One day on Ganghwa Island

Date:  June 6, 2013

Terrain: Mostly flat, with rolling hills

Difficulty: 

Ara Waterway-Incheon city limits: 1 - flat, well paved, well lit cycle path

Incheon city limits- bridge to Ganghwado: 2.5- mostly flat, no bike path, narrow road with some potholes, poorly kept or no sidewalks. Few street lights at night. 

Ganghwado: 1.5- Mostly flat if you stay near the shorelines. Bike paths for most roads. Heading inland, there are fewer bike paths and more hills, but car traffic was never a problem, even on a holiday.

How to get there: 

With bike: AREX train to Geomam Station. Follow Ara Waterway until the path turns left. Follow the path to the bridge entrance (on left). Cross the bridge and continue north (straight).  Take the bridge to Ganghwado (first bridge on left). 

Without bike: See here

Accommodations: I stayed in 프리존 (Free-Zone), a love motel in Gimpo before entering the island. On the island there are many places to stay and there are many camping areas as well around the island. 

Things to See: fortresses, temples, museums, tombs, a pre-historic site, tranquil farms and the DMZ

Places to Eat: Everywhere if you like eel. If not, Ganghwa-eup (the city) should have more options. 

My Story:

Crane in a rice paddy, a common sight on Ganghwado

Ganghwado is an island just off the coast of the west coast of Korea. It's also chuck full of things to see, from fortresses, temples, museums, tombs, a pre-historic site, and the DMZ. It's not a small area to cover, and sites are spread out, but we did our best to maximize our time on a one-day bike trip around the island.

The story actually begins at about 7pm the night before. We were debating when and how to get there and though we originally planned to throw our bikes in the car and drive the night before, after examining some maps on the smartphone, we (and by we, I mean Sanghyun) decided that it would be quite feasable to ride our bikes there, as long as we left right at that moment. So, already dusk, we hopped on our bikes, fortunately we're fairly well rigged up with blinking lights on the back and flash lights on the front, and made our way to Seoul Station to hop on the AREX train to Geomam station.

Once at Geomam station, we followed the Ara Waterway to the last bridge which crosses the canal. I was worried about crossing the bridge at night, but I was pleasantly surprised to find everything connected by bike path. We crossed the bridge and followed the path north. Luckily, the bike path was well paved and well lit, because it was now after 9pm.

The well paved bike path continued until the city limits of Incheon. As soon as we crossed into the city of Gimpo, the bike paths dissapeared (also helped by the fact that there is a military base which comes right up to the edge of the road as well. Here was the scary part. Intermitant street lights and no sidewalks or bike paths on a narrow two lane road at 10pm. I have a flashlight on my bike, but I realized quickly that it was way too weak. Fortunately Sanghyun's was extra strong and shone brightly enough for me to see most of the potholes before I hit them. Again, fortunately, there aren't many cars on the road at this time at night, but I was very worried about people speeding or drunk driving at that time of night on a lonley country road. Thankfully we made it to the other end and we stopped at the first motel we found along the road, which was probably only 3km but felt like 20km from the end of the bike path.

We asked at the 7/11 out front whether it would be better to stop here at the motel or continue a little more to the island, but the clerk reminded us that motels on the island were significanlty more expencive than on the mainland. So, not really wanting to be on the road anymore, plus not wanting to spend any more money than necessary, we stopped at the first love motel called 프리존 ('Free-Zone', I thought it was 'Prison') and got our room for 35,000 for the night. We could have splurged and gotten a room for 45,000 at the 'hotel' down the road, but personally I don't see much difference.

Crossing the bridge to Ganghwado 

We got a late start due to getting in so late the night before, but we woke up and headed out. It wasn't too far to the bridge to get to Ganghwado, though sidewalks were rough and the streets were full of traffic, sometimes hard to pass. Once we got to the bridge we were traffic-free thanks to this handy bike/walking path along the bridge.

View as you arrive on Ganghwado

As soon as we got to the Ganghwado side, we found ourselves on this fantastic bike path. Separated from cars by a curb and well paved and well marked.

