April 7, 2017

We left the hotel and were on the road or trail by 8:30.

We road into Paleyong and promptly got misplaced.

We followed the inter-city trail and not the river trail. One way directed us to the Ipobo Dam, the other had the logo of the four river route on the signs.

We could have followed the inter-city trail it would have eventually connected with the four river route, but we didn’t know that. We retraced our steps and followed the signs to Ipobo Dam.

The route today was very nice and followed the river most of the way. We had to take one rural road which took us up and over a hill and then dropped back down to the river. The hill was a 10% grade and I managed to get up and over without getting off. It was only a short hill.

We enjoyed the scenery along this route.  Each Town takes a great deal of pride in their flowers and parks.

Once again we are surprised to be spotting windmills in Asia.  We noticed a couple that are stores selling herbs.  The pots that make up the wall are Kimchi pots.  Kimchi is a traditional Korean dish made from salted and fermented vegetables, most commonly napa cabbages and Korean radishes.  Koreans eat so much Kimchi they say Kimchi instead of Cheese when taking a photo.

The  Ipobo dam has oval shapes on the top to represent the eggs of a crane, which is the National bird of Korea.  As we got closer to the dam the architect included the shape of the bird in the arches of the dam.

We stopped for lunch at the Yeojubo Dam.  After we had eaten Ralf went up a water tower to get photos from the top. The dam creates 4,950 kW of electricity.

An older Korean man came over to us, he had a really nice road bike and obviously road it a lot.

He didn’t speak English, but we managed to “chat” about the river route and the fact that Ralf couldn’t get a pass-book. He told Ralf to go inside the building where he could get the pass-book. Ralf came out empty handed. The Korean man took Ralf back inside and a few minutes he came back out and started to “chat” to me. Ralf came out with the pass-book and a map of the river route! A few minutes later the guy who gave him the passbook came out, he was the nephew of the older Korean gentleman. The older Korean gentleman was 76 years old and cycles every day. He had a very nice Italian road bike that weighed 7 kgs.

He waited for us to be ready to leave and showed us through the City of Yeojou to the next stamping station about 10 kms along the route. He was a really strong cyclist and left us in his dust a couple of times.

He waited for us to catch up even when Ralf stopped to take a photo.

At the next certification centre, he made sure that Ralf knew where to get his book stamped. While Ralf went to get an extra stamp in the cultural centre, I continued to chat to this inspiring guy. He rode 50 kms every day and usually did it in less than three hours, he had a really good set of legs on him. We complimented each other on the strength of our legs and our arms! He showed us the way to continue and then was on his bike and away.

The cultural centre also had information about the third dam.  After we crossed the dam, there was a very steep decline back to the river!

Even the fish had a ladder.

On this section of the route there are more areas for camping that have showers and toilets and a raised camping platform.

It was a lovely warm day with a high of 25 degrees. We really enjoyed the route and the scenery.

We crossed over a small island to get to Guramni.  There were a few people setting up tents for the week-end.  I am not sure I would be camping at the moment, it is still a little chilly for me at night.

We got to Guramni at 2:30 and decided to stop as the next place for a hotel was over 30 kms away.

We thought we had found a guesthouse but the complex with guesthouse, cycle maintenance and café was closed. Two ladies came out of the small medical clinic and one of them spoke really good English. She told us there was a guesthouse in the village and to ask at the grocery store. Ralf went into the grocery story and they called the guesthouse, the owner came over to show us where the guesthouse was located. I had read that some of the guesthouse do not have a traditional European bed, instead they have a mat on the floor. We weren’t sure what we were going to get. Fortunately, we have a bed, although there is also a mat on the floor if we choose to sleep on the floor.

After rinsing out the cycle gear and hanging it outside on the balcony, we went to the local grocery store and bought a beef curry with microwave rice for dinner and some beer.

The fish restaurant that was located next to the guesthouse, was very popular with locals and visitors to the area, it was a busy spot for a Friday night. We were offered fish for dinner, but didn\’t fancy picking the fish or eel from the tank.