Why this ride
A 237 km round trip from Buyeo - roughly 4 h 14 in the saddle. It goes by way of Donam-seown, Mireuksa Temple Site, Seocheon Getbol and back through Mireuksa Temple Site. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Naseong City Wall and Seocheon Getbol
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 237 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 4 h 14
- 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. Naseong City Wall
Buyeo was once called Sabi, and for more than a century in the sixth and seventh centuries it was the capital of Baekje, one of the three kingdoms of ancient Korea. Baekje was a seafaring, artistic state that traded with China, sent scholars and craftsmen to Japan, and shaped Japanese Buddhist art. The kingdom fell in 660 when a joint army of Silla and Tang China overran the capital. Naseong, the outer city wall, is what remains of Sabi's defences: a long earthen rampart that once enclosed the town, running along the hills to the north and east and meeting the Geum River, which formed a natural moat on the other side. You can walk sections of it under old pines, and the grassy mounds are quiet and unassuming.
Read the complete Naseong City Wall write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Naseong City Wall 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 25 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 71 km into the recorded legs you reach Mireuksa Temple Site. Next is Seocheon Getbol.
4. Seocheon Getbol
The tide here goes out so far that the sea simply disappears. The Seocheon getbol, a vast sweep of tidal flats on the west coast of Korea where the Geum river meets the Yellow Sea, is one of four areas listed by UNESCO in 2021 as the Korean Tidal Flats. Twice a day the water withdraws over kilometres of glistening mud and sand, leaving channels, pools and a hum of life: crabs, worms, shellfish and mudskippers, and above all birds.
Read the complete Seocheon Getbol write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Seocheon Getbol, about halfway. Next is back through Mireuksa Temple Site.
5. back through Mireuksa Temple Site
Return visit. Read the place description above.
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
back through Mireuksa Temple Site sits at 155 km, about halfway. Next is back through Donam-seown.
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 210 km into the recorded legs. Next is Naseong City Wall.
7. Naseong City Wall
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Naseong City Wall write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Naseong City Wall closes the day.
Leg by leg
Naseong City Wall to Donam-seown
Naseong City Wall → Donam-seown is 25 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 Seocheon Getbol
Mireuksa Temple Site → Seocheon Getbol is 48 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Seocheon Getbol to back through Mireuksa Temple Site
Seocheon Getbol → back through Mireuksa Temple Site is 48 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Mireuksa Temple Site to back through Donam-seown
back through 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 Naseong City Wall
back through Donam-seown → Naseong City Wall is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.