Ain't no shame in walkin': 청덕면[Chungdeokmyeon]-삼랑진[Samnangjin]

May 2, 2022

Our plan to raid the convenience store was successful. The weather was perfect for a little breakfast picnic.

We were greeted with yet another beautiful river scene.

We soon left the river to tackle the first hill of the day, 박진고개[Bakjingogae]. The path lead us under an expressway under construction. We lamented the fact that more expressways are still being built. At least they're still building new railways too.

Here I am shedding layers in preparation for the big hill:

The hill was pretty crazy. From what we could tell, it was a steady 13% grade all the way up. Just nasty stuff. I rode as far as the first rest stop and ascended the steps to take some action shots of Sunyoung. It's so hard to capture the slope on film, so I tried getting a little creative.

We rested a bit, then she darted off. I lasted a couple hundred meters and had to dismount. It was just too much of an aerobic challenge. Not that pushing the bike was a whole lot easier, but at least I could stop and catch my breath if I had to. It also made reading the scratch graffiti a lot easier. We didn't add to it. Perhaps we should have.

We reached the peak with its rest area and spectacular view. But wait: what is this? Could it be? Why yes, it's a big-ass bonus stamp! Perhaps that alone made the climb worthwhile.

We flew down the other side, with Sunyoung reaching speeds of 60km/hour! We reconnected with a dedicated bike path. My nose was a little itchy so I rubbed it gently with my glove, but it left this strange red stain. Then I felt liquid start to run, and I realized that my nose was bleeding. This doesn't happen to me. It was concerning. I cleaned myself up a bit, pinched my nose, and held it for a couple of minutes. Everything was right with the world again. We chalked it up to over-exertion. I slowed down and prepared myself for the second hill. Yes, there was a second hill. It started out way too steep to ride up. We had to firmly plant our feet just to keep from falling backwards.

Luckily this little tractor road leveled out somewhat, and we were able to ride the rest of the way. The trees obscured the view, or rather, the trees were the view until we reached another rest stop halfway down the other side of the hill.

We made our way into the town of 남지리[Namji-ri], which I had identified as a good lunch spot. I opted for 칸국수[kalguksu] (knife-cut noodle soup) and Sunyoung ordered 들깨국수[deulggaeguksu] (ground perilla seed and noodle soup). We had to wait a few minutes for the piping-hot dishes to cool off. We entertained ourselves by watching the staff prepare and load a large catering order. Looks like they're doing great business!

Afterwards, we helped ourselves to a free coffee and sat on the restaurant's small deck. Sunyoung dared me to go across the street and buy us a couple of 붕어빵[bungeobbang] (fish-shaped cake filled with sweet red beans). I vowed that I would get out of my comfort zone and interact with more people on my own this trip. The reward of this snack was enough to get my feet moving. It turned out that the guy spoke some English, but I continued to speak in terrible Korean. He asked me where I was from and whether they had 붕어빵 in the U.S. It was a fun and pleasant exchange.

Our new routine is to slowly cruise a few kilometers after lunch before taking another short break to digest. This works unless there are inclines. There was one. It was very steep but thankfully very short.

A beautiful steel truss bridge for bikes and pedestrians. Yay!

A cool little temple as viewed from the same bridge.

I probably wore out half my brake pads coming down this hill. An old lady walked out just as I started my descent. She froze in place, deciding that I couldn't be trusted to avoid her. Good call.

Finally the path flattened out and stayed that way until the only "official" stamp of the day at 창녕함안보[Changnyeonghamanbo]. The weir itself had none of the whimsical design features of the others, but the public building next to it was really nice. Plus, a stray cat kept us company while we rested.

Yesterday I mentioned that we planned to put in extra distance for two days so that the last day would be short. In order to make this work, we put the pedals to the metal (boy that metaphor really falls flat with bicycles) and sallied forth towards our destination for the evening.

There was an annoying side trip up the 밀양강[Milyanggang] to reach this low bridge, which turned out to be fun to cross.

Finally we were within striking distance of the 여관[yeoguan] (old-school motel) we'd chosen for the night. Suddenly the feeling of being in the middle of nowhere faded, and we were greeted with some bicycle-themed public art.

We got an 온돌[ondol] (traditional heated floor) room, which this last photo should explain. It's nice to be able to stretch out a bit. We showered and walked around the neighborhood, only to discover that many places were closed on Mondays or were shutting their doors early. We found a place that would serve a meatless 김치찌개[kimchijjigae] (kimchi stew). She thought we were crazy for requesting a meat-free version, but she relented and even tossed in some tofu for us. It was pretty good. Alas, we were so tired and famished that we forgot to take a photo. Sorry!

The convenience store had no craft beers, but we made do with a big-brewery wheat ale that wasn't half bad. And the little french fry snacks were tasty!

We hope to reach the final stamp booth by lunchtime tomorrow. It should be somewhere between 48 and 50km. I still haven't decided whether to buy the medal or not. It's practically a now-or-never opportunity, so I'll probably go for it.

It was a really fun day, full of adventure and beautiful scenery. We're seeing more birds as we travel south. They're very playful and don't seem to be bothered much by the encroachment of humans on their territory. It's surprising, considering the scope of the waterworks projects upstream. It seems that impact on the wetland environment was taken into account and they're doing a good job of managing it. I hope they are, anyway.

Today's ride: 92 km (57 miles)
Total: 596 km (370 miles)

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