July 19, 2021
July 19th
the dam - still closed
Debbie informed me yesterday that the road around the local dam is now open to visitors. About time.
Wanting a bit of a change from the way I've cycled there for so many years, I spent a bit of time on Sunday looking at Google Maps, plotting an alternative route along a series of rural back lanes to get to the Dahan River and into the town of Daxi. After that it's straightforward to get to the reservoir road and there are no real options except Highway 7.
This morning I look through the roughly 20 screenshots and know the route to the river is so convoluted that it's impossible for me to memorize it, so edit them on Photoshop, then load them onto my 7" tablet, which goes into my bar-bag. It's 12:30 by the time my bike gets wheeled out the front door into the searing midday sunshine.
To kick off it's the wide and uninteresting Route 114 for two and a half kilometres, where my back-lane route starts.
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There's a short hill to whiz down and then a right turn to make at a temple. Maybe I've cycled on this back lane before, but only once and that must have been 10 years or more ago, coming the other way.
It immediately becomes rural and the narrow road has white 'cyclist route' markings on it. Most of the fields are empty and the buildings spaced here and there are small industrial ones - nondescript places clad in drab metal sheeting.
After a few minutes I hear what sounds like fireworks, but it turns out to be a bamboo grove blazing away on a lane leading to a few homes. The flames are leaping 20 feet into the air. It's not obvious what's making the gunshot-like noises and it seems best to keep a good distance before carrying on with the ride.
After only 5km, my tablet gets dug out once across a couple of junctions so as to check which way to turn at a fork in the lane. It's a bit confusing. There are so many dead-ends and I actually ride down one and have to double back.
It's only seven and a half kilometres of riding to get to route 112 - a busy main road that I cross over and find a side street that keeps me heading roughly south via more rural lanes wide enough for just one vehicle.
Maybe my luck's in, because when it does feel like I'm a bit lost and cycling in the wrong direction, a couple of spots look familiar from Google Maps to confirm this is the chosen direction.
I ride to and cross Route 3 and explore a few backs streets of a neighborhood of typical 50-year-old houses collectively labeled Yuanshulin and pause to take snaps of an empty, sad-looking shop and an old mop left to dry in the sun against the discolored wall of someone's house before speeding down a narrow, twisting road 64 that drops to the Dahan River.
Once across the old bridge, I push my bike up a series of steps that traders would have used a century ago to carry goods down to boats that would then ferry them north to Taipei. Camphor was one of the main items.
It turns out to be a longer slog that expected and at the top I'm in need of a cold drink. Today is a hot one, that's a fact.
Louisa Coffee is just a few blocks away - straight down the town's old street that's lined with Baroque storefronts with the former proprietors' names feature on parapet gables, then right for 100 metres.
It's well gone lunch time now and I buy a muffin to go with my large, iced latte and wonder where it'll be OK to stop and enjoy them. Getting out of town strikes me the best idea and I cycle up route 59 instead of the adjacent 7, slightly to the north, as its gradient seems more gentle and the 59 has a shoulder to ride on and maybe there's a spot to sit in the shade.
The 59 gives an elevated view of the flat Dahan valley as it climbs. There's a patchwork of fields with a few dwellings and workshops and some distant hills which are the foothills of the high Central Mountain Range.
It's not as nice as my other picnic spots, but a low concrete barrier wall is just the right height to sit on and the iced coffee gets balanced on its top while the muffin disappears. The shade of an overhanging tree keeps the heat away and a few cars, scooters and noisy cement trucks go by during the 10 minutes, but it's not too busy.
There's a flat section before the climb kicks on again and eventually the 59 connects to the 7 and the wide road has a 7-Eleven not far away and getting more cold liquid seems like a good idea because the undulating reservoir road has nothing.
