Why this ride
From Ganghwa-gun it runs 254 km to Ganghwa-gun; allow about 4 h 43 of riding. On the way it passes Olleung Cluster, Hwaseong Fortress and back through Olleung Cluster. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Kanghwa Dolmen Sites and Hwaseong Fortress starting at Ganghwa-gun
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 254 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 4 h 43
- 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. Kanghwa Dolmen Sites
Ganghwa Island lies in the mouth of the Han River, just north-west of Seoul and Incheon, and on a clear day you can look across a narrow channel of tidal water straight into North Korea. The town of Kaesong is barely twenty-five kilometres away. That closeness gives the island an edge, with watch posts and fences along parts of the shore, but its fame is much older. The Ganghwa dolmens, together with those at Gochang and Hwasun in the south, were listed by UNESCO in 2000, and Korea holds a remarkable share of all the dolmens known in the world.
Read the complete Kanghwa Dolmen Sites write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Kanghwa Dolmen Sites is where the day begins. Next is Olleung Cluster.
2. Olleung Cluster
Seoul's royal tombs are not all in the city centre, and the ones on this stretch lie in the green country just to the north-west, in a belt of forest, farmland and expanding suburbs that stretches towards the border. The cluster on our list is one of several groups of Joseon dynasty burial mounds, and the nearest sizeable town is Uijeongbu, nearly half a million people, with Goyang just beyond it.
Read the complete Olleung Cluster write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Olleung Cluster comes up about 67 km into the recorded legs. Next is Hwaseong Fortress.
3. 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
about 127 km into the recorded legs you reach Hwaseong Fortress. Next is back through Olleung Cluster.
4. back through Olleung Cluster
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Olleung Cluster write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Olleung Cluster, late in the day. Next is Kanghwa Dolmen Sites.
5. Kanghwa Dolmen Sites
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Kanghwa Dolmen Sites write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Kanghwa Dolmen Sites. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Kanghwa Dolmen Sites to Olleung Cluster
Kanghwa Dolmen Sites → Olleung Cluster is 67 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Olleung Cluster to Hwaseong Fortress
Olleung Cluster → Hwaseong Fortress is 60 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Hwaseong Fortress to back through Olleung Cluster
Hwaseong Fortress → back through Olleung Cluster is 60 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Olleung Cluster to Kanghwa Dolmen Sites
back through Olleung Cluster → Kanghwa Dolmen Sites is 67 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.