Seolleung Cluster and Kanghwa Dolmen Sites

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Seolleung Cluster

   You come up out of the Seolleung subway station into the glass towers of Gangnam, and a few minutes later you are standing in a pine grove with royal tombs. The Seolleung cluster holds the burial mounds of King Seongjong, who died in the fifteenth century, and his queen, together with the tomb of King Jungjong, a later ruler, at a short distance. The park, surrounded by office blocks and busy roads, has the stillness of a place that has been left alone for five hundred years, and it is one of the most surprising pieces of silence in the city.

   Read the complete Seolleung Cluster write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Seolleung Cluster is where the day begins. Next is Seooreung Cluster.

2. 2. Seooreung Cluster

   Joseon kings chose their final resting places with the same care they gave to their palaces, and the Seooreung cluster in Goyang, just north-west of Seoul, shows how. The name means the five tombs of the west, and the forested grounds contain the burial mounds of several Joseon kings and queens from the fifteenth to the eighteenth centuries. Each tomb follows the principles of pungsu, the Korean form of geomancy: a mountain behind for protection, open land in front, ideally with water flowing past. The mound sits on a terrace, surrounded by stone figures of officials, warriors and animals standing guard, and below is a T-shaped shrine where rites were held. The forty Joseon royal tombs were added to the World Heritage list together in 2009.

   Read the complete Seooreung Cluster write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Seooreung Cluster comes up about 25 km into the recorded legs. Next is Jangneung Cluster.

3. 3. 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.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   about 59 km into the recorded legs you reach Jangneung Cluster. Next is Kanghwa Dolmen Sites.

4. 4. 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.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Kanghwa Dolmen Sites, about halfway. Next is back through Jangneung Cluster.

5. 5. back through Jangneung Cluster

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Jangneung Cluster write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   back through Jangneung Cluster sits at 118 km, about halfway. Next is back through Seooreung Cluster.

6. 6. back through Seooreung Cluster

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Seooreung Cluster write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   back through Seooreung Cluster comes up about 195 km into the recorded legs. Next is Seolleung Cluster.

7. 7. Seolleung Cluster

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Seolleung Cluster write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Seolleung Cluster closes the day.