Without a doubt the best investment that I've made since I've been in Korea is my bike. While it was a relatively large investment it's more than paid that back. Not only does it cut a good ten minutes from my commute to school, it's been priceless in allowing me to discover a lot of the countryside surrounding my town, and also further afield. I think I have probably cycled over a thousand miles since I got my bike in April.
There have been some memorable, and lengthy trips to mountains, beaches, forests, springs and towns and cities. I've racked up almost 50 miles in a day, and had several weekends where I've topped 100km. Sadly, this has wearied my bike a little, and it's no longer the proud steed that she was when purchased, but a slightly more rattly vehicle, and the maker of several worrying squeaks. Still, she's now in semi-hibernation for the winter, and hopefully a trip to the bike doctor will see her well set again in the spring.
The problem with cycling is that I don't get to take too many photos. This is a great shame, as the landscape around here is rarely less than spectacular. It's mountainous nature means that I'm usually either wheezing my way up a mountainside or risking my neck coming down it at enormous speed. Normally I don't stop to think about taking snaps.
So one Saturday morning I set out with the intention of photographing one of my favourite routes. In the mountains around where I live there are plenty of roads which see almost no traffic, and wind their way vertiginously up the sides of mountains. These, I've discovered, are the best roads in Korea, and the one I set out on is my absolute favourite. The route map and stats are here, but if you can't be bothered to read, it's about 2000ft of climbing all in all, but about the same in descent. Here are the photos, and some video that I took of it.
Jinbu farmland. The mountains in the background are more or less where I'm headed.
And more. It's pretty around here.
This road is almost new, but doesn't seem to go anywhere, and isn't used by anyone, except me.
Water is absolutely everywhere in Gangwon-do. Not that that's a bad thing.
No danger of me breaking the speed limit in this direction.
Goin´up.
And up.
And around.
And back.
And finally off-road up to the peak. I came up that road you can see.
The top for the first time.
The other side. I'd be nuts to go down just to cycle back up again, right?
So that road there is the way back to the top, from the other side. I'm a dumbass.
Eurgh.
This doesn't make it look nearly as steep as it is.
This is a bit better.
Genuinely. It really is this steep. My bike is ridiculously low geared, but even so I'm in first here. And sweating.
Almost there.
I came that way.
And here we are, the top again!
So really the whole point of going up hills is so that you can come down them again. When they're extremely steep and full of hairpin bends it's even better. It sometimes makes me want to strap my camera to the front of my bike and film it. So I did. Really the first clip is the most interesting, but the second two give a nice account of what Gangwon-do mountain scenery is like. Here they are:
And finally, there she is. My trusty-ish steed. Still in one-piece at least.That's it for now. More stuff to come as soon as I've learnt to speak Korean, Spanish and applied for my masters.
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