves their peaceful, almost private character. In the pine woods around the Donggureung group, to the east, nine tombs share a single enclosure of old trees, and one holds the founder of the dynasty, Taejo.
Reaching them on a bike means a short run out of the city that is a lot less romantic than the destination. Seoul's expressways are fast and busy, with cameras everywhere, so keep to the limits, and the final approach is through suburban streets of apartment blocks and shopping strips. Guri, a city of nearly two hundred thousand people, has fuel, restaurants and everything you need. The Han river runs across the plain below, and its cycle paths and parks are well used on summer evenings.
Better riding comes east of here, up the Han valley towards Yangpyeong and the hills of Gyeonggi province, where bends, forests, and river views make a fine day out. Autumn, with golden ginkgo and maple, and spring, with cherry and azalea, are the best times. In winter the cold is sharp and bridges can be icy. The summer monsoon from late June to July brings very heavy rain.
Join the Koreans in a slow walk on the forest paths of the tomb parks. They are open to visitors, with modest fees and a closing day each week, and they are a fine way to understand a country that looks forward and back at once.