The biggest fortress we found

If you turn right after entering you'll quickly stumble upon the first of many fortresses. I recommend shelling out the big bucks ( I forget, but I think it was less than 2,000 won) for a pass to five fortresses. You probably won't want to visit all 5, but if you visit two or three, it will still save you money in the end. As you continue north you will continue to pass fortress after fortress, so you might be glad for buying that 5 fortress pass.

Typical road on Ganghwado

After visiting three fortresses, we decided to make our way to the DMZ at the northernmost tip of the island. To get there, you need to follow the signs for the 강화평화전망대 (Ganghwa Peace Observatory). Be aware that most of the signs pointing here are not in English, so it's easy to miss if you're not paying attention!

Just checking the map... 

Heading up to the DMZ and observatory there were bike paths for at least 50% of the ride, but even when there weren't bike paths, we never felt in danger. Dispite being a holiday and all the traffic we saw before getting onto the island, up here there were very few cars at all (as you can see on the road behind us in the photos).

This is about as close as we were able to get to the DMZ

Unfortunately, upon reaching the DMZ, we were not allowed to enter because we were on bike. Apparently, according to the guard, bikes and motorcycles are not allowed into the DMZ. The soldier suggested that we take the bus, but when we asked when it passed by, he said 'not often', so we gave up and instead decided to find the famous pre-historic dolmen.

Pre-historic Dolmen

A dolmen is apparently a pre-historic style tomb, and this one on Ganghwa is the most famous in Korea. Probably because it's pretty huge. There were no bike paths getting here either, but we took back roads and there were very few cars, and most of them were driving slowly as they were probably lost tourists.

Bike path back to Incheon

Finally, it was time to say good-bye to Ganghwa, though there is still so much left unseen. That just means, though, that we have a good excuse to come back again! So long for now Ganghwado!

Waiting for the train home at Geomam Station

Seonyudo

By: Asif Quadri

Date: September, 2012

Terrain: Mostly flat with some modest hills

Difficulty: 2-Moderate - mostly easy except hill climbing

Trail/Path Conditions: This is a rural island so it's a mix of car roads and walkways through vegetable fields

Things to see: Natural scenery, coastline, small hamlets, rural life, lighthouse.

Getting there : You must take a ferry from Gunsan on the mainland. Bike rentals were arranged by the pension through our tour group. You can try asking at  the port terminal for more information.

Places to eat: By the ferry port restaurants and mart.

Organized by: The Korea Blog/ KOCIS

My Story:

Originally posted and adapted from: http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/londone7/1/1348493001/tpod.html


Sunday morning on Seonyudo, we went biking early, the sun was quite strong considering it was only 9am and how strong the winds had been the night before.

Low Tide

As you leave the guesthouse area there is a large and long hill on a turn to take you to the main part of the island.

Then we continued along the shoreline but turned inland to a small village. Here there was some artwork painted on the wall to decorate the village. Everyone took turns posing but the giant wings which seem common in Korea.

 

 

Village Artwork

Behind the village was a small harbour with a lighthouse. It had a giant red hand held up motioning you to stop. As we reached the lighthouse the inscription said it was actually two palms pressed together in prayer. If you make a wish here your prayers will be answered.

 

Praying Hands Lighthouse

 

After this it was time to bike back to the guesthouse taking another shortcut. By now we had worked up and appetite for a late breakfast and morning biking in the sun.

Biking back inland

There was a fish and vegetable soup, along with small grilled fish and other side dishes. I mixed the soup with my rice and added the grilled fish on top to make a filling breakfast.

The owner and his wife saw us off and had been great hosts. They are actually a retired couple from Gyeonggi-do province outside Seoul and have only owned the business for about a year.

Mt. Palgong - Songnimsa Temple

By: Asif Quadri


Date: July, 2012

Terrain: All uphill the further into Mt Palgong but relatively easy downhill on return.

Difficulty: 2.5 - difficult going / easy return

Trail/Path Conditions: Heading north from Chilgok, Daegu you are mixed in with heavy traffic on an industrial highway. Once you turn into Mt Palgong the traffic gets lighter and there are bike paths.

