November 8, 2022
November 8th
meandering to Zhubei
I spent quite some time yesterday looking at Google Maps and plotting a meandering route to Zhubei. The intention being to get there via a small town called Xinpu that has a few old houses. It's not a place I can recall visiting before, but my memory isn't great and it seems a bit too weird that I haven't.
Anyway, the weather forecast is OK and I wheel my bike outside at 9:30 dressed in shorts and a light top. It's still the rule here to wear a face mask, but hopefully that gets dropped soon.
As my wheels roll away from home, there's a view on my left over to distant mountains and clouds are low and thick. It certainly doesn't appear as rosey as forecast.
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2 years ago
The route takes me towards the edge of Longtan and I stop a few times to take snaps of allotment sheds. A few are tucked across people's land and it's a case of walking along narrow dirt paths between rows of veg. There's time.
The older generation here seem green-fingered and any patch of spare land soon gets cultivated, but the spots I visit are actual small holdings and the people who tend to them most likely sell what they grow at traditional markets.
As I head south closer to route 3, the sky ahead looks menacing and rain could well fall at any minute, so I opt to veer back towards Longtan to get a coffee and take stock. It'll give me chance to see how the weather's going to go.
I end up in the 'new' Louisa and have a hot drink and a toasted snack as it's a while now since breakfast and it's a shame I didn't bring a novel to read.
The scrap dealer's place is just across the road, so I pop over but the father and son are out somewhere, but the mother says she likes the photo that Debbie sent of the window grill that's now fixed to our living room wall. Hopefully they can get me another one at some point. There's a clock mounted on a basketball net that says it's now 11:35, so two hours have gone since I left home.
The sky seems OK and I decide to head to Zhubei and basically retrace my tracks to get to route 3. This is a wide road and it climbs for a while, as the whole route has since I left home. It's not an incline you can actually see, but it keeps speed down and there's certainly no freewheeling.
That changes after 10 minutes or so as there's a fab, fast drop that winds down past terraced rice paddies. The lane ends at route 20, which I exit after just 100 metres to get on a narrow lane that heads west.
This whole area is rural and the lane is nice with no cars at all. A couple of scooters come by, but it's bascially farms dotted here and there and lots of rice that looks about ready to harvest - it's turned a slight golden colour.
After a few kilomters I have to get back on the 20 to keep going west, but the road is pretty quiet. A brown sign for a place of interest catches my eye and across a couple of fields the distinct clay tiles of an old house are visible. It seems worth a look.
The sign outside the home is in Chinese and doesn't mean anything to me, but the front gate is wide open and that speaks my language. A few doors to the house are also ajar, so I wander around inside, not that there'smuch to see except in the main room, which is the usual family shrine. The two wings of the house are where children (sons) would have lived and these have rooms that are pretty small and dark. My gues sis they were just for sleeping in. There's no furniture now.
The 20 takes me further west into Hsinchu County and connects to route 115 to crosss over a shallow river. A couple of minutes after that I make a left onto a tiny road that heads down to follow the flow of water and there's a flood wall with a 3m wide top that makes a good, elevated bike path. While I cruise along, rain drops begin to fall, but the sun also makes a brief appearance.
There's a small lane I need to find to get into Xinpu and it's a bit of luck that I don't miss it. It's very narrow and there are then a few twists and turns before my wheels roll along the town's main street - the 118. The 'old' street is one block over, to the south and I get there via a narrow alley.
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There are some impressive homes along Xinpu's old street. Unfortunately they are not open to the public, at least not today. One is set back from the road, so it's a case of zooming in with my camera. The gate is open to one, but as I get my tripod out, a lady who lives there walks inside and closes it.
A little further along is a house that has a nice red brick wall and as I take a snap of it, the lady who lives there kindly invites me in to have a look. Her mother is sat outside in the shade and the daughter tells me she's 91. The shrine room has a decorated 'ceiling' with the roof timers nicely painted and it looks like the place has been recently refurbished. There are other parts of the home that look like they need some of the same treatment.
From there I veer into a warren of alleys and passages that look like they form a market, but today there's nothing happening and as it's gone 2:00 now, a break seems like a good idea, so I take one in 85°C and relax and cool down for a while with an iced latte. It's just as well the sun hasn't been out most of the day.
The plan was to make a beeline to Zhubei, but as it's time is getting on I opt to keep on the 118 and just head straight there. This road soons becomes crap with fast traffic and no shoulder, but it's only for a few kilomtrers before the town's numerous sets of red lights slow things down to a more bearable level.
As I get to the train station, a comuter train floas by and I know I've just missed it. Not to worry - they come along every 30 minutes or so and there's enough time to get a cold drink at the station's shop and sit and cool down again.
Mine departs at just gone 4:00 and the carriage for bikes is empty for the first 15 minutes, but a few passengers get on as we travel further north.
Today's ride: 45 km (28 miles)
Total: 1,925 km (1,195 miles)
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2 years ago
I showed your photos to Sue and she gives you high marks. Our weather here has been exceptionally warm and sunny until this week, and it now looks like winter will arrive soon. Enjoy your tropical island, even after the restrictions are lifted.
Cheers,
Keith
2 years ago
2 years ago
Sue has great taste!
2 years ago