Take me home, country roads: 칠국[Chilgok]-청덕면[Cheongdeokmyeon]

May 1, 2022

The Korean government currently asks for a self-administered COVID test 6 to 7 days after arrival. This being our 7th day here, we broke out two of the five antigen tests we brought with us. We also did it for peace of mind. We wouldn't want to be riding around spreading viruses, and we don't want to be surprised by sickness while mid-tour. We could've been more efficient with our extra chores, but we managed to start riding before 9am.

The weather was once again superb, and the trails smooth as silk, for a while, anyway. As we approached 대구[Daegu], things got squirrely, with a bunch of twists, turns, and viaducts. It didn't help that all the locals were out on their Sunday rides, but we managed to make it to the next stamp booth with only one wrong turn and a couple of close calls with other riders.

We enjoyed a convenience store lunch of 라면 and 짜파게티.

I took a few moments to reflect on our first visit to this spot in 2016. We had rented a pair of cheap, poorly-maintained bikes, and rode them between this weir and the next one downstream. Here we were back then:

This was the genesis of our current tour. "What's with the red phone booths?" Stamps? Passport? Hmm, sounds like a pretty sweet deal! I never would have considered touring in Korea otherwise. The infrastructure and the traffic are just too unpredictable here. But the established routes make you feel comfortable even during those moments when a tractor is heading straight towards you on a "bikes only" trail or when there's a hairy intersection to cross.

It's so exciting to finally be doing this for real, with our own bikes! It's even better than I dreamt it would be. Of course, Sunyoung is the real secret to making things run so smoothly here. She knows all the ins and outs of finding good vegetarian food, managing the details of the places we stay, and most importantly, answering all the questions people have for us when we stop for a break. Speaking of which, we encountered a few unicyclists on the trail today! Two of them chatted with us for a while. The husband speaks English, so I was able to share in the fun.

Neither of us remembered this section of trail as well as we thought we did. It was better. Perhaps they've improved it a bit in the last few years.

We finally made it to 달성보[Dalseongbo]. Time for another stamp!

Now we were again in uncharted territory. I asked Sunyoung about the name of a tunnel as we were approaching it. She thought it had to do with a historic confucian academy, and sure enough, she was right!

This section of the path had a lot of other surprises. Some of it was straight as an arrow:

Other parts were super twisty with short but steep climbs and drops. At the bottom of one particularly steep hill, we came upon an elderly man whose motor scooter had fallen over. We helped him pick it up, and we were trying to convince him to turn it around or to call someone. Another cyclist came along, who kept telling the man, as politely as he could, that he shouldn't be on the bike path in the first place. But it was a futile effort. Old farmers gonna do what they're gonna do. Certainly a bunch of fancypants cyclists aren't going to convince him.

Finally we had had enough of the rollercoaster ride, and found an alternate route around what looked like a particularly bad section. We stopped at a market, where Sunyoung found a drink I hadn't had in almost 25 years:

We reached the final stamp stop for the day at 합청창녕보[Habcheongchangnyeongbo]. We found a couple of business cards for a bike-friendly motel. It turned out to be the one we were planning to stay at tonight. Then Sunyoung said that their shuttle truck was right behind us. Apparently it's pretty common for the lodgings that cater to cyclists to offer pickup service. My question is, pick up from where? I can see if you have an injury or a mechanical issue or whatever. But it seems like this is more for cyclists who want to skip difficult sections, or just get too tired to make it into town. I'm not criticizing. I'm just curious, that's all.

Here's the one-horse town we ended up in:

And here's the "biketel". It looks like any other motel you'd see in a small town, but this one has a big shed with individual bike storage units. Super cool!

We had overcooked 물국수[mulguksu] (thin wheat noodles with sauce, vegetables, and broth) for dinner. We didn't honor it with a photo. But we were grateful to have a meal at all, after that first night eating convenience store food, and the second where we dined on cold rice and uncooked ramen.

Speaking of convenience stores, there's a nice one just down the road. We'll be able to have some hot coffee and sweet bread in the morning. Woo hoo! Tonight we got some rice puffs and a pretty nice craft beer:

We plan to ride another 85-90km tomorrow so we can make the last day a short one. Instead of spending the night in 부산[Busan], we're going to take a bus directly to 대구[Daegu] in the afternoon. Family awaits!

Today's ride: 92 km (57 miles)
Total: 504 km (313 miles)

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