April 11, 2017

We woke up to the sound of rain on the roof and grey skies. The alarm went off at 7:00 and we turned over and prepared to go back to sleep when there was a knock on the door. The owner and another Korean cyclist (who spoke English) were at the door asking when we would like breakfast and what time we were going to leave. We were not expecting breakfast to be included. We said we would have breakfast at 8:00. The host told us we could stay until the rain stopped, no extra charge. The forecast was for the rain to clear by noon. I like to be on the move early and finish early, and I will cycle in the rain if I have to. Ralf doesn’t like to ride in the rain or to be perfectly honest any weather that is colder than 10 degrees.

We had breakfast and chatted to the Korean cyclist who lives in Arkansas U.S. he has lived in the U.S. for 17 years and returned to Korea three times. He was going to wait until the weather cleared up.

The owner had cycled the 4Rivers route twice and taken six days going from north to south and seven days going from south to north as it is harder. The hills are a steeper grade going from south to north. We saw the medals and certificates for the first time, they look really nice. He suggested we wait until the rain stops as the body gets very cold and it is not good for you.

At 9:15 we started the day in drizzle and cool temperatures, the hills and the river in the distance looked lovely. There were a few little climbs to start the day and Ralf was complaining about his crank, I thought he said brakes and I was concerned about him not having brakes on some of the downhills. We stopped under a bridge where Ralf was able to tighten his crank, so his pedals wouldn’t fall off.

At 10:45 it stopped raining and the sun came out. We were dry by the time we got into Gumi and stopped for lunch.

As we came into Gumi we saw a huge complex of apartment blocks. Who knew that it was a much larger city than we thought it was going to be. Gumi has a very large industrial area that is anchored by LG and Samsung. As we looked across the river from our vantage point on the bicycle path the LG plant was huge. The LG Display factory alone covered many city blocks. Every now and then you would get a waft of chemicals from the various support plants on our side of the river but surprisingly the air was quite good even with the low cloud.

As we cycled out of Gumi we passed this large apartment complex – Ralf did the count of apartments per floor, times by the number of apartments and came to the conclusion that there were approximately 15,000 people living in this apartment complex – a small town! The view of the river and the mountains with the available outdoor green space and a small shopping area this may not be a bad place to live. Live, Work, Play a liveable city?

KWater (Korea Water Authority) have been working on the water quality of Korea Water since 1999.  They have created dams and each dam is different, no boring concrete walls here.

Most of the dams have information centres near them to inform the residents how to conserve water and how KWater produce good water.  Korea is in the top 10 in the world for potable water.  The dams are usually the area where there is a stamping station and more info on the route.

We haven\’t seen very much garbage along the route, the occasional can or water bottle but nothing compared to other countries we have cycled through.  Would you consider this garbage or a  rest area?

We arrived in Waegwan at about 2:00 p.m. and looked for the Bali Motel, we couldn’t find it, but there were lots of other hotels to choose from.

We were expecting to pay more for the M7 Motel, but it was only 40,000 Won ($46.00). Ralf asked if I wanted to check the room, but I told him every room I have looked at in Korea has been clean, I didn’t need to check the room. However, when we walked into the first room the smell of smoke was over-powering. We asked if there was a non-smoking room and he gave us another room. The bikes are in the room with us and we still have lots of room to swing a cat.

As we are in a City, the first since Chenju we decided to have a walk around after settling in to the hotel room.

We found this amazing local market, fruits, vegetables and fish. Although there is an American Military Base within 3 kms of Waegwan we still felt as if we were the only foreigners in Town. There were a lot of smiles and a few hellos by the locals. Unfortunately Ralf couldn’t buy the wonderful selection of mushrooms and make me his special wild mushroom risotto that I love.

We needed to boost the funds and stopped of in three banks and couldn’t get any funds! For some reason Ralf’s card would not allow him to withdraw any money. We went back to the hotel and got my card – panic I couldn’t remember the pin number, it had been so long since I had used my card. Second attempt and I was able to withdraw some cash. We now have enough to keep us going until Busan – we will spend a couple of nights in Busan before heading back to Seoul.