Uireung Cluster and Gwangneung Cluster\t

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Uireung Cluster

   Seoul is a city of ten million people, and it still has forested royal burial grounds on its edge. The Joseon dynasty, which ruled Korea from 1392 to 1910, buried its kings and queens in forty tombs scattered around the capital, each placed according to the rules of geomancy, with a hill behind, water in front, and a quiet clearing for ancestral rites. Nearly all of them survive, and in 2009 they were inscribed together as a World Heritage site. The cluster on this stretch of the map, east of the city towards Guri, belongs to that family of graves.

   Read the complete Uireung Cluster write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Uireung Cluster is where the day begins. Next is Hongyureung Cluster.

2. 2. 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

   Hongyureung Cluster comes up about 16 km into the recorded legs. Next is Gwangneung Cluster\t.

3. 3. 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

   about 40 km into the recorded legs you reach Gwangneung Cluster\t. Next is back through Hongyureung Cluster.

4. 4. 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, late in the day. Next is Uireung Cluster.

5. 5. Uireung Cluster

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Uireung Cluster write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Back at Uireung Cluster. That is the ride.