Why this ride
A 93 km round trip from Suwon - roughly 1 h 37 in the saddle. The stops in between: Heolleung Cluster, Jongmyo Shrine and back through Heolleung Cluster.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Hwaseong Fortress and Jongmyo Shrine starting at Suwon
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 93 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 1 h 37
- 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. Hwaseong Fortress
Hwaseong is a love letter from a son to his father, written in stone. In 1762, Crown Prince Sado was locked in a rice chest by his own father, King Yeongjo, and left to die, one of the darkest episodes in Korean royal history. His son, who became King Jeongjo, never forgot, and he moved his father's tomb to a site near Suwon and built a grand fortress there, completed in 1796, intended perhaps as a new capital. The engineer and scholar Jeong Yak-yong used cranes and pulleys to speed up construction, and the walls, gates, towers and bastions combine Korean, Chinese and Western ideas of fortification. UNESCO listed it in 1997.
Read the complete Hwaseong Fortress write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Hwaseong Fortress is where the day begins. Next is Heolleung Cluster.
2. Heolleung Cluster
In the south of Seoul, wedged between highways, apartment towers and the Daemosan hills, a forest of oak and pine hides two royal tombs of the Joseon dynasty. Heolleung is the tomb of King Taejong, the third king of Joseon, who ruled in the early fifteenth century, and his queen Wongyeong, and nearby lies Inneung, the tomb of King Sunjo and his queen from the nineteenth century. Together they form one of the clusters of the Royal Tombs of the Joseon Dynasty, listed by UNESCO in 2009.
Read the complete Heolleung Cluster write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Heolleung Cluster comes up about 29 km into the recorded legs. Next is Jongmyo Shrine.
3. Jongmyo Shrine
In the middle of busy central Seoul, behind a gate on Jongno street, lies a forest of trees and a long, low hall that seems to come from another world. Jongmyo is the royal ancestral shrine of the Joseon dynasty, which ruled Korea from 1392 to 1910, and its main hall, the Jeongjeon, houses the spirit tablets of kings and queens in a row of identical rooms behind a single facade of red pillars, stretching for more than a hundred metres. It is one of the longest wooden buildings of its kind in Asia, and its austerity is deeply impressive.
Read the complete Jongmyo Shrine write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 46 km into the recorded legs you reach Jongmyo Shrine. Next is back through Heolleung Cluster.
4. back through Heolleung Cluster
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Heolleung Cluster write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Heolleung Cluster, late in the day. Next is Hwaseong Fortress.
5. Hwaseong Fortress
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Hwaseong Fortress write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Hwaseong Fortress. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Hwaseong Fortress to Heolleung Cluster
Hwaseong Fortress → Heolleung Cluster is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Heolleung Cluster to Jongmyo Shrine
Heolleung Cluster → Jongmyo Shrine is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Jongmyo Shrine to back through Heolleung Cluster
Jongmyo Shrine → back through Heolleung Cluster is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Heolleung Cluster to Hwaseong Fortress
back through Heolleung Cluster → Hwaseong Fortress is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
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