Part 9 of 10: The Four Rivers route to Daegu

The Four Rivers route to Daegu

This was to be a big day: 200km from Busan to Daegu. On the way out I was treated to a pretty cool building, can’t get more Korean than that. I think it’s actually a hotel.

Then off to the start (or for most people, the end) of the 4 Rivers route: a really popular cycle route running all the way from Seoul to Busan, cutting across Korea on mostly amazing bike paths and mostly pretty flat. I saw people doing it on Bromptons, so I reckon pretty much anyone can manage it over a number of days. My challenge was to do it in four, which was certainly on the speedier end of finishes.

And off we go. The cycle lanes were instantly amazing, as you’d imagine. The obvious differences from Japan: the towns were so much louder, since Korea doesn’t have the same speed limits, so drivers were way faster, plus 빨리빨리 (“hurry hurry”) culture. Also, having to cycle on the right side was a bit of a change, but even the shape of towns was different, with more apartment buildings making everything taller and more modern. But those cycle lanes, just incredible. And of course, more incredible bridges.

Also, much like Japan, the classic amazing view while cycling over a river.

Perhaps not everyone likes bikes though, scratched into this is 자전거 X, or Bicycle X in English. I guess no bikes allowed.

I saw some different kinds of temples than in Japan (no, they aren’t Nazis, before anyone asks), while soaking in some great views and cruising down endlessly good lanes. Honestly, even if you aren’t into bikepacking but you like cycling, you should do this route. It was certainly a long day, so I was glad to arrive in Daegu for a rest day.

Daegu was amazing to walk around, I’d only briefly been here before, on a bit of a rushed day trip, so it was nice to walk at my own pace, and the weather treated me well. I saw a weird kind of inception thing with tennis courts inside a stadium, one of them enclosed in its own mini stadium. Ended the rest day with a personal favourite from when I lived in Korea for a while: pizza school.

Day two of cycling in Korea, and I was hit with the misfortune of a bit of pollution. I love Korea, and it’s an amazing country, but it does suffer from a pollution problem at times. It didn’t affect me too much, but it does create a bit of a haze on the hills that isn’t the most welcoming. Tons of amazing bridge crossings, though:

And some amazing temples, even one with a grave to a loyal cow!

There was a short bit of weirdly steep climbing:

But the amazing cycling paths and views more than made up for the pollution.

The second-last day cycling in Korea, and on this trip. Similar to the last few days in Japan, it was starting to dawn on me that I’d actually complete this, but also that it was nearly, sadly, over. The pollution was a bit less that day, so it was a great chance to soak it all in again.

This was also the “big climb” of the 4 Rivers route; reviewing it against the climbs in Japan, it didn’t look too bad, and all the training paid off, making it mostly a breeze. Still an amazing view at the top, though:

And shortly after I was treated to one of my favourite pictures of the whole trip.