Shinan-Muan Getbol and Seonamsa Temple

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Shinan-Muan Getbol

   At low tide the sea retreats a long way from the coast of Shinan, leaving behind a vast grey plain of mud, glittering with water and printed with the tracks of crabs and birds. Koreans call this getbol, and the south-west coast has some of the broadest tidal flats in the world, a landscape that is neither land nor sea. The Shinan-Muan group, inscribed by UNESCO in 2021, is a stretch of this system, with channels, salt marshes and sandbars, and it shelters hundreds of species, many of them rare, including migratory shorebirds that stop here on their long flights between Siberia, Alaska and Australia.

   Read the complete Shinan-Muan Getbol write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Shinan-Muan Getbol is where the day begins. Next is Piram-seowon.

2. 2. Piram-seowon

   Piram-seowon sits on flat land among rice fields in Jangseong county, in South Jeolla province, its gates opening onto a courtyard with wooden pavilions and a shrine. It was founded in the late sixteenth century to honour Kim In-hu, a Neo-Confucian scholar from the region known for his integrity and his poetry, and it is one of the nine academies inscribed on the UNESCO list in 2019 as Seowon, Korean Neo-Confucian Academies. Unlike many seowon, which were closed by the government in the nineteenth century, Piram survived, and rituals are still held there.

   Read the complete Piram-seowon write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Piram-seowon comes up 78 km in. Next is Seonamsa Temple.

3. 3. Seonamsa Temple

   An old stone bridge arches over a stream in the forest on the way up to Seonamsa, and the view through its curve to a pavilion beyond is one of the best known images of Korean temple architecture. The Seungseongyo bridge dates back to the Joseon period, and the temple behind it, on the slopes of Jogyesan mountain near Suncheon, has a history going back to the ninth century. Seonamsa is one of seven Korean Buddhist mountain monasteries listed in 2018 as Sansa, Buddhist Mountain Monasteries in Korea, chosen because they have remained centres of living religious practice for over a thousand years.

   Read the complete Seonamsa Temple write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   156 km in you reach Seonamsa Temple. Next is back through Piram-seowon.

4. 4. back through Piram-seowon

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Piram-seowon write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   back through Piram-seowon, late in the day. Next is Shinan-Muan Getbol.

5. 5. Shinan-Muan Getbol

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Shinan-Muan Getbol write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Back at Shinan-Muan Getbol. That is the ride.