Why this ride
336 km from Yeoju to Yeoju, about 5 h 19 of riding. On the way it passes Area 2, Hwaseong Fortress, Seolleung Cluster and back through Seolleung Cluster. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Yeongneung Cluster and Hwaseong Fortress
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 336 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 5 h 19
- 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. 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 is where the day begins. Next is Area 2.
2. 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 comes up about 49 km into the recorded legs. Next is Hwaseong Fortress.
3. 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
about 95 km into the recorded legs you reach Hwaseong Fortress. Next is Seolleung Cluster.
4. Seolleung Cluster
You come up out of the Seolleung subway station into the glass towers of Gangnam, and a few minutes later you are standing in a pine grove with royal tombs. The Seolleung cluster holds the burial mounds of King Seongjong, who died in the fifteenth century, and his queen, together with the tomb of King Jungjong, a later ruler, at a short distance. The park, surrounded by office blocks and busy roads, has the stillness of a place that has been left alone for five hundred years, and it is one of the most surprising pieces of silence in the city.
Read the complete Seolleung Cluster write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Seolleung Cluster, about halfway.
5. 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
Hwaseong Fortress sits at 162 km, about halfway. Next is back through Seolleung Cluster.
6. back through Seolleung Cluster
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Seolleung Cluster write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Seolleung Cluster comes up about 197 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Hwaseong Fortress.
7. 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
about 231 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Hwaseong Fortress. Next is back through Area 2.
8. back through Area 2
Return visit. Read the place description above.
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
back through Area 2, late in the day. Next is Yeongneung Cluster.
9. Yeongneung Cluster
Return visit. Read the place description above.
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
The route ends here after 336 km.
Leg by leg
Yeongneung Cluster to Area 2
Yeongneung Cluster → Area 2 is 49 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Area 2 to Hwaseong Fortress
Area 2 → Hwaseong Fortress is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Hwaseong Fortress to Seolleung Cluster
Hwaseong Fortress → Seolleung Cluster is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Seolleung Cluster to Hwaseong Fortress
Seolleung Cluster → Hwaseong Fortress is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Hwaseong Fortress to back through Seolleung Cluster
Hwaseong Fortress → back through Seolleung Cluster is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Seolleung Cluster to back through Hwaseong Fortress
back through Seolleung Cluster → back through Hwaseong Fortress is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Hwaseong Fortress to back through Area 2
back through Hwaseong Fortress → back through Area 2 is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Area 2 to Yeongneung Cluster
back through Area 2 → Yeongneung Cluster is 69 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.