CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
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: planning record, not independently verified geometry.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distances and riding times are planning figures. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
A 216 km round trip from Kaesŏng - roughly 3 h 43 in the saddle. It goes by way of Kanghwa Dolmen Sites, Jangneung Cluster, Seosan Getbol and back through Jangneung Cluster. It crosses from North Korea into South Korea - carry ID and check the toll rules.
Of all the places on the list of world heritage, the Mausoleum of King Kongmin must be one of the hardest to reach on two wheels, because it lies in North Korea, in the hills west of the old city of Kaesong.
Read the complete Mausoleum of King Kongmin write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Mausoleum of King Kongmin is where the day begins. Next is 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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Kanghwa Dolmen Sites comes up about 32 km into the recorded legs. Next is Jangneung Cluster.
North-west of Seoul, close to where the Imjin river flows into the Han and the demilitarised zone cuts the Korean peninsula in two, lies a royal tomb: Jangneung, the resting place of King Injo, who ruled Joseon in the seventeenth century, and his queen. Injo's reign was marked by invasions from the Manchu, and he was forced to humiliate himself before the Qing emperor in 1637, a defeat that still resonates in Korean memory. His tomb, like the other Royal Tombs of the Joseon Dynasty, inscribed on the UNESCO list in 2009, is a grassy mound on a hillside, guarded by stone figures of officials, warriors and animals, with a T-shaped shrine below.
Read the complete Jangneung Cluster write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 64 km into the recorded legs you reach Jangneung Cluster.
The Joseon dynasty ruled Korea for over five hundred years, and its kings and queens were buried in carefully chosen spots around the capital, in tombs designed according to Confucian ritual and the principles of geomancy, with a hill behind, water in front and mountains framing the view. In 2009, forty of these tombs were listed by UNESCO as the Royal Tombs of the Joseon Dynasty. Jangneung, in Gimpo, just west of Seoul, is the tomb of Wonjong, the father of King Injo, who was elevated to royal rank after his death. It is a quiet, wooded place, with a grassy burial mound, stone statues of officials and animals, and a T-shaped shrine where ancestral rites were held.
Read the complete Jangneung Cluster write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Jangneung Cluster, about halfway. Next is Seosan Getbol.
Korea's west coast has some of the largest tides on earth. Twice a day the Yellow Sea pulls back for kilometres, exposing vast shining mud flats, the getbol, laced with channels and alive with crabs, mudskippers, worms and shellfish. UNESCO has listed a series of these Korean tidal flats for their extraordinary biodiversity and for the millions of migratory shorebirds that stop here to feed on their way between Siberia and Australia.
Read the complete Seosan Getbol write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Seosan Getbol sits at 108 km, about halfway. Next is back through Jangneung Cluster.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Jangneung Cluster write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Jangneung Cluster comes up about 128 km into the recorded legs.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Jangneung Cluster write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 152 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Jangneung Cluster. Next is back through Kanghwa Dolmen Sites.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Kanghwa Dolmen Sites write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Kanghwa Dolmen Sites, late in the day. Next is Mausoleum of King Kongmin.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Mausoleum of King Kongmin write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 216 km.
Mausoleum of King Kongmin → Kanghwa Dolmen Sites is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Kanghwa Dolmen Sites → Jangneung Cluster is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Jangneung Cluster → Jangneung Cluster is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Jangneung Cluster → Seosan Getbol is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Seosan Getbol → back through Jangneung Cluster is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Jangneung Cluster → back through Jangneung Cluster is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Jangneung Cluster → back through Kanghwa Dolmen Sites is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Kanghwa Dolmen Sites → Mausoleum of King Kongmin is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.