Why this ride
403 km from Goyang-si to Goyang-si, about 7 h 24 of riding. On the way it passes Gwangneung Cluster\t, Namhansanseong, Hwaseong Fortress and Yeongneung Cluster. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Seosamreung Cluster and Yeongneung Cluster
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 403 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 7 h 24
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
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.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Seosamreung Cluster
The kings and queens of the Joseon dynasty, who ruled Korea for more than five hundred years until 1910, chose their graves with enormous care. Geomancers studied hills, water and wind to find sites with the right energy, and the royal tombs were laid out with burial mounds, stone guardians, ceremonial halls and long processional paths. Forty of these tombs are listed together by UNESCO as the Royal Tombs of the Joseon Dynasty, and Seosamreung, the three western tombs in Goyang just north-west of Seoul, is one of the clusters.
Read the complete Seosamreung Cluster write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Seosamreung Cluster is where the day begins. Next is Gwangneung Cluster\t.
2. Gwangneung Cluster\t
Gwangneung is the tomb of King Sejo of Joseon and his queen, Jeonghui, and it sits inside one of the best-preserved forests in Korea, north-east of Seoul between Namyangju and Pocheon. Sejo seized the throne in 1455 from his young nephew Danjong, who was later exiled and killed, and he spent much of his reign strengthening royal power. In death, though, he asked for modesty: he ordered that his tomb be built without the usual stone burial chamber and without some of the stone ornaments, to save the people labour and expense. The two mounds lie on separate ridges, with a shrine between them.
Read the complete Gwangneung Cluster\t write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Gwangneung Cluster\t comes up about 44 km into the recorded legs. Next is Namhansanseong.
3. 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.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 97 km into the recorded legs you reach Namhansanseong. Next is Hwaseong Fortress.
4. 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, about halfway. Next is Yeongneung Cluster.
5. 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
Yeongneung Cluster sits at 189 km, about halfway. Next is back through Hwaseong Fortress.
6. 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 comes up about 269 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Namhansanseong.
7. back through Namhansanseong
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Namhansanseong write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 306 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Namhansanseong. Next is back through Gwangneung Cluster\t.
8. back through Gwangneung Cluster\t
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Gwangneung Cluster\t write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Gwangneung Cluster\t, late in the day. Next is Seosamreung Cluster.
9. Seosamreung Cluster
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Seosamreung Cluster write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 403 km.
Leg by leg
Seosamreung Cluster to Gwangneung Cluster\t
Seosamreung Cluster → Gwangneung Cluster\t is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Gwangneung Cluster\t to Namhansanseong
Gwangneung Cluster\t → Namhansanseong is 53 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Namhansanseong to Hwaseong Fortress
Namhansanseong → Hwaseong Fortress is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Hwaseong Fortress to Yeongneung Cluster
Hwaseong Fortress → Yeongneung Cluster is 63 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Yeongneung Cluster to back through Hwaseong Fortress
Yeongneung Cluster → back through Hwaseong Fortress is 70 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Hwaseong Fortress to back through Namhansanseong
back through Hwaseong Fortress → back through Namhansanseong is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Namhansanseong to back through Gwangneung Cluster\t
back through Namhansanseong → back through Gwangneung Cluster\t is 52 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Gwangneung Cluster\t to Seosamreung Cluster
back through Gwangneung Cluster\t → Seosamreung Cluster is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.