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.
From Changnyeong it runs 276 km to Changnyeong; allow about 5 h 16 of riding. On the way it passes Okjeon Tumuli, Haeinsa Temple Janggyeong Panjeon, Namgye-seowon and back through Haeinsa Temple Janggyeong Panjeon. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
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 is where the day begins. Next is Okjeon Tumuli.
On a ridge above the Hwang river in Hapcheon County, a row of grassy mounds rises against the sky, each one the burial of a ruler or noble of Dara, one of the small kingdoms of the Gaya confederacy that flourished in the south of the Korean peninsula between the first and sixth centuries. Gaya was famous for its iron, traded across the region and to Japan, and its tombs held armour, weapons, horse gear, pottery and gold ornaments. The Okjeon tumuli are one of seven groups listed together by UNESCO in 2023 as the Gaya Tumuli.
Read the complete Okjeon Tumuli write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Okjeon Tumuli comes up about 34 km into the recorded legs. Next is Haeinsa Temple Janggyeong Panjeon.
High in the forested folds of Gayasan, in South Gyeongsang province, a temple keeps one of the great treasures of the Buddhist world. Haeinsa holds the Tripitaka Koreana, more than eighty thousand wooden printing blocks carved in the thirteenth century with the complete Buddhist scriptures, an act of devotion undertaken while the Mongols were invading Korea, in the hope that the Buddha's protection would save the country. The blocks are kept in the Janggyeong Panjeon, a pair of long, plain wooden halls built in the fifteenth century, and the halls are the real marvel. Their design uses natural ventilation, windows of different sizes on opposite walls, and a floor packed with charcoal, lime, clay and salt to regulate humidity and temperature, and they have protected the blocks for centuries without modern technology. The halls were listed by UNESCO in 1995.
Read the complete Haeinsa Temple Janggyeong Panjeon write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 74 km into the recorded legs you reach Haeinsa Temple Janggyeong Panjeon. Next is Namgye-seowon.
Hamyang is a quiet county in the mountains of South Gyeongsang, on the eastern edge of Jirisan, the great massif in the south of the Korean peninsula, and Namgye-seowon stands on a gentle slope a few kilometres from the county town. Founded in 1552 to honour the Neo-Confucian scholar Jeong Yeo-chang, it was one of the earliest private academies in Korea and served as a model for many others. Its layout set a pattern: the lecture hall at the front, dormitories on either side, and the shrine for the rites at the top of the slope, so that the buildings climb the hill in a hierarchy of importance. Unusually, the dormitories have small raised pavilions overlooking ponds, where students could rest and contemplate the landscape. Namgye is part of the UNESCO listing of the Seowon, Korean Neo-Confucian Academies.
Read the complete Namgye-seowon write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Namgye-seowon, about halfway. Next is back through Haeinsa Temple Janggyeong Panjeon.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Haeinsa Temple Janggyeong Panjeon write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Haeinsa Temple Janggyeong Panjeon sits at 162 km, about halfway. Next is back through Okjeon Tumuli.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Okjeon Tumuli write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Okjeon Tumuli comes up about 243 km into the recorded legs. Next is 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.
Gyo-dong and Songhyeon-dong Tumuli closes the day.
Gyo-dong and Songhyeon-dong Tumuli → Okjeon Tumuli is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Okjeon Tumuli → Haeinsa Temple Janggyeong Panjeon is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Haeinsa Temple Janggyeong Panjeon → Namgye-seowon is 65 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Namgye-seowon → back through Haeinsa Temple Janggyeong Panjeon is 63 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Haeinsa Temple Janggyeong Panjeon → back through Okjeon Tumuli is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Okjeon Tumuli → Gyo-dong and Songhyeon-dong Tumuli is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.