June 8, 2017
Ulsan to Gyeongju: The continual blows from route 35 softened by the eventual arrival of rural roads.
Our business/love motel provided a light self-service breakfast and we only had a short hop today so we only hit the road at about half past nine.
The first two thirds of the morning's ride was on the route 35 - not much better than yesterday except that there was a meter wide shoulder for most of the way. Whenever a strip of road popped up alongside the road we grabbed the opportunity but they were few and far between (of course there was the inevitable one that proved to be a dead-end).
Leigh was struggling with a sore knee and we had a fresh headwind for most of the way so it was quite slow going.
With about twelve kays to go we turned onto a small rural road that runs alongside the 35 all the way to Gyeongju. It couldn't have come at a better time because I was about to lose faith with cycling in Korea.
We stopped at one of the burial mounds for which the Silla dynasty is famous, this one being a little diddly fellow that has the remains of the 55th king of Silla. The dynasty must have lasted a long time or else they had a high turnover rate of kings. The mound was in a lovely wooded area on the edge of the Gyeongju National Park and was a lovely change from the concrete and enternal combustion chaos of the route 35.
As we got into town at about midday, we found a restaurant and stopped for a lunch of beef on rice with all the usual accompaniments, including some tiny (2cm long) fish with a strong salty flavour.
We found the way to the Apple Motel whose details we had picked up from the 'net and booked in for the next three nights. Aftre a lazy afternoon we bought some drinks, bread and ham and went and enjoyed a supper on a bench at the Anapji Pond.
Today's ride: 43 km (27 miles)
Total: 1,454 km (903 miles)
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