Warts and all: 양수[Yangsu]-흥호리[Heungho-ri]

April 27, 2022

We both slept until 6am! And we were on the road before 8am. Coolness and calmness prevailed as we joined a fine rail trail leading us past charming little farming communities.

There were tunnels galore:

There was also plenty of bike boosterism and public art. We spent our first break near an art gallery (it wasn't open) housed in a couple of old train cars:

As we settled into the day's touring groove, I started to notice the little things.

These 철쭉 (royal azaleas) are everywhere, they are blooming right now, and they are GORGEOUS

This big guy was not budging from his spot on the bike trail no matter how close I got to him

I collected more stamps today:

At lunchtime we had the incredible luck of arriving in a town full of 막국수 (buckwheat noodle) joints. This dish is perfect for a couple of carb-hungry bikers.

Before continuing with our recap of the day, I want to talk about face coverings a little bit. On previous visits, we found it odd that all the cyclists wore bandanas over their faces. Sunyoung asked someone about it. Apparently it's to limit the amount of yellow dust (via the Gobi desert) they inhale. We didn't know what we'd see this time around, and it's all mixed up with the COVID mask mandate, which is for both indoors and outdoors. We've seen the gamut of different materials and designs, but bandanas are decidedly out of fashion. You can see from our photos that we're trying out a few things to see what works best for each of us.

Anyway, the afternoon was something of a blur. From our research, we knew there was a short, steep descent somewhere. We thought we'd somehow managed to miss it, when it magically appeared:

Who decided that parking spot curbs should be used here, of all places?

The other odd thing was a long, wide straightaway that, according to signage, used to be an airstrip of some sort?

We were looking forward to camping tonight, and to that end, we made a couple of little side trips to get food and fuel. The fuel canister started leaking as soon as I added the pump, so I knew something was amiss, but I figured I could repair it at camp. We arrive at our destination, and everything looks great:

Translation: Seom River "toad" car campground

...but when we approach what looks like the main office, it's run down and has "closed" signs on it. Sunyoung talks to a couple of people who inform us that this campground has been abandoned, so it has no working facilities. Plenty of people still camp here, however, including a guy on a bike towing a trailer we'd seen earlier. With no other choice, we decide to go for it.

I conclude that the fuel pump needs a new O ring, and probably a new pump valve cup, neither of which I have. If only I'd done maintenance on it before the trip! It was working fine the last time we used it 6 months ago. So we sucked it up, ate our bowls of thankfully precooked rice, and split an uncooked bag of ramen. Dinner of champions! I don't know what to do with the stove. There's no way I'm going to find a maintenance kit for it here in Korea. In the meantime, if we camp, it'll have to be pretty close to a convenience store so we can heat up our meals. Either that or we'll go the cold food route. That is really not our style. We at least need to have hot coffee in the morning. We're pretty spoiled, I guess.

Anyway, this place is pretty nice and we're making the best of it. I opened the BirdNET app and identified the calls of the Chinese hwamei and the oriental scops owl. It's time to sleep now. Until next entry, pleasant dreams!

Today's ride: 77 km (48 miles)
Total: 179 km (111 miles)

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