Ride: Jeongeup, South Korea to Jeonju, South Korea
Distance: 45.8km
Terrain: A relatively short ride today, but still fairly arduous, with dips and climbs galore. If, like us, you have been using Naver as Old Faithful for bike routes, be forewarned that it will try to take you onto Highway 1, which is a huge no-no. A second option to ride along the reservoir is just the ticket, and the Incline of the Day is a bit easier than yesterday’s debacle.
To interact with this map, visit Jess’s Strava account here.
Jess’s allergies were proving to be a bigger hindrance than we thought, and we weren’t able to get going until 11 AM today due to her feeling completely knackered. Luckily, we only had about 45 kilometres to do before whistling into Jeonju for another full rest day, and even the climbs that lay ahead didn’t seem so daunting. A quite leisurely start to the day, then, which is never a bad thing, although the days are getting warmer now.
Following along on Naver, we left Jeongeup behind and were on our way to Jeonju, when Neil suddenly pulled the brakes and pulled over.
“Hey! What’s going on?”, yelled the stoker in the back.
“This is not right. We’re not meant to go this way.”
Jess wasn’t pleased. “Naver clearly says this is the bike path. What makes you think you know better?”
“Because I can SEE, you dummy,” Neil snapped back, pointing towards the horizon.
We were right at the start of an onramp for National Route 1, a highway that traverses the entire length of South Korea from north to south. This is a major intersection where trucks and other vehicles speed through to get to their final destination. Cyclists have, without a doubt, no place on that road.
So much of today was spent blundering through side streets on our own accord, trying to remain as parallel to the main highway as possible without losing too much time. As a result, we encountered a surprise hill that wasn’t on our original route plan, but we just gritted our teeth and pushed up it without too much trouble.
Once we hit Geumsanmeyon, on a whim we decided to follow the road to the reservoir. This turned out to be the best decision of the whole day as we rolled through some beautifully picturesque scenery and quiet back streets. We then followed the 712 road all the way through the main mountain.
Because this is very much a back road, we expected that there would be less traffic than the horrors of Highway 1, but unfortunately we couldn’t have been more wrong. We were deep in holiday country now, and this route is littered with shrines, restaurants, and wee rest stops calling out to passersby. This meant that there were tons of car traffic, and even worse on tight, twisty roads like this, buses.
To be fair, everyone was respectful and tried to give us a wide berth. Additionally, a climber’s lane for slower vehicles (that’s us) emerged soon enough and then there was plenty of room for everyone.
Neil making friends with people his own age.
We had been steeling ourselves for another monster climb, but as it turned out this one wasn’t so bad – shorter than yesterday’s and considerably less steep, the sort you really don’t mind so much once you find your rhythm. Before we knew it, we reached the summit and came across a sign that announced our arrival into the Jeonju region. Lo and behold, the ancient city of Jeonju beckoned far below, and we rocketed down the twists and turns of other side of the hill at a frightening pace - at our maximum speed, we were doing over 50 kilometers an hour - to the point where Jess got lightheaded and dizzy, while Neil laughed his stupid head off.
Once we reached the outskirts of Jeonju, it was a lovely straight bike path through town to the Hanok Village, which was our final destination for the next two days. But not before getting embedded into the local political scene and learning a trick or two about campaigning. The Brits could definitely take some pointers - imagine if Brexit was decided by a dance-off.