Pajusamreung Cluster and Yeongneung Cluster

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Pajusamreung Cluster

   Close to the most heavily fortified border in the world, three royal tombs of the Joseon dynasty lie in a quiet pine forest in Paju, north of Seoul. Pajusamreung, the three tombs of Paju, include the resting places of Queen Jangsun and Queen Gonghye, both married to kings and both of whom died young, and of King Jinjong, honoured after his early death. Like all the Joseon royal tombs, they follow a precise layout of spirit gates, stone paths, shrines and grass mounds guarded by stone officials and animals, and they are part of the World Heritage listing of the Royal Tombs of the Joseon Dynasty.

   Read the complete Pajusamreung Cluster write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Pajusamreung Cluster is where the day begins. Next is Hwaseong Fortress.

2. 2. 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

   Hwaseong Fortress comes up about 67 km into the recorded legs. Next is Yeongneung Cluster.

3. 3. Yeongneung Cluster

   The Yeongneung cluster lies in the countryside of Yeoju, a town on the Namhan River east of Seoul, and it is the resting place of King Sejong the Great, who reigned from 1418 to 1450 and is remembered above all for the creation of the Korean alphabet, hangul, announced in the 1440s. Koreans hold the king in deep affection, and a statue of him sits in the middle of Seoul. His tomb here is a joint one, shared with his queen, and it sits in a beautiful pine-covered setting with stone officials, horses and lanterns lined along the approach. The nearby tomb of King Hyojong, known as Nyeongneung, is part of the same area.

   Read the complete Yeongneung Cluster write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   about 130 km into the recorded legs you reach Yeongneung Cluster. Next is back through Hwaseong Fortress.

4. 4. back through Hwaseong Fortress

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   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

   back through Hwaseong Fortress, late in the day. Next is Pajusamreung Cluster.

5. 5. Pajusamreung Cluster

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Pajusamreung Cluster write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Back at Pajusamreung Cluster. That is the ride.