2016 – South Korea

Wimping out…

Posted by on 30, Sep 2016 in 2016 - South Korea, Asia, Tilly the Tandem | 0 comments

Wimping out…

​Andong to Hyeonpung 4 nights 225km 759m climb (916km total) The hills out of Andong for some reason really bothered us so we decided we’d try to avoid them as we retraced our steps down stream.   The route so far has had numerous posters advertising lifts for cyclists up and over hills so we visited tourist information and enquired about booking one. This proved way too expensive and only took the bike so we just went for the old fashioned pedal and push instead.   The first hill was actually fine and we got to within 50m of the top before having to push. The second hill was...

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Hills, mountains and views

Posted by on 24, Sep 2016 in 2016 - South Korea, Asia, South Korea, Tilly the Tandem | 0 comments

Hills, mountains and views

​Chungju to Andong 4 days 232km 1164m climb (691km total) Now I’ve mentioned our dislike of hills on facebook – at length –  so after leaving Chungju refuelled we headed south and onto the Saejae Cross country route.  It’s only a 100km but it’s across the highest mountains on the route, though the Swiss may challenge the word ‘mountain’ but when you’re cycling a fully loaded tandem (tent, sleeping bag(!), hair straighteners etc) 540m certainly feels like a mountain.   First we took a short cycle to the spa town of Suanbo and...

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Running on a pedal and a prayer… 

Posted by on 22, Sep 2016 in 2016 - South Korea, Asia, South Korea, Tilly the Tandem | 2 comments

Running on a pedal and a prayer… 

​270km 6 days 1100m climb (500km total) Coming to Korea for a vegetarian is apparently akin to going to Nashville if you hate country music, add in making it a cycling holiday and it’d be like going to Nashville if you hate country music, America and Americans.   We need about twice the normal amount of calories a day when cycling and have been getting about half our normal food consumption.  By the time we reached Chungju we were finding even the flat stretches hard work and having to push Tilly up an 800m 10% Hill to get a passport stamp only to find the Chungjudam passport...

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Light sabers, stormtroopers and Love Hotels

Posted by on 13, Sep 2016 in 2016 - South Korea, Asia, South Korea, Tilly the Tandem | 0 comments

Light sabers, stormtroopers and Love Hotels

Seoul to Chuncheon 2 days 142km 476m climb ​South Korea’s police seem to have got a bulk deal on sawn off light sabers.  There are loads of police at junctions and they all have a sawn off light saber which they wave whilst blowing whistles.   Given that often there’s only the occasional car we’re not quite sure why they do this, but at we said before the drivers here are by and large very good, so maybe it’s a good way of getting high standards of driving.  The Star Wars theme is continued by the cyclists.   They all wear full length leggings,...

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Smoking, veges and baked beans…

Posted by on 10, Sep 2016 in 2016 - South Korea, Asia, South Korea, Tilly the Tandem | 0 comments

Smoking, veges and baked beans…

​Incheon to Seoul. 5 days, 87km, 135m climb Asia is not renowned for its smoke free atmosphere so it’s been a real shock to find so little smoking here.  Many streets and all bars and restaurants are non smoking and you can’t even sit outside a bar and smoke without asking the other guests if they mind. You can’t smoke in stations or infact within 10 meters of a station and you rarely see anyone smoking walking down the street. They tend to congregate in corners, often with their backs to the passers by like naughty school boys, or drug addicts, which I suppose they...

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You cannot be serious…

Posted by on 27, Aug 2016 in 2016 - South Korea, Asia, South Korea | 0 comments

You cannot be serious…

Right, I’m not keen on Asian food, we both hate hills, we’re both veggies added to which I’m, as many will know quite ‘fussy’ about my food, and I don’t like flying so where are we off to next then?   Well that’s a good question and the answer is of course,  the rather mountainous Asian country of South Korea, a place not renowned for its vegetarian food.  In fact they apparently love fish oil so much that it’s made us worry whether they put it in the coffee too. We may be using Pizza Hut a lot for the next couple of months!...

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