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: 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.
A 298 km round trip from Baekjeon - roughly 5 h 06 in the saddle. On the way it passes Haeinsa Temple Janggyeong Panjeon, Gyo-dong and Songhyeon-dong Tumuli and back through Haeinsa Temple Janggyeong Panjeon. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
The people of the Gaya confederacy never built an empire, which is why they are overshadowed by the neighbouring kingdoms of Baekje and Silla. But in the fifth and sixth centuries they ran a loose group of small states in the south of the Korean peninsula, famous for iron, and the tumuli in Jangsu, on the high ground of Jeolla province, are evidence that this mountain county had its own ruler. The round grassy mounds of Yugok-ri and Durak-ri sit on ridges and in fields, and iron tools, horse gear and weapons have been dug out of them. They are part of the UNESCO listing for the Gaya Tumuli, added in 2023.
Read the complete Yugok-ri and Durak-ri Tumuli write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Yugok-ri and Durak-ri Tumuli is where the day begins. Next is Haeinsa Temple Janggyeong Panjeon.
High in the forested folds of Gayasan, in South Gyeongsang province, a temple keeps one of the great treasures of the Buddhist world. Haeinsa holds the Tripitaka Koreana, more than eighty thousand wooden printing blocks carved in the thirteenth century with the complete Buddhist scriptures, an act of devotion undertaken while the Mongols were invading Korea, in the hope that the Buddha's protection would save the country. The blocks are kept in the Janggyeong Panjeon, a pair of long, plain wooden halls built in the fifteenth century, and the halls are the real marvel. Their design uses natural ventilation, windows of different sizes on opposite walls, and a floor packed with charcoal, lime, clay and salt to regulate humidity and temperature, and they have protected the blocks for centuries without modern technology. The halls were listed by UNESCO in 1995.
Read the complete Haeinsa Temple Janggyeong Panjeon write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Haeinsa Temple Janggyeong Panjeon comes up about 81 km into the recorded legs. Next is Gyo-dong and Songhyeon-dong Tumuli.
The rounded grassy mounds rising behind Changnyeong look almost like natural hills until you notice how regular they are. These are the Gyo-dong and Songhyeon-dong tumuli, burial mounds of the rulers of Bihwa, one of the small kingdoms of the Gaya confederacy that flourished in the south of the Korean peninsula between roughly the first and sixth centuries before being absorbed by Silla. In 2023 they became part of a UNESCO listing that brings together seven Gaya tomb clusters, and they are among the most atmospheric of the group.
Read the complete Gyo-dong and Songhyeon-dong Tumuli write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 149 km into the recorded legs you reach Gyo-dong and Songhyeon-dong Tumuli. Next is back through Haeinsa Temple Janggyeong Panjeon.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Haeinsa Temple Janggyeong Panjeon write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Haeinsa Temple Janggyeong Panjeon, late in the day. Next is Yugok-ri and Durak-ri Tumuli.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Yugok-ri and Durak-ri Tumuli write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Yugok-ri and Durak-ri Tumuli. That is the ride.
Yugok-ri and Durak-ri Tumuli → Haeinsa Temple Janggyeong Panjeon is 81 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Haeinsa Temple Janggyeong Panjeon → Gyo-dong and Songhyeon-dong Tumuli is 68 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Gyo-dong and Songhyeon-dong Tumuli → back through Haeinsa Temple Janggyeong Panjeon is 68 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Haeinsa Temple Janggyeong Panjeon → Yugok-ri and Durak-ri Tumuli is 81 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.