CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
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: planning record, not independently verified geometry.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distances and riding times are planning figures. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
From Guri-si it runs 263 km to Guri-si; allow about 4 h 32 of riding. It goes by way of Seosan Getbol, Kaesong Namdae and back through Seosan Getbol. It crosses from South Korea into North Korea - carry ID and check the toll rules. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Taereung Cluster is where the day begins. Next is 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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Seosan Getbol comes up about 62 km into the recorded legs. Next is Kaesong Namdae.
Few capitals in Korea's history have left so little room for an ordinary traveller. Kaesong, the Goryeo capital from the early tenth century to the late fourteenth, stands in the south of North Korea, a few kilometres from the demilitarised zone and the village of Panmunjom, and its Namdae Gate, the great southern gate of the old city, is the best-known monument of the place. The gate was first raised in 1394, just after the Goryeo dynasty fell, and it has been repaired many times, most recently after wartime damage. It stands in the middle of a traffic circle, with its heavy tiled roof and a bell nearby.
Read the complete Kaesong Namdae Gate write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 132 km into the recorded legs you reach Kaesong Namdae. Next is back through Seosan Getbol.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Seosan Getbol write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Seosan Getbol, late in the day. Next is Taereung Cluster.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Taereung Cluster write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Taereung Cluster. That is the ride.
Taereung Cluster → Seosan Getbol is 62 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Seosan Getbol → Kaesong Namdae Gate is 70 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Kaesong Namdae Gate → back through Seosan Getbol is 70 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Seosan Getbol → Taereung Cluster is 62 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.