Cycling along the East Sea

From Gyeongju, our destination was the East Sea, along which we can follow another cycle route back up north. It will take us about a week to ride all the way up to the DMZ along the coast. We left Gyeongju a bit late, after a good sleep and a nice breakfast. For the biggest part of the day we rode again along really nice small roads - partially the 904 again, before hitting the coast. We encountered a pretty brutal climb about halfway, some 4-5 kms steep up, around 10%! At some point downhill we came to a junction, where we would take road 14, which seemed a bigger road on the map. It was a very small rural road however, and it was fantastic cycling through small villages, agriculture fields (lots of paddies), and we even saw a snake (1m+) on the road.

Our great guesthouse in Gyeongju, Momojein Guesthouse, we liked it a lot and would have probably stayed longer if it hadn't been fully booked...

Road 14, looked like a quite big road on the map, but was a fantastic small road in reality!

Old farmhouse in a village on the way, just before the East Sea

By mid afternoon we arrived at the East Sea, a great feeling! It was a hot day, and arriving at the coast was nice - even cool at times depending on the wind. We followed the coast trail for a while, until we came to a beach where we wanted to camp for the night. It seems like camping is allowed on Korean beaches, yet it's still a bit unfamiliar for us where and how. There are always some tents on the beach during the day, but these are just day visitors, and they disappear towards the evening. So we just enjoyed the beach, had our dinner, did some basic washing (no showers available), and set up our camp by nightfall in a discreet place a bit away from the main area. Once it was all done, giant spotlights were lit along the entire beach - bye bye discreetness... Nevertheless, no problem at all, we even noticed someone else pitched a tent later that evening, in the middle of the beach!

Arrival at the East Sea

Our home for the night

Coffee break time!

Then today we had a beautiful day, but somehow we didn't make any progress at all the whole day. The bike path is a bit messy, short bits of small road connected together so you can't make any real speed. Also, the main road is about 10-20m higher than the sea, and often the bike path is along the sea, which is nice - but you go regularly up and down to the main road, very (VERY) steeply. And finally, we had a fair bit of headwind too, slowing us down whenever we could cycle properly. So, around 4pm we just stopped at a nice beach, enough for the day after 57km. We enjoyed the rest of the afternoon, were treated to a beautiful sunset, and had a healthy dinner with sweet potatoes, broccoli and mushrooms!