Seoul · Gangwon Mountain Run

A long mountain-and-coast day for early starts.

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Why this ride

A long mountain-and-coast day for early starts. A 390 km loop that starts and ends near Hongch’ŏn, about 7 h 30 of riding. The stops in between: Gangneung coast and Odaesan roads. Daegwallyeong high road is the high point. It tops out at about 800 m. It is a high-mountain day.

Roadbook

1. Hongcheon fuel fuel

   Hongcheon sits in the heart of Gangwon Province, a county town of around seventy thousand people in a valley of the Hongcheon River, ringed by the first big mountains east of Seoul. About two hours from the capital by road, it serves as a gate to the hills, and for riders heading east to the coast it is the place to be sure your tank is full before the mountain roads begin. The town has plenty of fuel stations, convenience stores open all night, and restaurants that specialise in the local speciality, Hongcheon beef, which is raised in the cool uplands and is highly regarded for its marbling.

   The surrounding landscape is steep and green, with forested ridges, terraced fields in the valleys, and clear streams running beside the road. Korea's mountains are often much steeper than their height suggests, and the road network follows the valleys closely, with a lot of curves and the occasional tunnel. Route 44 runs east from here toward Inje and the east coast, past the foothills of the Sorak range, a long and well-surfaced road that twists through the Gangwon ranges. Other routes lead off through Palbong Mountain and along the river, offering rewarding riding for those who like bends. The expressway from Seoul to Yangyang, with its long tunnels, has also cut journey times, and the old roads are now pleasantly quiet.

   Culturally, the area is a rural heartland. Gangwon has long been known as a place of potato farmers, mountain herbs and, on the coast, fish. Chuncheon, twenty-four kilometres west, is famous for dakgalbi, spicy stir-fried chicken cooked at the table, and for its lakes. Hongcheon itself has its own pride in its produce, and in autumn, the roadsides have stalls selling chestnuts, apples and sweet potatoes.

   The weather varies sharply with the seasons. Summers are hot and humid, with a rainy monsoon in July that can bring landslides and slick roads. Autumn is the best time, when the leaves turn in October and the air is crisp and clear. Winters are cold and snowy, and mountain roads may be icy and closed, so most riders stay home from December to March.

   Traffic on Korean roads can be fast and sometimes aggressive, with speed cameras widespread, so watch the signs and keep to the limits. Convenience stores make an easy stop for hot drinks, noodles and snacks.

2. Daegwallyeong high road pass

   Daegwallyeong is the pass over the Taebaek range between the plateau of Pyeongchang and the sea at Gangneung, and the name means the great mountain pass. It stands at about eight hundred and thirty metres, high enough that the air is noticeably cooler and clearer than on the coast, and it is a place that Koreans associate with wide skies, grazing sheep and, in winter, heavy snow. The famous highland sheep ranch and the rows of white wind turbines on the ridges are visible from the road, and the whole landscape feels more like Europe's uplands than Asia's.

   Seoul to the east coast used to be a long day's journey, and the old road over Daegwallyeong, with its many hairpins, was the main route. The expressway has since taken most of the traffic, running through long tunnels, but the old road has been kept, and for a rider it is the better one. It climbs from Gangneung through forest in a long run of tight bends, and over the top it opens out onto the grassy highland, with long views down the slopes to the sea on a clear day. It is a famous road among Korean motorcyclists, and on weekends, many gather at the pass, so expect the car park to be full of bikes and the road to be lively.

   The asphalt is in decent shape, but as a mountain road it has its hazards: fog is common, particularly in the morning and in spring, ice lingers on the bends in winter, and it can snow here when it is raining on the coast. Speed cameras and police checks are common on the more popular routes. The nearby area was a centre of the 2018 Winter Olympics, held at Pyeongchang and Gangneung, and there are still sports venues in the hills, along with ski resorts and hot-spring hotels.