Things to see: An abundance of temples, natural scenery

Places to eat: Restaurants close to motel district

Getting there : Mt Palgong runs the entire northern length of the city of Daegu. It can be accessed from either Chilgok/Dongmyeong at the western end (buses 427, 527, 730, rapid 3). The eastern end has more famous temples Gatbawi and Donghwasa (buses 401, 101, rapid 1)

My Story: 
Originally posted and adapted from: http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/londone7/1/1342987463/tpod.html

As I'm moving out of my neighbourhood in a couple of weeks I decided to bike north into Gyeonguk Province and Dongmyeong which I haven't visited the entire time I've lived here. I heard there was a nice temple along the Mount Palgong trail I wanted to check out.

 

I live on the northern end of Chilgok and biking north a few minutes I reached the city limits and the sign markers for the start of Gyeongbuk province.  

 

Entering Gyeongsangbuk-do

Heading north for another few kilometers the road becomes a country highway. Its not the best place to go biking as the traffic was quite fast and there were many entranceways to industrial yards. However, the main turning to the temple was only about a kilometer away so I was able to avoid the traffic from there on

 

Signpost to the temple

 

Scenic mountain road

The turn off road had a signpost describing it as one of koreas most beautiful routes. The Mount Palgong trail runs east-west across the city for about 30 kms and it does have many scenic spots. I had wanted to come to see the cherry blossoms but came too early before they were in bloom.

 

Start of mountain road

 

 

Temple in the distance

Heading to the temple there is a large reservoir and a ship restaurant along the roadside. You then come off the main road to a side road and follow it a short way to the temple.

Scenic Resevoir

The temple was quite near to the turning off the main road. I keep hearing from friends that they don't want to see "just another temple" but this proved to be yet another interesting find, different from all the other Mount Palgong Temples.

The complex had a large brick stupa in the centre lawn, buildings on either side of the rectangular lawn, and some outer buildings. The main building was undergoing some exterior restoration work.

Inside the main large building there were three large seated gold buddhas. At one end of the hall one wall was a large unpainted wood carving with many faces and lots of detailed etchings

Large Wood Carving

There was another colourful building facing the centre lawn which had some surprises. This building housed life-size painted wood figures. I've seen them before about 2ft high but this was the first time seeing them life-size. There was also bell tower painted in great detail. It had a large bell, drum, and a hanging dragon which is hollowed out and used for tapping from the inside.

 Bell Tower

I then discovered another building which I named the 1000 Buddha hall. Behind the three large gold Buddhas were rows of identical smaller Buddhas set on an incline ascending up to the roof. It was quite an impressive sight and how the temples in Taiwan and Vietnam were to give a distorted perspective of infinity.

1000 Buddha Chamber

Heading back was much faster as I sped down the incline I had to bike up to get here. The ship restaurant takes you back to the main road and reservoir

 Country lane back

I've driven past this reservoir a few times when we came in this area for school dinners so this was the first time to see it slowly up close.

House on the lake

Back on the main highway heading south I passed by an interesting country house and roadside tombs. I then made it back inside Daegu City Limits and headed home.

This article was printed on the Daegu Blogsite

http://globaldaegu.blogspot.kr/2012/09/biking-mt-palgong-songnimsa-temple.html

Ganghwa Island (Organized by Seoul Hiking Group)

By: Asif Quadri

Date: May, 2012

Terrain: Varies in different parts, can be hilly in the interior, flat along the coast and through the rice fields.

Difficulty: 2

Trail/Path Conditions: bike trails are not in all parts, passing traffic can be aggressive despite the islands tranquil nature

Things to see: mud flats, DMZ along the north side, rice fields, coastline, quirky guesthouses

Places to eat: Convenience stores and restaurants in main settlements and beaches

Organized by: Seoul Hiking Group 

My Story:
Originally posted and adapted from : http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/londone7/1/1336934645/tpod.html

Ganghwa island is one of the five largest islands in Korea after Jeju which is the largest. Seoul Hiking Group had arranged a bike tour of the island so I signed up to finally be able to see. The itinerary sounded quite exciting ranging from mud flats, fortresses, ancient stone dolmen, to the DMZ and North Korean border. They claimed it was a 60km bike ride but it turned out they had underestimated the actual distance.

