Yuli south to Taitung City

January 21, 2025

over route 30 and down coastal Highway 11

A new day, a new plan. This time Ralph will drive us south to a town called Yuli, about an hour away, where we will park up then pedal our way towards the coast on yet another cross-mountain road. This one is numbered 30 and is pretty new. Neither of us have cycled on it before. Once at the coast, we aim to ride south to the main city of Taitung and from there take a train back north to Yuli and find a hotel room. The train we want departs just before 5:00, which means we can't hang around - it's quite a long ride.

The sun is out again as Ralph drives along Hualien's central streets and gets on Highway 9. These so-called 'highways' are not like ones in the west - the 9 has numerous traffic lights down it and is more of a regular, busy road.

We soon pass a group of around 50 teens on bikes no doubt on an organised school trip. Riding down Highway 9 isn't my idea of fun, but it's what a lot of people here do. Many aim to circle the whole of Taiwan in 10 days. What ralph and I are doing is much better. At least these young guys have decent weather today - cycling along this road in chilly January rain would be a real pain.

It takes us 20 minutes or more to get to a 7-Eleven that appeals and I have the usual breakfast of blueberry bagel and cappuccino. Hopefully it'll be enough to power me up and over route 30 once we get to Yuli.

We drive out of Hualien City before 8:00

We park next to the train station in Yuli

Ralph gets us to Yuli's train station and parks right next to it for NT$150 the day. He has a tube of sun screen in a bag and I rub some on my arms and face before we start cycling out of town. Yesterday I got a bit frazzled.

The first couple of kilometres are along Highway 9 and are pretty crap. First there's a narrow bridge, which is long and has no shoulder, then we go south on a section that has construction work underway before we finally get to the turn-off onto Highway 30. It's all quite busy. As we pedal along, I recall a bicycle path that goes this same way from the train station - it's one I've cycled along a couple of times. Ralph didn't know anything about it. It would have been much better.

There's little traffic once we're on the 30, which is obviously welcome. We don't really know what to expect now, apart from the long tunnel at the top, but the highway people here have designated this 'Bike Tour 45-1'. We can't guess where they got that number from. There are signs by the road.

Route 30, which is fairly new, cuts through the peaks ahead via a long tunnel

The climb is a decent one, but the gradient isn't too bad. I have low gears and use them to spin away. In the distance I can see what appears to be the wall of a dam. Ralph spots and wonders what it is. It's a level profile and is clearly man-made.

Eventually we reach the level part. It's not a dam but actually the road running along a ridge that must have been created to saddle two hilltops. It's not flat as it looked and continues to climb. As we pedal away, a foreign cycle tourist freewheels down and gives us a wave. She's about 30 and seems to be alone. I stop to eat a cereal bar after a while and take a drink.

At the entrance to the tunnel we have to stop, as there's a maintenance crew doing something. It takes about 10 minutes before the guy with a red flag allows the half dozen cars and ourselves to pass. The cars disappear soon enough and we wonder why there's only one lane open, as the other one is perfect. It's where we ride.

After just 200 metres or so it's down for the next couple of kilometres and our speed picks up. It makes me wonder how the female rider got on riding all the way through uphill and if she kept to the 'open' lane and encountered any traffic, because even with our high speed, before we reach the end the controller has already given the green light for cars to drive towards us.

We have to wait for five minutes or so at the entrance to the tunnel

Zipping through the two-kilometre-long tunnel in the 'closed' lane

We get back into daylight and our speed remains high. The road bends down towards the coast and we reach a sign that says we're entering Taitung County. There's a viewing area where we take in the sight of the coastline to the south. It's not as sunny as yesterday and consequently the ocean doesn't have that gorgeous turquoise colour to it. I can't help think that the female rider had a decent climb to do.

Highway 11 follows the coastline, but drifts inland a bit here and there. When it is hugging the shore, we're on the wrong side of it to get the best views and it reminds us how lucky we were yesterday riding north.

There's also a stronger breeze today and this helps push us long, with our speed is in the 20-30km/hr range. My Rohloff gears max out when there's a slight downhill - above 45km/hr I just spin like a bacon slicer.

