Koch'ang Dolmen Site and Baekje Historic Areas

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Koch'ang Dolmen Site

   Korea has a remarkable concentration of the world's dolmens, and Gochang, on the southwest coast, has the largest cluster of all. Hundreds of these megalithic tombs are scattered along the foot of a range of low hills, some standing like tables on stone legs, others with a massive capstone resting almost directly on the ground. They were built during the Bronze Age by the people who farmed these lands, as tombs for the elite or as markers of territory and ritual. Together with the dolmen sites at Hwasun and on Ganghwa Island, they were listed by UNESCO in 2000.

   Read the complete Koch'ang Dolmen Site write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Koch'ang Dolmen Site is where the day begins. Next is Museong-seowon.

2. 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 45 km into the recorded legs. Next is Archeological Site in Wanggung-ri.

3. 3. Archeological Site in Wanggung-ri

   The Honam plain in south-western Korea is a wide, flat land of rice fields, and its northern edge near Iksan is the oldest rice country on the peninsula, where the kingdom of Baekje once had a second capital. Wanggung-ri is the site of a royal palace, about ten kilometres from the middle of Iksan, in fields gently rising to low hills. UNESCO recognised it in 2015 as one of the historic areas of Baekje, the old kingdom that ruled the south-west from the first to the seventh century.

   Read the complete Archeological Site in Wanggung-ri write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 98 km into the recorded legs you reach Archeological Site in Wanggung-ri. Next is Donam-seown.

4. 4. 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, about halfway. Next is Baekje Historic Areas.

5. 5. Baekje Historic Areas

   Gongju is where the kingdom of Baekje retreated when it was almost destroyed. In 475 the armies of Goguryeo, the northern rival, swept south and took the capital at Hanseong, near modern Seoul, killing the king, and the survivors moved the court to Ungjin, as Gongju was then called, a defensible site on the Geum river with a fortress on the hill above. For about sixty years it served as the capital, until the court moved further south to Sabi, now Buyeo, in 538. The UNESCO listing of Baekje Historic Areas, in 2015, covers Gongju, Buyeo and Iksan.

   Read the complete Baekje Historic Areas write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Baekje Historic Areas sits at 181 km, about halfway. Next is back through Donam-seown.

6. 6. 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 comes up about 215 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Archeological Site in Wanggung-ri.

7. 7. back through Archeological Site in Wanggung-ri

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Archeological Site in Wanggung-ri write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 259 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Archeological Site in Wanggung-ri. Next is back through Museong-seowon.

8. 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 Koch'ang Dolmen Site.

9. 9. Koch'ang Dolmen Site

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Koch'ang Dolmen Site 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 358 km.