CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
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Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
356 km from Gongju to Gongju, about 6 h 04 of riding. It goes by way of Archeological Site in Gwanbuk-ri and Busos, Donam-seown, Mireuksa Temple Site and Museong-seowon. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Magoksa sits in a fold of Taehwasan mountain in South Chungcheong, a short drive from the old Baekje capital of Gongju, and it is the sort of temple that makes a good argument for getting out of the car. A stream runs beside the approach, maples and zelkova trees close overhead, and the main buildings sit within a double compound, one for monks and one for the Buddha. Its tradition goes back to the seventh century, though most of the present wooden halls are much younger, and its five-storey stone pagoda with a metal finial on top is unusual, since the top part shows Tibetan influence, possibly from the Yuan dynasty.
Read the complete Magoksa Temple write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Magoksa Temple is where the day begins. Next is Archeological Site in Gwanbuk-ri and Busos.
Buyeo was once Sabi, the last capital of the kingdom of Baekje, which flourished on the south-west of the Korean peninsula until it fell to Silla and Tang China in 660. The kingdom's kings moved here in 538, built a walled city beside the Geumgang river and made it a centre of Buddhism, craftsmanship and trade, sending monks and artisans to Japan, where Baekje taught the court the arts of temple building. At the site in Gwanbuk-ri, archaeologists have found the foundations of a palace and workshops, and near it the fortress of Busosanseong runs along the ridge above the river.
Read the complete Archeological Site in Gwanbuk-ri and Busos write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Archeological Site in Gwanbuk-ri and Busos comes up 43 km in. Next is 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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
87 km in you reach Donam-seown. Next is 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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Mireuksa Temple Site, about halfway. Next is 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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Museong-seowon sits at 173 km, about halfway. Next is back through Mireuksa Temple Site.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Mireuksa Temple Site write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Mireuksa Temple Site comes up 216 km in. Next is back through Donam-seown.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Donam-seown write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
260 km in you reach back through Donam-seown. Next is back through Archeological Site in Gwanbuk-ri and Busos.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Archeological Site in Gwanbuk-ri and Busos write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Archeological Site in Gwanbuk-ri and Busos, late in the day. Next is Magoksa Temple.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Magoksa Temple write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 356 km.
Magoksa Temple → Archeological Site in Gwanbuk-ri and Busos is 42 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Archeological Site in Gwanbuk-ri and Busos → Donam-seown is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Donam-seown → Mireuksa Temple Site is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Mireuksa Temple Site → Museong-seowon is 62 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Museong-seowon → back through Mireuksa Temple Site is 62 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Mireuksa Temple Site → back through Donam-seown is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Donam-seown → back through Archeological Site in Gwanbuk-ri and Busos is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Archeological Site in Gwanbuk-ri and Busos → Magoksa Temple is 42 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.