A few minutes from the 7-Eleven is Cihu Mausoleum, where the bodies of former dictator Chiang Kai-shek and his son, Chiang Ching-kuo are interred. It's closed at the moment, but a little surprisingly the adjacent park hasn't been roped off, so I opt to go take a quick look at the numerous statues of the former Chinese Nationalist Party leader that have been moved here over the past decade of so from various government buildings and parks etc.
My bike gets left at the foot of a small, sharply curved bridge and I stroll around the park where all kinds of busts and statues are arranged, often in circles. Collectively, it's clear that the authoritarian Generalissimo was made to look like a benign father figure with a warm smile.
From the park the not-too-taxing climb up the 7 starts and after 10 minutes of pedalling there's a slightly hidden tunnel parallel to the vehicular one on the 7 that was once a route used to transport goods on a narrow gauge track. It's now a pedestrian path and it feels relatively cool inside its dark interior, but sweat is still running off me like crazy.
Once through the long tunnel, the road towards the reservoir starts. It's always fairly quiet, especially so during the week, and here and there are glimpses of the water to my left, but most of the time it's hidden behind trees and bamboo.
One vantage point comes along and a few minutes later there's another. It's a nice surprise to see the level so high, as there was talk of rationing water just a month or so ago.
It's about 5:00 and I've only cycled around 30 kilometres when I get to the booth where cars have to pay a fee to continue their journey around the scenic area, and get to the dam. It seems odd that three men dressed in the same clothing are standing around stopping cars.
As I go to ride past the toll booth, they wave me down and indicate the remainder of road is closed. My mind tries to get a grip of the logic and fails miserably.
There have been no signs informing anyone driving this way that this is effectively a cul-de-sac and that the road is in fact still closed to visitors. How it helps deal with COVID is beyond me, but there's no use remonstrating with the three guards and the penalty for riding past them into the dam area would be a hefty fine. To say cycling over 300 metres in altitude from Daxi all for nothing has pissed me off would be an understatement.
My bike gets parked and half of the water that's left in my metal bottle gets downed before I get back on the bike and start the ride back, my head trying to figure out the best option to ride home. What's clear is that would have been a 10-minute ride to get to Route 3 is now going to take me at least 90 minutes and involves heading back down the 7 towards Daxi.
The reservoir road undulates and it's about 6km to get back to the 7, which then drops to the mausoleum and I opt to get some sustenance from 7-Eleven when it appears. I settle for a litre of chocolate milk. That should get me down the road for a while.
Rather than cruising down the long hill into Daxi, I take a steep twisting road at the top of the hill, one that cuts directly into Route 4, which is a wide road that heads to the foot of the dam. My plan is to now follow the 4 to where it connect with Route 3, at the top of a decent incline, then continue climbing until I get to a lane about 5km south of Longtan.
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The sun is getting low and shining in my face when I get near the dam and cross the Dahan River on a long bridge. It must be years since I cycled this way, while I came the opposite direction quite recently on one of my failed rides around the reservoir. Around 10 or more years ago, it was a route Debbie and I would sometimes do and it was always a slog getting up the hill. This time is no different as it kicks up near the junction with the 3.
It seems doubtful I'll ride home during daylight hours as its fading fast. There's plenty of time, but cycling in the dark is not a great idea. Thankfully I have front and rear lights with me.
When I get to the small lane that drops into a narrow valley and then kicks up the other side, the sun has disappeared behind the horizon and my LEDs get switched on.
There's really only a 30-minute window of dusk and after 7:00 its dark. That's the way it is in Taiwan. Rush hour has gone, but there are still cars on the small roads I use by default when riding this way.
It's getting on for 8:00 when I finally arrive home after what has proved to be a tiring ride in the heat, and finding out why it wasn't possible to cut across the dam is one question that won't go away. Debbie will be home before very long and will be able to find the info' online.
Today's ride: 57 km (35 miles)
Total: 561 km (348 miles)
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Debbie looked it up today and the road gets closed at 4:00 for some unknown reason.
I may return one day very soon just for the heck of it.
3 years ago