Why this ride
445 km from Puan to Puan, about 7 h 25 of riding. It goes by way of Museong-seowon, Piram-seowon, Hwasun Dolmen Site and Seonamsa Temple. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Getbol and Seonamsa Temple
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 445 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 7 h 25
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
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.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Getbol
On Korea's west coast the sea goes out a very long way. The Yellow Sea has big tides, and when they drop they expose huge plains of mud, the getbol, glistening and grey and full of life. The Korean tidal flats were inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 2021, covering stretches from Seocheon in the north to Gochang, Shinan and Boseong-Suncheon in the south, and they are among the most important feeding grounds on Earth for migratory shorebirds travelling between Siberia and Australia. Crabs, mudskippers, worms and shellfish swarm in the mud, and people have harvested them for centuries.
Read the complete Getbol write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Getbol is where the day begins. Next is Museong-seowon.
2. Museong-seowon
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.
Read the complete Museong-seowon write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Museong-seowon comes up about 43 km into the recorded legs. Next is Piram-seowon.
3. Piram-seowon
Piram-seowon sits on flat land among rice fields in Jangseong county, in South Jeolla province, its gates opening onto a courtyard with wooden pavilions and a shrine. It was founded in the late sixteenth century to honour Kim In-hu, a Neo-Confucian scholar from the region known for his integrity and his poetry, and it is one of the nine academies inscribed on the UNESCO list in 2019 as Seowon, Korean Neo-Confucian Academies. Unlike many seowon, which were closed by the government in the nineteenth century, Piram survived, and rituals are still held there.
Read the complete Piram-seowon write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 100 km into the recorded legs you reach Piram-seowon. Next is Hwasun Dolmen Site.
4. Hwasun Dolmen Site
Walk through the rice fields near Hwasun and you can lose count of the dolmens. Nearly six hundred of them lie scattered across the slopes at Hyosan-ri and Daesin-ri in South Jeolla, the biggest concentration in a trio of Korean sites that were listed as a World Heritage landmark in 2000. They are huge flat capstones balanced on smaller upright stones, some of them over a hundred tonnes, built roughly three thousand years ago in the Bronze Age by a society that left no written word. Korea has more dolmens than anywhere else in the world, perhaps around forty percent of all that exist, and this valley is where you feel it.
Read the complete Hwasun Dolmen Site write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Hwasun Dolmen Site, about halfway. Next is Seonamsa Temple.
5. Seonamsa Temple
An old stone bridge arches over a stream in the forest on the way up to Seonamsa, and the view through its curve to a pavilion beyond is one of the best known images of Korean temple architecture. The Seungseongyo bridge dates back to the Joseon period, and the temple behind it, on the slopes of Jogyesan mountain near Suncheon, has a history going back to the ninth century. Seonamsa is one of seven Korean Buddhist mountain monasteries listed in 2018 as Sansa, Buddhist Mountain Monasteries in Korea, chosen because they have remained centres of living religious practice for over a thousand years.
Read the complete Seonamsa Temple write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Seonamsa Temple sits at 195 km, about halfway. Next is back through Hwasun Dolmen Site.
6. back through Hwasun Dolmen Site
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Hwasun Dolmen Site write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Hwasun Dolmen Site comes up about 287 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Piram-seowon.
7. back through Piram-seowon
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Piram-seowon write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 338 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Piram-seowon. Next is back through Museong-seowon.
8. back through Museong-seowon
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Museong-seowon write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Museong-seowon, late in the day. Next is Getbol.
9. Getbol
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Getbol write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 445 km.
Leg by leg
Getbol to Museong-seowon
Getbol → Museong-seowon is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Museong-seowon to Piram-seowon
Museong-seowon → Piram-seowon is 57 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Piram-seowon to Hwasun Dolmen Site
Piram-seowon → Hwasun Dolmen Site is 50 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Hwasun Dolmen Site to Seonamsa Temple
Hwasun Dolmen Site → Seonamsa Temple is 68 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Seonamsa Temple to back through Hwasun Dolmen Site
Seonamsa Temple → back through Hwasun Dolmen Site is 69 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Hwasun Dolmen Site to back through Piram-seowon
back through Hwasun Dolmen Site → back through Piram-seowon is 51 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Piram-seowon to back through Museong-seowon
back through Piram-seowon → back through Museong-seowon is 61 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Museong-seowon to Getbol
back through Museong-seowon → Getbol is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.