Why this ride
148 km from Buyeo to Buyeo, about 2 h 32 of riding. It goes by way of Donam-seown, Mireuksa Temple Site and back through Donam-seown. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Jeongnimsa Temple Site and Mireuksa Temple Site
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 148 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 32
- 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. Jeongnimsa Temple Site
Buyeo was the last capital of Baekje, one of the three ancient kingdoms of Korea, and it feels like the sort of town that remembers it. Baekje moved its court here in 538 and held it until it fell to an alliance of Silla and Tang China in 660, and the little river town on the Geum river has been quietly proud of that heritage ever since. The temple site of Jeongnimsa is at the heart of it, and what is left is a grassy rectangle with the foundations of the halls, a stone pagoda and a Buddha figure under a roof.
Read the complete Jeongnimsa Temple Site write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Jeongnimsa Temple Site is where the day begins. Next is Donam-seown.
2. Donam-seown
Donam Seowon is a Confucian academy in the countryside near Nonsan, in South Chungcheong province, and it is one of nine seowon that UNESCO listed together in 2019. Seowon were private academies founded by scholars of the Joseon dynasty, where young men studied the Confucian classics and honoured the memory of great teachers through rituals. Donam was founded in the early seventeenth century to commemorate Kim Jang-saeng, a renowned scholar of rites, and his students, and it played an important role in the intellectual life of the period.
Read the complete Donam-seown write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Donam-seown comes up about 29 km into the recorded legs. Next is Mireuksa Temple Site.
3. Mireuksa Temple Site
On a wide plain near Iksan, in the south-west of Korea, a large stone pagoda stands beneath a mountain, slightly incomplete and all the more striking for it. This is the west pagoda of Mireuksa, once the largest Buddhist temple of the Baekje kingdom, founded in the early seventh century by King Mu. The pagoda is the oldest and largest surviving stone pagoda in Korea, and after decades of collapse and a cement repair in the early twentieth century, it was carefully dismantled and restored in a project that took around twenty years, finishing in 2019. The temple site is part of the Baekje Historic Areas, listed by UNESCO in 2015.
Read the complete Mireuksa Temple Site write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 75 km into the recorded legs you reach Mireuksa Temple Site. Next is back through Donam-seown.
4. back through Donam-seown
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Donam-seown write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Donam-seown, late in the day. Next is Jeongnimsa Temple Site.
5. Jeongnimsa Temple Site
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Jeongnimsa Temple Site write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Jeongnimsa Temple Site. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Jeongnimsa Temple Site to Donam-seown
Jeongnimsa Temple Site → Donam-seown is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Donam-seown to Mireuksa Temple Site
Donam-seown → Mireuksa Temple Site is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Mireuksa Temple Site to back through Donam-seown
Mireuksa Temple Site → back through Donam-seown is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Donam-seown to Jeongnimsa Temple Site
back through Donam-seown → Jeongnimsa Temple Site is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.