Seoul to Seoul (Re-mastered)

Noel Mugavin · Sep 30, 2024

Sure it's a sign saying to use the bins to stop littering. Bins hadn't been emptied for a while, were all over-flowing.

Descent wasn't much fun; path wasn't great, very narrow and quite twisty and turny.
Spat out at the bottom at a cattle farm

Few km's down the road, and the most isolated and desolate of all the certification booths - Hapcheonchangyeongbo

Saturday afternoon, everything closed

Noel Mugavin · Oct 1, 2024

Off I went with about 30km's to go, and 1 hillthat shouldn;t be so tough, to my overnight stop of Namji. This was the only night that I had not pre-booked a hotel, my calculations had me arriving at about 4 o'clock, giving me plenty of time to find somewhere to stay.
More river scenery

Had a bit of an uphill along a main road, and from a you tube video i had seen, believed that this was the last uphill. Very relieved, and about 20km's to go.
This was the most isolated section of the ride, with only this little village between the last certification centre and Namji.
Didn't stop me nearly losing an eye as the only person I saw hopped over the rails from the river to the cycling path as I was passing through, swinging his rod and line around. Had to give a big warning shout to him to save my eye

How's the serenity

In all this isolation, and on a short little uphill, what a place for a saxophone club

A long straight stretch, in the distance saw a bridge, thought, you beauty, over the river here and an easy ride into Namji. As I got closer, nope, bridge under construction. Namji might be further than I thought.

Little past the bridge, the path turned a little inland

F###. The last uphill wasn't the up hill. 108km's in for the day and this thing nearly killed me.

Noel Mugavin · Oct 2, 2024

This thing just kept going, no way I was riding up it. Even pushing the bike I had to stop numerous times. Way harder than the more widely advertised ascent up Joryeong.

Finally to the summit. Was a stamp booth, but not part of the Cross-Country trek. Nice view though.

Noel Mugavin · Oct 2, 2024

Slow descent don the hill, bridge over the river and a tree-liner cruise into Namji

Nope, another f#####g hill. Turns out the first hill of the day wasn't counted as one of the 3 hills; the climb by the main road not one either.
I'd just about had enough by now, nearly 2 hours behind where I thought I'd be, low on water, nowhere to stay, and just about out of energy

Nice view though

Noel Mugavin · Oct 2, 2024

One more, as it turned out, small uphill, only about 50m long. When I saw that one it nearly broke me.
Through more farmland then back to the riverfront and into Namji. Flower festival going on, lots of canola, lots of people and I weaved my way through them to a 711 to grab some water and also check maps to find a motel.
Was about 6 o'clock and with the amount of people at the festival I was seriously eyeing sheltered places I might be able to sleep if there were no rooms available.
First hotel I went to, asked if a room was available - answer 'yes'.
100 000 won, around $120, way overpriced, but took it on the spot
Ex-love hotel, very dated

Showered, then wandered for an hour or so. Think I grabbed a chicken breast and a couple of eggs for dinner.
Did want to head down to the river for the festival, but was absolutely wiped, so for something different an early night

Noel Mugavin · Oct 2, 2024

Big day

drron · Oct 2, 2024

Well done. I winced at e very hill you had to climb. And I can't actually ride a bicycle!.
But I do really like your TR and obviously you are doing this at a great time of year with the cherry blossoms and Canola that the Koreans really do appear to love.

Noel Mugavin · Oct 3, 2024

Last day, woke up feeling pretty good, about 85km to the end of the route.
Fairly chilly and a bit of fog around as I headed through the town and down to the river. Bit of a backtrack to get to the bike path entrance along the road that runs above. Was dodging cars and a multitude of people last night as I rode into town.

Fog was covering the canola fields, however rest assured there were some early risers having photo shoots in the flowers

Bit more of the road

Down onto the path and a closer look at the canola

Add in some tulips

It was a bit stop start as I was off the bike quite often taking more snaps

Noel Mugavin · Oct 4, 2024

Noel Mugavin · Oct 4, 2024

Finally got moving, but the colours with the fog were spectacular.
Lot of camper vans set up

Little further on and the Sunday markets were getting set up

Over one of the many bridges and looking back toward the fog covered Namji

Clear up ahead and turning out to be a magnificent day

OZDUCK · Oct 4, 2024

Noel Mugavin said:
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Looking at the first couple of photos I was thinking about how you could almost mistake the scenery as being in the Netherlands - and then the windmill turned up

Noel Mugavin · Oct 4, 2024

First of the last 3 Certification Booths of the ride, Changnyeonghammango. Too early for anything to be open, a couple of Korean riders there who approached me and wanting to know about my trip. Insisted on photos with me as well. Koreans are very friendly and inquisitive and have no qualms about approaching you and starting conversation.

Nice, calm water

Looked like a come and try golf morning

More cherry trees. Also, throughout the whole route, picking what I would have thought were weeds by the side of the path

Noel Mugavin · Oct 4, 2024

Nice respite from a hill, Masamasa Tunnel. Also here I started hearing a concerning scraping noise coming from my bike.

Nice to see the place name Gimhae, sign I was getting close to the end

Stopped here for 15 minutes or so, have something to eat and take a rest. Again, a Korean rider approached me to see what my go was. Through our conversation, he was 73 years old, and seeing my trail stamp book, he produced his, proudly showing his Grand Slam achievement, meaning he'd cycled the 2200km odd trails.

Back on the bike, scraping nice becoming quite concerning now. Suspicions were that the disc brake had become buckled and was scraping against the wheel. Not what I wanted.
Down to the Nakdong River Rail Park and the last crossing of the Nakdong. Old and new train bridge as well as the one lane bike/pedestrian/car bridge.

Looking back at the rail park

Eventually had to stop and sort the scraping noise out. To my relief, the noise was from my back light bracket dropping a notch and scraping against my tyre. Easy fix and relief that I might actually be able to finish this thing.
Another stop, couple of food vans, I thought better than to get something here as Yangsan Water Culture Checkpoint was only 3km away and being close to Busan, surely there would be something there.

Nope. Sweet FA. A certification booth and a bench

Noel Mugavin · Oct 4, 2024

28 and a half km's to go and should be a nice easy cruise to the last certification booth

Slowed down a bit through Hwangsan Cultural Sports Park; early Sunday afternoon, beautiful day and lots of people around.
Through the park and then into the city limits of Busan, where things got really interesting

Green lane for pedestrians, red line for bikes

Cheery blossoms were in full bloom and it seemed every person who lived in Busan were out to see them. Bike lane became a pedestrian lane and it was a constant battle to stay on the bike and keep moving forward

Density of people kept increasing the further I went until I eventually gave up and went on to the road running parallel to the bike path. Think I might have got yelled at at one point on the path, but didn't bother to stop or turn around to see if it was directed at me

My hotel was situated 7km short of the end of the trail and no way was I going to battle the hordes to get there today. A job for tomorrow morning.
Was a little before 3, so rested on the sidewalk for 10 minutes or so before walking my bike ot the hotel to check in.
Great news - check in at 4, would have to wait. Bloke at the desk then had a change of heart and let me check in straight away. Became my best mate over the next couple of days, always up for a chat and making sure my bike was secure
Premium Ava Hotel, about $80 a night, chosen for it's proximity to the bike path and also to the Sasang Intercity Bus Terminal.
Clean and modern, close to a subway station as well.

View from the hotel window looking toward the direction of the river mouth

From the outside

Noel Mugavin · Oct 4, 2024

Shower, bit of a lie down then on the subway to Seomyeon and Uniqlo for a fresh set of clothes. Dinner at one of the restaurants in the Lotte Department store.