Seooreung Cluster and Area 2

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

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

2. 2. 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 comes up about 24 km into the recorded legs. Next is Hongyureung Cluster.

3. 3. Hongyureung Cluster

   The Joseon dynasty lasted from 1392 until 1910, and its kings and queens were laid to rest in a scattering of forested tombs around Seoul, forty of which are on the World Heritage list. Hongyureung is the name for two of them close to Namyangju, Hongneung and Yureung, which belong to the last two rulers of Korea. Hongneung is the resting place of Gojong, who proclaimed the Korean Empire in 1897 and died in 1919, in mysterious circumstances, just before the great independence uprising of that year. Yureung holds his son Sunjong, the last emperor, who lost his throne when Japan annexed Korea.

   Read the complete Hongyureung Cluster write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   about 50 km into the recorded legs you reach Hongyureung Cluster. Next is Area 2.

4. 4. Area 2

   Built and expanded as an emergency capital in the early seventeenth century, its walls run for kilometres along the ridges, with gates, command posts and temples inside, and it became a World Heritage site in 2014. The fortress is remembered for a bitter episode: in the winter of 1636 to 1637, King Injo fled here as the armies of the Qing invaded, and after a siege of more than forty days in the cold, he came down and submitted, kneeling before the Qing emperor. Koreans still regard it as a moment of national humiliation and resilience at the same time.

   Read the complete Area 2 write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Area 2, about halfway. Next is back through Hongyureung Cluster.

5. 5. back through Hongyureung Cluster

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Hongyureung Cluster write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   back through Hongyureung Cluster sits at 105 km, about halfway. Next is back through Seolleung Cluster.

6. 6. back through 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

   back through Seolleung Cluster comes up about 149 km into the recorded legs. Next is Seooreung Cluster.

7. 7. 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

   Seooreung Cluster closes the day.