February 4, 2024
February 4th
Tongluo to Houli
Today's the first day of spring in the Chinese calendar and a new lunar year begins next week. During the week-long break, places get a bit too crowded for our liking, so we've decided to beat the rush and get away now.
The forecast is good, with it displaying the sunshine icon, and g and I like the idea of a trip around Miaoli County, maybe 100km to the south of where we live. Debbie is up for it, too, and we agree to meet g on the 9-ish train heading south and pedal away from home before 8:30. It's grey and cool this Sunday morning and I have a blue down jacket on. It should hopefully be much brighter when we get off the train after a couple of hours.
As we ride into town, I take a few snaps of Debbie ahead of me and when I view the image on the platform while waiting for the train to arrive, I see they're black and white ones. Who knows how that happened. I try the camera's Auto and Manual modes without any luck, but luckily the Programmed setting gives me colour.
We're about 15 minutes early and I have a hot, frothy latte bought from across the road at a FamilyMart store. The train arrives on time and g is on it with his bike and he's wearing a Nike top that I got him for Christmas. I bought it from a charity shop for US$3. The burgundy Castelli hat he's got on is one Ralph that bought him. That was likely six times more expensive. It's not that I'm stingy - I just like a bargain.
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The sky remains overcast during the train ride. The forecast predicted a high of 27°C, but that doesn't seem possible and unfortunately the train is an older one that doesn't have bike racks, so we hold them in front of us. At least there are enough empty seats for us to sit down.
Toungluo is a small town and the same grey sky as when we left home blankets its central streets when we wheel our bikes off the train and out of the station. As it's now getting of on for 11 o'clock, we head to a 7-Eleven nearby for coffee and a snack. I get a croissant to keep me going because there's not much on the route for a while and we'll start with a climb.
Last year I cycled here from the south just before the Chinese New Year break and have reloaded the screenshots of that route onto my small tablet, but it'll mean looking at them in reverse order and trying to remember to see them mirrored - as in where the route is coming from will now be where we need to go. What can go wrong?
As I said, there's a climb to begin with and when I recall dropping down it 12 months ago it seems it won't be a big problem, but cycling up it is a very different. It's tough. The incline is over 20 percent in places. We spin away and get warmed up. Actually, it's pretty humid and my guess is it's about 18°C. You don't have to be a mathematical genius to know that's well down on the predicted 27°C.
There's a mammoth, window-less industrial unit clearly visible on the top of the escarpment, which is our goal of sorts because a bike path starts just beside it that leads to a vantage point. The bulky unit wasn't complete last year, but it's now done and dusted. Being a Sunday, there's nobody around.
The climb lasts about 4km. We then get on the level path and follow it south for a few minutes to the Skywalk, which is basically a bridge with a panoramic view of undulating terrain covered in trees. It's pretty misty, so the view isn't that great today.
There are only a few people around as the weather isn't conducive to sightseeing. After taking a couple of snaps on the Skywalk, we pedal up the ridgeline and the small path climbs quite a bit until eventually reaching a Bhuddist temple, then we drop slightly down a wide road that's still empty of traffic.
There's a lane hidden behind the big temple complex and it's one you'd never find - I only know it's there as it's the route I took last year. We veer through the temple's parking area and round a large metal-clad shed and find the start of the lane. Its surface is rough and it drops steeply.
Our brakes, especially mine, make a racket as we take it steady. It's really too steep to enjoy and no doubt I walked up it last year. The bends are tight.
It seems odd that two cars meet as we drop down. It's a very tight fit and we have to step aside to let them pass. Why they've chosen this winding route is anyone's guess. There are hardly any homes along it.
It's not far to Sanyi, a town known for wood carving, once we reach the main road (13) in the valley. It takes us a few minutes to get to the edge of town and we check my screenshots and once near the hotel I stayed in, make a left at a set of lights and ride along a small road that takes us further south.
It gets a bit confusing and g uses his phone to find our location. It turns out we took a right somewhere when we should have turned left, so we double back and head to a McDonald's near a highway intersection, then after a late lunch, we get on route 苗51.
It's strange how the 苗51 starts off as a wide four-lane road, but after a few turns and a couple of villages, becomes single-track lane just wide enough for one car. We climb steadily, hemmed in my bamboo and trees.
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I have my camera out as we cruise along a flatter section and see what looks like a squirrel ahead of g and Debbie. It doesn't run off as expected and when we stop we see it's a pangolin. It's like a dinky dinosuar.
The creature is over two-foot in length and this is the first time any of us have ever seen one. They usually come out at night. It looks like its made of wood and leather and it slowly gets off the tarmac, moving like a snake with legs, and treks across the similarly coloured detrius of dead bamboo leaves.
The lane eventually crests and we have a panorama of another valley. Or maybe it's the same one as before. There's the high-speen railway below, running along an arched bridge before disappearing into a tunnel. A dog starts barking from some house way below us that we can't see.
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I've read that in Taiwan their number is increasing, whereas they're endangered eleswhere.
10 months ago
10 months ago
We follow a small road and go under a couple of high bridges and eventually meet the wide and busy 13 on the edge of Houli. We've already decided to get a train back north from the town, which is much bigger than I remembered.
It's a case of having to ride along the highway for 20 minutes before we get to the central area and by then it's started to drizzle. So much for that sun icon.
The ticket guy at Houli station says the bike trains are full until one at gone seven and as it's only 3:30, that doesn't go down well. We opt to buy tickets and try our luck on the next train that leaves in half an hour.
Luckily there's space on it, but it an older one without racks, so we sit with our bikes like on the southbound train this morning. The other thing is this train terminates at a stop long before our destination, so we get off at a main station - Hscinchu - as the ticket collector tells Debbie there's a bike train leaving from there in 15 minutes and it turns out we can get our bikes on. It's full, but the other cyclists who get on opt to move to the bike carriage at the front, where there are six more racks.
It's drizzling when we say bye to g, get off and start cycling home after a three-hour train journey. It's gone six. We have an Indian for dinner and realise we'd still be waiting for the train back in Houli if we weren't so lucky.
Today's ride: 40 km (25 miles)
Total: 3,630 km (2,254 miles)
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