   Gangneung, thirteen kilometres below, has fuel, restaurants and shops, and the coffee for which the city is known. At the pass itself, there are cafes, a sheep farm, a handful of stalls selling grilled corn and potatoes, and views. The highland is famous for its cabbage and potato crops, and for beef and lamb, and the cool air makes a warm bowl of noodles taste even better. The best times are late spring and early autumn, when the grasses are green or golden, and the sky is clear.

3. Gangneung coast swim

   Gangneung is the capital of Korea's east coast, and it has a reputation for coffee that is nearly as strong as its reputation for beaches. The city sits where the Taebaek mountains meet the East Sea, with a long, bright shore of fine pale sand, and the water here is clear and cold, with surf in summer that draws swimmers and surfers. From July to August the beaches are crowded, with umbrellas and families, and in the other months they are wide and quiet, with the odd surfer in a wetsuit and the sound of waves.

   The coastline has several distinct personalities. Gyeongpo, the main beach, lies beside a lake and a pine grove, and it has been a retreat for officials and poets since the Joseon dynasty. Anmok Beach has a street of cafes with views across the sand, where baristas make coffee by the cup with a pride unusual in a seaside town. Further north, Jeongdongjin is the place Koreans go to see the sunrise, with a railway station that stands right on the beach and a hotel built in the shape of a ship on the cliff above.

   Gangneung is a city with a lot of history. Ojukheon, a house in a bamboo grove, is the birthplace of the Confucian scholar Yi I, known by his pen name Yulgok, and of his mother, the painter and calligrapher Shin Saimdang, who is on the fifty-thousand-won banknote. The town also has a famous speciality, soft tofu, cooked in a village where the tradition of making it with seawater goes back centuries. The city's food is dominated by seafood, with raw fish, squid and the sweet, tender crab of the East Sea.

   Riding the coast road, Route 7 and the quieter roads beside the sea, is a joy. The road is flat or gently rolling, with long views, and the traffic is heavy only at holiday weekends. Speed cameras are frequent, so keep to the limits. Fuel is no problem in the city, which has a population of nearly two hundred thousand, and there are petrol stations along the coast. Watch for sand on the road near the beaches and for wet patches from sea fog. The best months are May, June and September, when the water is warm enough and the crowds are thin.

4. Odaesan return roads scenic

   Odaesan is a mountain range rather than a single peak, five high summits ringed round a green bowl in the Taebaek mountains, and the name means five terraces. The highest, Birobong, reaches about fifteen hundred and sixty metres, and the whole massif is protected as a national park, with dense forest of oak, hornbeam, maple and, lower down, Korean fir. The air is clean and cool, the streams run clear and the sound of water is never far away.

   For more than a thousand years the mountain has been a centre of Korean Buddhism. Woljeongsa, a temple at the foot of the range, was founded in the seventh century by the monk Jajang, who brought relics from China, and its nine-storey octagonal stone pagoda is one of the finest in the country. Up the valley, Sangwonsa holds a bronze bell cast in the early eighth century, the oldest surviving bell in Korea. The walk from the temple gate along the river is lined by a long avenue of old fir trees, so tall and straight that the light comes down in shafts, and in autumn it is one of the places Koreans go to find the colour.

   The roads back down toward Gangneung and the coast are some of the finest in the region. They drop through the forest in long, flowing bends, following river gorges and crossing ridges, with good surfaces and little traffic outside the weekend and the autumn weeks. The corners are not extreme, but they are constant, and the road moves from deep shade to open sunlight and back again. Be alert for wet leaves and fog, which gathers in the valleys in the mornings, and for the slow farm vehicles and buses on narrower stretches. In winter, ice and snow can close the higher sections.

   The temple areas have small restaurants serving mountain vegetables, buckwheat noodles and the rice-and-herb dishes of Buddhist cooking, and the tea is excellent. Weekends in the second half of October are packed, so go on a weekday if you can, and bring warm clothes, because the mountain is much cooler than the coast.

5. Back to Hongcheon fuel finish

   Back at Hongcheon fuel. That is the ride.

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