Freewheeling to the coast in Taitung County

One of just a couple of brief stops to take in the view

Highway 11 has a decent shoulder for bikes and scooters

Still a way to go nearing the 125km marker

There's not much to stop for and the photos I take on done as we ride along - usually of the back of Ralph whenever he's leading. While the route isn't super busy, the traffic is constant. A wide should makes sure we're safe enough and we share it with motor scooters that occasionally whiz past. Lunch is at a 7-Eleven again. They are everywhere here.

Signs give the distance to Taitung and the Casio that's strapped to my barbag makes me wonder if we can make the train at just before five. It's just as well there's not much to stop for as it's going to be tight, even at our high speed.

We eventually reach the edge of Taitung and Ralph checks Google to see if we need to go through the city centre, as the train station is on the western edge of the city, quite a few kilometres inland. We cross a long bridge and as we get near the end, I spot a road below which has a large sign that has 'Train Station' directed on it, so at the end of teh bridge we make a 180° turn, then ride along it.

Checking our best option for Taitung Railway Station from Highway 11

A deserted route supposedly heading to the train station

The straight road to the train station is completely deserted, which feels weird and disconcerting. We begin to wonder if it is actually the right way, so eventually Ralph checks his GPS and it tells him to make a left, which we do, but it's just a back lane, and it then tells him to go in the opposite direction to where we know the station is. We end up on a rutted farm track.

My Casio now says we it's 4:30, so have less than 20-odd minutes before the train departs and proverbial alarm bells are ringing. We ask a couple people for directions when we see them and can spot a huge stadium's roof, so know that's where we need to aim for and make it to the nearby station with about 15 minutes to spare. After buying tickets, there's enough time for me to buy a bottle of drink and we then use the elevators to get onto Platform 3 and board the train.

The rear carriage is deserted. The conductor joins us before the train departs and asks to look at our tickets. They say 'rear carriage' for our bikes and as these east coast trains don't have racks for them yet, we just sit on the long bench seats with them in front of, or beside us. Everyone does. However, this ticket guy must be new because he asks us to move along the carriage for some reason and then says we should strap the bikes to a verticle metal pole-handrail. This is winding me up. We don't have a bungee and if even if we did, the bikes would simply fall down. It's been a near-100km-long, tiring day and the stress of catching the train hasn't quite subsided, and this twerp clearly doesn't know what he's talking about. He gets my message and disappears.

We make a mistake and turn off down this lane

The empty carriage north from Taitung City to Yuli

We have about 90 minutes before we arrive in Yuli and Ralph has time to consult Google for dining options and hotels there. I've stayed ina old place a couple of times, but there has to be better now and we agree on booking into a new-ish hostel called 3030. It's only a block from the station and looks decent enough. Once in Yuli, we head straight there and check in.

Check-in is a self-service operation, but the two young receptionists help Ralph type in the relevant details - only his surname will work - and after completing other stuff we eventually get room keys. I find it hard to see how this is more efficient than a traditional check-in.

Our bikes get wheeled into a yard at the back of the hostel and it's a surprise to find there are loads of bikes already there. The receptionist tells me there's a group of 50 high school pupils and I wonder if it's the group we saw this morning. It doesn't seem likely.

After a quick wash and brush-up, Ralph and I walk a few blocks to a place that Google flagged up as a good place to dine. It's just a tiny cafe run by a Pakistani who does curry wraps. They certainly hit the spot.

Yuli is a small town and it's now getting on for nine and things are closing down. There are no pubs that we can tell, but wanting a beer, we look in the few 7-Elevens for cans of Guinness, but there's none. Then Ralph remembers that the hostel advertised 'alt beer' - whatever that is - so we head back and splash out NT$190 each on bottles of a brew made in town. It's fab, but we only have the one. We're both ready for bed.

We venture out for dinner in Yuli at about 7:30

Dinner is yummy curry rolls sat inside here

The 3030 Hostel sells this locally (Yuli) brewed beer

Today's ride: 98 km (61 miles)
Total: 251 km (156 miles)

Rate this entry's writing	Heart	3
Comment on this entry	Comment	0