Nor'easter: 삼천[Samcheon]-연곡[Yeongok]

May 12, 2022

It's true that our 민박 room was small and devoid of small conveniences such as tissue paper. Sunyoung kept saying, "We paid for the view!" Well, this was the view. Not great, not terrible.

We were both incredibly sore from thr previous day. Those hills really did a number on us. One thing about touring is that you just force yourself to get up, put on your jersey, and do it all over again whether you feel like it or not. Inevitably you work out all the kinks in the first half hour or so. Today was no exception, although we were more conservative with our daily distance goal this time around.

Our breakfast consisted of bread, yogurt, and coffee. A notch above our usual. Checking out was a challenge. The owner watched our every move as we hauled our gear down one flight of stairs plus the entry steps. But hey, she complimented me on my Korean! First time that's ever happened here!

We left the touristy beach area and wandered through a maze of narrow streets and boardwalks. We made one wrong turn but we were rewarded with a series of colorful murals. I love this stuff.

The first stamp booth of the day appeared after just 2km:

On the other side, we discovered the cute little campground that was full when we called them. Also, a very steep drop to its parking lot! As usual, the photo doesn't do the slope justice.

Today's contributions in the "you won't see this in the brochure" department:

The latter photo was our introduction to the city of 동해 (named after the East Sea), which stretched on forever, with its wide modern streets. We passed some upscale coffeehouses, and when we smelled fresh baked goods from one of them, we just couldn't resist. It was expensive, but the pastry, the coffee, and the view were all terrific.

A headwind started to gain force. By the time we reached the next stretch of sandy beach, it was not only slowing our pace significantly, it was also chilling us to the bone. Why did we pick today to cook our lunch for the first time this trip?

At least the food was hot. But we would have been better off eating hot food inside a restaurant, like, say, one of the many Korean food buffets we passed yesterday.

It wasn't nearly as hilly today, but we had one that really tested our mettle. The signs said 7%, but it was definitely more than twice that in some spots.

The next beach, 정돈진, is famous for having a train station right near the water. It also has a stamp booth. This stamp was worn down so much that it essentially just made a solid ink blot on my passport. Today's stamp total was four. Only 6 more to go! On this trail, anyway.

We again found ourselves on some little farm roads, which led to a forested road paralleling the city of 강능. It was super cool except for the occasional oncoming car we had to squeeze past.

The wind was still harassing us, especially when we nearest the water. It was a little better when trees were nearby. Thank you, trees!

We reached our chosen campground shortly after 5pm. We noticed a pattern that all the good wild camping spots were marked with banners that specifically state that camping is forbidden. What a shame. Sunyoung speculates that COVID brought more people out to camp, and that these areas started to get trashed in the process, so the government put the kibosh on it. Seems like a reasonable theory to me. It's really cramping our style, though.

Lucky for us, this campground is nice, and is reasonably priced at the same rate we'd pay for a hiker biker site in Washington.

After a hot shower and a hot meal, we were happy campers. This is the life we were dreaming of when we dragged all our gear to Korea, and then all over Korea.

Today's ride: 70 km (43 miles)
Total: 923 km (573 miles)

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