Bicycling from Incheon to Sokcho

Last year I traversed most of Korea from north to south by bike.  This year I went from west to east. Last year’s ride was more miles. This year’s ride, from Incheon to Sokcho, a city on Korea’s east coast, was more hills–a lot more.

My GPS device tells me I climbed 7,638 ft over 218 miles. That’s not exceptionally hilly, except that the first part of the ride was along the Han and North Han rivers, and the last part along Korea’s east coast. Most of the climbing was concentrated in the middle, with nearly 6,000 of those feet over 80 miles, riding through Gangwon-do, Korea’s most mountainous province. It is also very beautiful.

First day

The prospect of continuing my journey made the familiar ride from Incheon to Seoul more fun. I was particularly looking forward to making it past Hanam, the city just east of Seoul, and the farthest I had previously rode along the Han river. Past Hanam I followed a new trail along the North Han river. This is a popular resort area, with lots of boat and float rentals, tourist restaurants, and the like, along a main drag. The hills also begin in this area. This day was 98 miles, the longest ride of the trip.  It was longer than anticipated because I rode about 5 miles past my hotel–had it marked in the wrong place on my route–and then had to ride another 5 miles back.

The end of the ride today took me to Chuncheon, an area I had visited with friends three years ago. I enjoyed seeing some places we visited. I had chicken galbi for dinner because it is a regional specialty and for old time’s sake. This restaurant’s galbi was just okay, however.

Second day

This day was the most arduous, with three long climbs, among others.  There was beautiful scenery in this mountainous country, but my route took me along too many large roads.  These were not unsafe, just not picturesque. I chose the route to avoid super steep climbs (one route has a climb with an improbable 27% grade!), but I think the price I paid was to end up on these larger roads, likewise routed to avoid the steeper terrain just to the north.

My unexpected treat today was my destination, about 60 miles from the day’s start, the mountain town of Inje.  For a fairly remote town, Inje seemed to be doing well (tourism?  fishing?). It had lots of restaurants, and the one I ended up at was an excellent korean bbq restaurant with tasty and abundant sides that just kept coming.

Third day

I thought the challenge of this day would be the hills, but instead it was the rain. The climb was not bad, in part because I found better routes with more gradual ascents than what I had first mapped. Today was the most spectacular scenery. This is Korea’s high mountain country.  The area is also famous for its 황태 (dried pollock). Accordingly, I had pollock soup to fortify me for the climb over the divide between the mountains and the sea. By the time I got to the top of the divide, it was covered in fog. I had a great long descent, with some rain but also some clearing. I thought I might have dodged the rain that had been forecast for the whole period of my trip and was congratulating myself. But by the time I hit the coast a moderate rain began and continued for hours, all the way into my final destination in Sokcho. I ended up riding in the rain for about 4 or 5 hours.

I was was underwhelmed by the East Coast trail, which I road into Sokcho.  This trail, which continues another 250 miles down Korea’s east coast, was at the origin of my trip. Originally, I wanted to ride this trail. Then I added on biking to it, rather than taking a bus.  In the end I rode a much smaller portion of the East Coast Trail, because I biked to this trail instead.  That was a good choice. The East Coast Trail is a patchwork of boardwalks, roads, small trail segments, etc. One part of the trail required me to ride through sand, drag my bike up and down a series of steps, and walk it over very rough cobblestones. Enough!  The trail is usually marked okay, but sometimes the markings go away. And in any case, one has to be continually alert to follow the trail markers.  Did the fact that it was constantly raining also sour me on the trail?  Probably. But I think I am more of a mountain than a beach person, anyway.  I was happy to make it to Sokcho, which Teresa and I visited in 2019 and 2021.  It was easy to know where to get a hotel and I enjoyed seeing familiar sites.

Goodbyes and Reflections

The next day my bike and I rode the bus back to Incheon. I had just some time to stop at one of the many coffee shops in Sokcho that look out over the water.  This one had really good coffee and pastries too.

The most surprising aspect of the trip to me was how populated my route was. I thought I would be riding in remote countryside, but besides the tourist strips I had not expected, there were towns everywhere. On last year’s bike trip there were some pretty remote areas. A couple of times I was uncomfortably short of water. As a result, this year I rode with at least one and sometimes two 1.5 liter bottles of water on the back of my bike, in addition to what was in my water bottles. The water I carried with me were extra pounds on my bike I did not need, since there were stores regularly on this route.

At the same time, I saw many fewer long distance cyclists this year. I was on paths only about half the time, and none with the length and fame of the Four Rivers Trail. If I had spent more time on the East Coast trail, I might have seen more. I did miss running into the occasional fellow traveler.

This summer, I hope your burdens are light, you have plenty of water, and, when you want to, you run into some fellow travelers.