Yeongneung Cluster and Seolleung Cluster

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 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. 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 Seolleung Cluster.

3. 3. 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

   about 69 km into the recorded legs you reach Seolleung Cluster. Next is back through Area 2.

4. 4. 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.

5. 5. 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

   Back at Yeongneung Cluster. That is the ride.