CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
247 km from Hyeonpung to Hyeonpung, about 4 h of riding. It goes by way of Gyo-dong and Songhyeon-dong Tumuli, Marisan Tumuli, Songhak-dong Tumuli and back through Marisan Tumuli. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
The ginkgo tree in front of Dodong-seowon is over four hundred years old, a massive trunk with branches spreading wide, and in early November it turns a brilliant yellow and sheds its leaves into a golden carpet that photographers come from all over Korea to see. Behind it, the academy itself climbs a gentle slope in a series of courtyards and wooden halls, with a view over the Nakdong river. Dodong-seowon was founded in the sixteenth century to honour Kim Goeng-pil, a Neo-Confucian scholar executed in a political purge, and it is one of the nine Seowon, Korean Neo-Confucian Academies, inscribed on the UNESCO list in 2019.
Read the complete Dodong-seowon write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Dodong-seowon is where the day begins. Next is Gyo-dong and Songhyeon-dong Tumuli.
The rounded grassy mounds rising behind Changnyeong look almost like natural hills until you notice how regular they are. These are the Gyo-dong and Songhyeon-dong tumuli, burial mounds of the rulers of Bihwa, one of the small kingdoms of the Gaya confederacy that flourished in the south of the Korean peninsula between roughly the first and sixth centuries before being absorbed by Silla. In 2023 they became part of a UNESCO listing that brings together seven Gaya tomb clusters, and they are among the most atmospheric of the group.
Read the complete Gyo-dong and Songhyeon-dong Tumuli write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Gyo-dong and Songhyeon-dong Tumuli comes up about 29 km into the recorded legs. Next is Marisan Tumuli.
In Haman county, in the south of Korea, a long ridge rises above the town of Gaya, and along its crest lies a line of large burial mounds, grassy domes that seem to ripple across the hills. These are the Malisan, or Marisan, tumuli, the royal tombs of Ara Gaya, one of the states of the Gaya confederacy that flourished in the south of the Korean peninsula from roughly the first to the sixth century. In 2023, they were listed by UNESCO together with other Gaya tumuli across the region.
Read the complete Marisan Tumuli write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 78 km into the recorded legs you reach Marisan Tumuli. Next is Songhak-dong Tumuli.
The little port town of Goseong, on the south coast of Korea, is best known to many Koreans for dinosaur footprints, but the green mounds on a ridge above the sea tell an older story. The Songhak-dong tumuli are burial mounds of the Gaya confederacy, a group of small city-states that flourished in the south of the Korean peninsula alongside the better-known kingdoms of Baekje, Goguryeo and Silla, and that were gradually absorbed by Silla in the sixth century. Goseong was the centre of one of these states, usually called Sogaya, and the big round mounds here, laid out in a line above the bay, were the graves of its rulers.
Read the complete Songhak-dong Tumuli write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Songhak-dong Tumuli, about halfway. Next is back through Marisan Tumuli.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Marisan Tumuli write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Marisan Tumuli sits at 155 km, about halfway. Next is back through Gyo-dong and Songhyeon-dong Tumuli.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Gyo-dong and Songhyeon-dong Tumuli write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Gyo-dong and Songhyeon-dong Tumuli comes up about 219 km into the recorded legs. Next is Dodong-seowon.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Dodong-seowon write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Dodong-seowon closes the day.
Dodong-seowon → Gyo-dong and Songhyeon-dong Tumuli is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Gyo-dong and Songhyeon-dong Tumuli → Marisan Tumuli is 49 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Marisan Tumuli → Songhak-dong Tumuli is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Songhak-dong Tumuli → back through Marisan Tumuli is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Marisan Tumuli → back through Gyo-dong and Songhyeon-dong Tumuli is 49 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Gyo-dong and Songhyeon-dong Tumuli → Dodong-seowon is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.