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: 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.
From Namyangju it runs 194 km to Namyangju; allow about 4 h 25 of riding. The stops in between: Namhansanseong, Jongmyo Shrine, Pajusamreung Cluster and back through Jongmyo Shrine. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
A queen who outlived her husband by more than sixty years lies here. Sareung is the tomb of Queen Jeongsun, wife of King Danjong, the boy king of the Joseon dynasty who was deposed by his uncle in 1455 and later killed in exile. Jeongsun lived on in poverty outside the capital, and the story of her loyalty and grief became one of the most moving in Korean history. Her tomb, a grassy mound guarded by stone figures and approached along a path through pine forest, is one of the forty Royal Tombs of the Joseon Dynasty listed together as a World Heritage Site in 2009.
Read the complete Sareung Cluster write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Sareung Cluster is where the day begins. Next is Namhansanseong.
Just beyond the south-eastern edge of Seoul, the city stops abruptly against wooded mountains, and on top of them runs a stone wall with gates, watchtowers and command posts. Namhansanseong was built as an emergency capital, a mountain fortress where the king and court could retreat in time of invasion, and in the winter of 1636 to 1637 it was put to the test. King Injo fled here from the invading Qing army and held out for forty-seven days before hunger and the fall of other strongholds forced him to surrender. The fortress became a World Heritage Site in 2014.
Read the complete Namhansanseong write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Namhansanseong comes up about 36 km into the recorded legs. Next is Jongmyo Shrine.
In the middle of busy central Seoul, behind a gate on Jongno street, lies a forest of trees and a long, low hall that seems to come from another world. Jongmyo is the royal ancestral shrine of the Joseon dynasty, which ruled Korea from 1392 to 1910, and its main hall, the Jeongjeon, houses the spirit tablets of kings and queens in a row of identical rooms behind a single facade of red pillars, stretching for more than a hundred metres. It is one of the longest wooden buildings of its kind in Asia, and its austerity is deeply impressive.
Read the complete Jongmyo Shrine write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 65 km into the recorded legs you reach Jongmyo Shrine. Next is 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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Pajusamreung Cluster, about halfway. Next is back through Jongmyo Shrine.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Jongmyo Shrine write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Jongmyo Shrine sits at 111 km, about halfway. Next is back through Namhansanseong.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Namhansanseong write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Namhansanseong comes up about 157 km into the recorded legs. Next is Sareung Cluster.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Sareung Cluster write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Sareung Cluster closes the day.
Sareung Cluster → Namhansanseong is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Namhansanseong → Jongmyo Shrine is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Jongmyo Shrine → Pajusamreung Cluster is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Pajusamreung Cluster → back through Jongmyo Shrine is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Jongmyo Shrine → back through Namhansanseong is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Namhansanseong → Sareung Cluster is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.