Cycling past the scenic road of Korea, visiting (Windy Hill) Sinseondae and Haegeumgang island

It was to be a long day today though when I got up, I had absolutely no idea it would be so. After wandering around by myself this long, I had somewhat forgotten planning and it seemed to me that each day seemed to pack itself with lots of beautiful happenings, movement and experiences. All I had to do was trust this and be present.

View from the Geoje art centre

Having a room to keep my pannier set meant that now I was able to move much faster on wheels and as I cycled out, I came across a signboard detailing several places to visit. The eventual destination would be Windy Hill ( Sinseondae) and it helped that there were so many places to visit along the way. First up on the ride was the Geoje art centre. The center itself was closed since I was there so early but this didn't stop me from cycling around to the back and seeing the view from the back, really beautiful in the morning.

Since Geoje was a coastal town, my cycle route today was very scenic, always within viewing distance of the sea and clean roads made the ride so memorable. It was a breeze that the day was clear as well.

Turning in to the shipbuilding marine cultural centre, an old ship replica caught my attention as well as a few other ship artefacts placed around the building. What caught my eye was the attention paid to detail. The ship also had rather nasty metal spikes along the sides.

A picture perfect view

After some time cycling around the place, I hit the road once more, this time stopping by the O'Neill Dive centre for a well deserved cuppa coffee. Someone I met along the way had mentioned about this place and it offered rooms to stay as well as dirt riding and paint ball in addition to diving packages.

 Rather tempted to dive, I realised that I could not meet any of the timings so that had to be shelved however just sitting there having coffee and unwinding for a short bit felt so relaxing due to the view at the window. Finishing my coffee, it was back to road once more and this time round the day was beginning to heat up.

Cycling past the scenic road of Korea, named for its beautiful views as you travel past, I had a chance to visit the ranger office of the Hallyeohaesang National Marine park located just by the road. The marine park is huge and covering all of it would be close to impossible with the limited time I had.

Popping in to talk to the rangers, I was given cold water to top up my Camelbak and more directions and places to visit on the way down.

Along the scenic road of Korea

Stopping by the side walk to relax for abit, I sipped on my cold water while taking in the scene by the road. Smooth rounded pebbles dotted the coastline and the water was very calm. Definitely a place to spend the weekend or just go for a walk in the evening. This stretch was rather busy, with many couples walking hand in hand and families playing by the water.

Haegumgang was now a mere 5 km away and the rangers had told me this was a must see place. Cycling up, the elevation went up and now I got a high view of the entire place, with the blue sea and greenery surrounding it. Windy hill as the name suggested was exceedingly windy and quite an interesting ride as my wheels caught the wind.

The jagged rocks at Sinseondae.

The little windmill at the end was rather pretty but my interest was more towards Sinseondae, with its jagged rock faces due to years of exposure to the elements. I hardly ever locked up my bike and carried it down, cycling where possible. The rough  texture of the rock and numerous potholes and shapes spoke of the years of erosion, adding so much character to the rock faces that characterised Sinseondae.

Moving around Haegeumgang

Stopping by for a quick drink at the drink shop, I moved on to see if I could visit Haegumgang island, the island that the rangers had told me to head to. To my luck, the next trip was in 30 minutes time and I had some waiting time. The staff at the booking office were kind enough to keep my bike under watch as I went for the island tour. I had signed up for a boat ride around Haegumgang island and a ride down to Oedo Botania.

We would not be alighting at Haegumgang island, since it was primarily an island made up of jagged rocks but rather just go one full round before heading off towards Oedo Botania, another island made up of a multitude of carefully created gardens.

I had only been to the botanical gardens before and alighting at Oedo was a delight. It could be seen that so much care had been taken to craft the plants into the shapes and sizes they were at and sculptures placed throughout the park only served to accentuate this.

The walk around the park was not too long but spell binding as every little detail had been looked into in terms of aesthetics and beauty. Trees trimmed into all sorts of shapes and sizes and carefully arranged to bring out the combined effect of a garden was just astounding.

I walked around certain parts more then once and a particular sign on one of the sections caught my eye. Another feature was a water feature that seemed really nice to photograph and before I knew it, it was time to head down to the boats which would be ferrying us out. Since this was an island, the boats were the only way out and to miss it would be to have to stay on the island. It definitely seemed sad to leave such a beautiful place within the short time we were allocated.

Oedo Botania had food places but unfortunately most were closed by the time the day was ending. As such all we could do was to sit by where the coffee places were before heading down to the pier. The ride back was fast and allowed us to see the sunset along the way back, beautifully set against the islands as we went past.

It would be a slightly harder ride for me on the way back as I did not usually ride in the dark and had been totally unprepared for it. Luckily the staff at the office were kind enough to wait for me as I returned before locking up the office and I had to cover ground fast to prevent too much night riding. The distance however seemed to go by really fast and I reached the motel just around 8 pm or so, still within my own predicted timing.

It had been a tiring day but the sights of Geoje had simply amazed me and I went to sleep truly happy with how the day had gone.