Sansa and Dosan-seowon starting at Hwanam

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Sansa

   Songnisan is a mountain with a long reputation, and the temple Beopjusa sits on its lower flank, in the middle of the country in North Chungcheong province, among pines, rock outcrops and clear streams. Tradition says the monk Uisin founded it in the middle of the sixth century, after returning from India with scriptures carried on a mule, and the name means Temple of the Dharma Abode. It was destroyed in the Japanese invasions of the sixteenth century and rebuilt, and its great wooden hall, Palsangjeon, is the only five-storey wooden pagoda still standing in Korea, a tall tiered structure that rises over the courtyard.

   Read the complete Sansa write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Sansa is where the day begins. Next is Historic Villages of Korea: Hahoe and Yang.

2. 2. Historic Villages of Korea: Hahoe and Yang

   The Nakdong river makes a wide loop around Hahoe, almost turning it into an island, and inside that loop a village of tiled-roof mansions and thatched cottages has stood for some six centuries. Hahoe is the ancestral home of the Pungsan Ryu clan, a lineage of scholar-officials during the Joseon dynasty, and its layout follows Korean principles of geomancy, with houses arranged to face the river and the cliffs of Buyongdae across the water. It was added to the World Heritage list in 2010, together with Yangdong village near Gyeongju, as the finest surviving examples of clan villages of the Joseon period.

   Read the complete Historic Villages of Korea: Hahoe and Yang write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Historic Villages of Korea: Hahoe and Yang comes up about 111 km into the recorded legs. Next is Bongjeongsa Temple.

3. 3. Bongjeongsa Temple

   Tucked into the wooded slopes of Cheondeungsan, a modest mountain north-west of Andong in North Gyeongsang province, Bongjeongsa is a temple that wears its age quietly. Its main claim to fame is a small, plain hall called Geungnakjeon, believed to be the oldest surviving wooden building in Korea, dating back to the Goryeo dynasty. Repairs in the twentieth century turned up records suggesting the hall had been rebuilt in the thirteenth century, which makes it older than almost anything else made of timber in the country. Bongjeongsa is one of seven mountain monasteries inscribed by UNESCO in 2018 as Sansa, Buddhist Mountain Monasteries in Korea.

   Read the complete Bongjeongsa Temple write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   about 140 km into the recorded legs you reach Bongjeongsa Temple. Next is Dosan-seowon.

4. 4. Dosan-seowon

   If you have handled a Korean thousand-won note, you have already seen Dosan Seowon. The building on the back of the note is this Confucian academy, and the scholar on the front is Yi Hwang, known by his pen name Toegye, one of the most influential Neo-Confucian thinkers of Korea. He set up a small study hall here in the sixteenth century, on a quiet slope above the Nakdong river, and after his death in 1570 his disciples expanded it into a full academy, a seowon, where students came to study the classics and honour his memory. It is one of the nine Korean Confucian academies listed by UNESCO in 2019.

   Read the complete Dosan-seowon write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Dosan-seowon, about halfway. Next is back through Bongjeongsa Temple.

5. 5. back through Bongjeongsa Temple

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Bongjeongsa Temple write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   back through Bongjeongsa Temple sits at 175 km, about halfway. Next is back through Historic Villages of Korea: Hahoe and Yang.

6. 6. back through Historic Villages of Korea: Hahoe and Yang

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Historic Villages of Korea: Hahoe and Yang write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   back through Historic Villages of Korea: Hahoe and Yang comes up about 230 km into the recorded legs. Next is Sansa.

7. 7. Sansa

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Sansa write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Sansa closes the day.