CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. 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 340 km round trip from Hualien City - roughly 8 h 13 in the saddle. On the way it passes Shitiping, Sanxiantai, Dulan and Taitung. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,150 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
A coastal highway from Hualien, Taiwan to Taitung, Taiwan, via Shitiping. Key character: Pacific cliffs; terraces; coastal villages. Surface: paved.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For 19 km this is East Coast Highway 11, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Hualien lies on Taiwan's wild east coast, squeezed between the Pacific and a wall of mountains that rise to over three thousand metres within a few dozen kilometres of the sea. The city is relaxed, with a lively night market, sea-view cafes and the slightly weathered air of a place that is regularly shaken by earthquakes and typhoons. It is also the gateway to Taroko Gorge, where the Liwu river has cut a deep canyon through marble.
Read the complete Hualien write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Hualien is where the day begins. Next is Shitiping.
Shitiping means roughly stone steps terrace, and that already tells you a lot about the place. It sits on Taiwan's east coast, where the Coastal Mountain Range drops almost straight into the Pacific, and the highway squeezes itself between rock and sea. The area belongs to the long, wild stretch of Provincial Highway 11, the road that runs south from Hualien towards Taitung with the ocean on one side nearly all the way.
Read the complete Shitiping write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Shitiping comes up 46 km in. Next is Sanxiantai.
Sanxiantai means Terrace of the Three Immortals, and the name comes from a legend of three Taoist immortals who are said to have rested on the offshore island here. It lies on Taiwan's east coast, near the town of Chenggong, where the sea turns a startling deep blue, and a long arched footbridge, shaped like a dragon's back, runs out to the island across a lagoon. Seen from the shore, with the waves breaking on dark volcanic rock, it has a wild, sculptural look.
Read the complete Sanxiantai write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
At least 98 km in you reach Sanxiantai. Next is Dulan.
Dulan sits on Taiwan's east coast, where the mountains drop almost straight into the Pacific. The village, in Taitung County about fifteen kilometres north of Taitung City, lies along Provincial Highway 11, a ribbon of road that runs between the Coastal Mountain Range and the sea, and the combination of mountain, surf and open sky has made it a haven for surfers, artists and refugees from the island's crowded west.
Read the complete Dulan write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Dulan, about halfway. Next is Taitung.
Taitung is a quiet, easy-going city on Taiwan's south-eastern coast, with about a hundred and ten thousand people, a long Pacific shoreline, and a pace of life noticeably slower than the busy west coast. Behind it, the Coastal Range runs north to south on one side and the Central Mountain Range on the other, with the long East Rift Valley in between, a flat strip of farmland that follows the line where two tectonic plates meet. For a rider who has spent the day on the road, it is an easy and friendly place to end.
Read the complete Taitung write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Taitung sits at 184 km, about halfway. Next is back through Dulan.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Dulan write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Dulan comes up 230 km in. Next is back through Sanxiantai.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Sanxiantai write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
276 km in you reach back through Sanxiantai. Next is back through Shitiping.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Shitiping write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Shitiping, late in the day. Next is Hualien.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Hualien write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 340 km.