Why this ride
A 207 km round trip from Incheon - roughly 3 h 33 in the saddle. It goes by way of Seosamreung Cluster, Taereung Cluster, Area 2 and back through Taereung Cluster. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Seosan Getbol and Area 2
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 207 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 33
- 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. Seosan Getbol
Korea's west coast has some of the largest tides on earth. Twice a day the Yellow Sea pulls back for kilometres, exposing vast shining mud flats, the getbol, laced with channels and alive with crabs, mudskippers, worms and shellfish. UNESCO has listed a series of these Korean tidal flats for their extraordinary biodiversity and for the millions of migratory shorebirds that stop here to feed on their way between Siberia and Australia.
Read the complete Seosan Getbol write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Seosan Getbol is where the day begins. Next is Seosamreung Cluster.
2. 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 comes up about 38 km into the recorded legs. Next is Taereung Cluster.
3. Taereung Cluster
Korea's Joseon kings chose their tombs the way they chose a capital, with a geomancer. A good site needed a mountain behind, water in front and a gentle forest around, and the royal tombs scattered across the countryside around Seoul follow that rule, which is why many of them feel like parks. Taereung is one of the best known, on the north-east side of the city, a burial ground for Queen Munjeong and her son King Myeongjong in the sixteenth century. The forty tombs of the dynasty were listed by UNESCO in 2009, and walking among them is a calm contrast to the city outside.
Read the complete Taereung Cluster write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 71 km into the recorded legs you reach Taereung Cluster. Next is Area 2.
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 Taereung Cluster.
5. back through Taereung Cluster
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Taereung Cluster write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Taereung Cluster sits at 127 km, about halfway. Next is back through Seosamreung Cluster.
6. back through 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
back through Seosamreung Cluster comes up about 168 km into the recorded legs. Next is Seosan Getbol.
7. Seosan Getbol
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Seosan Getbol write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Seosan Getbol closes the day.
Leg by leg
Seosan Getbol to Seosamreung Cluster
Seosan Getbol → Seosamreung Cluster is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Seosamreung Cluster to Taereung Cluster
Seosamreung Cluster → Taereung Cluster is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Taereung Cluster to Area 2
Taereung Cluster → Area 2 is 42 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Area 2 to back through Taereung Cluster
Area 2 → back through Taereung Cluster is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Taereung Cluster to back through Seosamreung Cluster
back through Taereung Cluster → back through Seosamreung Cluster is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Seosamreung Cluster to Seosan Getbol
back through Seosamreung Cluster → Seosan Getbol is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.