April 8, 2017

A frosty start this morning, but the sun quickly warmed everything and we were on the road in light jackets, but leggings and socks.

It was a lovely ride, part of the ride today was on rural roads as well as the bike trail.

When we were on one rural road we spotted a touring cyclist heading towards us. A Korean man who had retired five years ago and was cycling the world. He had cycled in North and South America and Europe. He was now on his last leg from Busan to Seoul. I wonder how he will manage not being on the road everyday. It does take some adjustment, when you stop cycling after being on the road for so long.

We saw some interesting housing. The first house was an interesting build.  The second was a traditional house, with a new house built next to the derelict building.

We passed an area that was obviously very popular for fishing. I have never seen a “stocked” pond fished this way. Everyone had comfy chairs!

We were on the opposite side of the river to Chenju and spotted this area.  There were steps up a hill surrounded by stone cairns, there was a building with a large buddha at the top and a small waterfall garden area.  It was very nice but there was no information as to what it was.  

The route was easy to follow – until we went the wrong way again!!.

We got into Chenju and headed towards the Chengiu Dam. I had previously downloaded a 4 Rivers Bike Trail Information Package in English and I had read about the Chengiu Dam on this pdf. We both thought that was the way to go. Until we got there and realized that it was an out and back route. That added an extra 16 kms to the day.

The dam area was very popular, as there was a cherry blossom festival.  Ralf couldn\’t quite understand the excitement about the cherry blossom.  Until I explained that after a grey miserable winter seeing these beautiful trees blooming represents spring it is similar to the Spargelfests we went to in Germany.

We cycled back to Chenju, a little frustrated after a great ride. I spotted a love motel but the owner wouldn’t rent us a room. He told us to go into the main City and there were lots of places. We found a hotel near the park, which is very nice and the owners allowed us to bring the bikes into the room. We asked if there was a supermarket near by or a convenience store as we needed to buy noodles.  Five minutes later he came and gave us two pot noodles!

The park in Chengju (Tarangelmdae) is lovely, it has a very large play area for the kids, a nice pagoda, a museum for martial arts, and places to rent crazy bikes.

Once we had settled into the hotel and gone to the 7Eleven to pick up our dinner, Ralf headed back to the park to stamp his passbook at the start of the Saejae Bike Route. Ralf met two Russian cyclists who were cycling to Busan and back in 10 days.

Ralf told them where the 7Eleven was, and that there was camping in the park. They gave Ralf a coin from Russia with a Saint on it, she said anyone who helped them they gave them this special coin.