I'd wanted to go to Ganghwa for a long time and even tried last July but had to abandon it due to bad weather. With the cost of traveling and staying in Seoul along with rain every time I came it looked like this would keep being pushed back. Even after signing up for this trip the forecast kept changing to rain for some or all of the weekend and I've had a run of bad luck with rain every time I came to Seoul. Fortunately the weather held and I was finally going to be able to visit.

I had to take a train to Seoul from Daegu first and stay overnight in a sauna. I managed to do both for approx $30 even though it could have cost more than double if I took the high speed train and stayed in a motel. The trip as well cost about $40 which included bus transportation, rental of bikes, and lunch.

There were several meet up choices for the morning and I had chosen Yongsan as it was two stops from Seoul Station and there was an overnight sauna they had recommended where I was able to stay for 12,000w ($10). They provided us with a map of where the bus would pickup.

We were told the pickup time was 7.45am but to be there 20 minutes early. We got there about quarter past seven and didn't see anyone there. Then four other westerners came by, two of whom with Canadian flags. They went into the Paris Baguette bakery and as we still had time so we went in, too. We got chatting and they said they had done other events with this group from this pickup point.  When we came out the two Americans that were there before were gone. We found this a bit odd but continued to wait with the other group of four. It was now past 8am so we thought maybe we should call the organizer.

 Morning breakfast at Paris Baguette

I called and said there were six of us waiting by Dunkin Donuts at Yongsan Station. He said the bus had already picked up and left from Yongan Station. We never saw any bus when we went into Paris Baguette. The organizer told us to take a cab to a subway station near Gimpo Airport. As we don't live in Seoul the other group of four said it would cost about 15,000w ($13.50). So the six of us went in two cabs and paid 15,000w for each cab. Fortunately, they refunded us for the price of the cab!

It took about a 90 min bus ride to get out to Ganghwa island.  When we arrived we picked out our bikes which were quite new and began cycling.

 Choosing Bikes

Our route would start from the southwestern side, cycle down along the south coast, and all along the eastern coast to the northern tip, DMZ, and North Korean border.

These were scenic single lane road going thru rolling hills. At one point a small dog decided to run along with the pack. He was consistent and kept going for a few kms. Hopefully he was able to make it back home. 

We went through some more hills before the land opened into more farmland as we came along the ocean. There were many rice fields being work on, as well as pension guesthouses facing the ocean. It was very tranquil and in some ways reminiscent of jeju island. Despite being just over an hour from Seoul this island was very traditional and rural with the land being worked on

Somewhat annoying were some drivers. Some would toss garbage out the window which would blow back onto us. Others would come hurtling through as though we had no right to be there. While others would creep behind us then sound their horn as loud as they could to scare us off our bikes.

When we got to the southern tip of the island it was a beach with the tide out. Some groups of kindergarten children seemed to be having a sports day in the mud playing different types of games. I thought we were breaking for lunch now but we still had about another hour to go we were told.

So we continued along the ocean trail and finally a bike path opened to separate us from the cars. There were also many motorcycle riders enjoying the country roads, dressed in their biker gear and foreign bikes. I've never seen this kind of biker culture in Korea and didn't now it existed. I wonder if they get the same treatment from the motorists on these island roads.

Many of the pensions were quite interesting and all came in their own unique styles.  We then began passing through mud flats. They were quite interesting and resembled another planet. There were several boats stranded in the mud and not sure how long they had been there and whether the tide comes this far in or not.

Finally we passed by the bridge and fortress where we had first entered the island this morning. After biking a few more kms we made it to the restaurant which was our resting point.

After our brief rest and energizing through lunch we returned back to the Ganghwa Island bike trail. This was the only chance for those that wanted to quit to switch to the bus option. We were told the total bike ride for the day was 60km and we had probably done about 25-30km in this morning's half.

Back home in Toronto I had annually done a charity 50km bike ride along the Gardner and DVP highways so didn't think 60km would be a problem. I had done that charity 50km bike ride for 5 years and could do it in just over 3 hours. I thought I should be able to handle the afternoon's portion so continued on biking instead of taking the bus.

When we left the restaurant we went along dirt tracks along the river. This was much calmer being away from traffic but didn't last for two long. The tracks ended and we had to carry our bikes past some barbed wire to go back to the road bike path.

My friend had volunteered to lead the group from the rear and keep stragglers up. Somebody had a flat and had to go back to the restaurant to change his bike. We waited about ten minutes but never saw him return. By this time the lead group was nowhere to be seen and we had no idea where to go after we came to the first intersection.

We had to call the leader to get directions as there was nobody in visible sight. This kept happening to me in the morning. Since we were not riding as a group and everyone was doing freestyle we were spread over several kms. I kept ending up having nobody in visible sight ahead and behind so kept pulling over to wait for somebody to catch up.

In fairness they would occasionally leave somebody behind as a marker but there should have been better co-ordination and biking together as a group rather stretching randomly over several kms. Later in the afternoon a group of six people took a wrong turn, were separated from the group, and had to navigate by phone with the leader and after many kms of extra biking to rejoin the group.

Start of the DMZ

Now we were at the start of the DMZ and no longer leading the rear so were able to ride with the group. We were going along the coast and began seeing barbed wire closing off the coastline. As we continued it became more of an iron wall with regular sentry booths though not manned.

It was strange that we were actually looking at North Korea, for a lot longer, and a lot more intimate than you get on the traditional DMZ tours. There Didnt seem to be any lookouts or sentries on the other side, though maybe not visible, so it would be easy to use zoom photography which is not allowed on official DMZ tours.

Barbed wire at the DMZ

The path then led us to what looked like a border crossing with sentry posts. I guess the northern most tip of the island is off limits except to local residents. The sentries would salute cars coming in and out although they did not seem official looking. Also they did not object to us taking photos, though from quite a distance to be safe.

Next to the sentry post was a fortress type observation lookout. Again this was completely unmanned unlike normal DMZ tours. You can use whatever photography and lenses you want. We could see the water separating North Korea and the barbed wire continuing in the distance.

We then headed away from the DMZ fence and along a bike path that zig zagged thru many rice fields. We almost seemed to be going in circles as there is no straight path thru the rice fields. Perhaps this part seemed a bit redundant after a while as it was lots of endless cycling.

Many of us had wanted to see the ancient Stonehenge type dolmen which the island was famous for. It was almost 6pm and I don't know if those places would still be open. After some more biking through  fields and local villages we eventually made it to the history museum.

Unfortunately we had no time to go inside. It was quite a large facility at four stories and we wouldn't have had the strength to climb the stairs and walk around. However we were able to see the stone dolmen in the museum grounds.

I was quite exhausted and found this trip to be quite strenuous. As I mentioned earlier, I have annually done a 50km bike ride back home and this was supposed to be 60km. However, I would approximate that to be more near 60-80km. I had an odometer on my bike back home and would frequently do about 30km in around two hours. We had been biking from 10am to now 6pm with a break for lunch.

I dont think any GPS mapping system to approximate the distance factored in all the winding paths through the rice fields, unnecessary detours, wrong turns, and can only calculate straight line distances. Fortunately the bus was waiting along with a truck to pick up the bikes so there was no more cycling.

Here is a list of recommendations to make the trip better next time:

There could have been a bit more better co-ordination with:
- pickup from Yongsan Station and taking a headcount
- keeping the group together instead of spread out over many kms
- providing instructions on paths to take and meeting points
- having experienced people lead the rear

Maybe they could have:
- divided us into teams and made us ride with our group instead of all being totally random.
- organize a smaller trip instead of 43 people
- have two organizers manning the trip that are familiar with the island

However, I did enjoy the cycling tour, saw more things than had I taken a local bus by myself, particularly the DMZ, and met lots of new people. They were mostly from Seoul and we were the only two that had really traveled to come here.

The Seoul Hiking Group also does a bike trip to Gyeongju twice a year to see the spring cherry blossom and fall colours, as well as overnight bike trips to Jeju. Its a good idea to join their Facebook page to be kept informed of events, which are mostly hiking, but include some other outdoor activities like paintball and rafting sometimes.