Today, I hiked up Geumsan to the lovely Boriam Temple. A great forested and rocky hike with impressive views and temple. Namhae is a quiet and pretty island on the south coast of Korea, with Yeosu on the west and Tongyeong on the east. I spent a four days on Namhae-do, and here’s what I got up to!

Geumsan Mountain

After breakfast at the guesthouse, I drove out to Geumsan Mountain to hike to Boriam Temple. I’d planned a loop to take me back reasonably close to my car. I parked at the Dumo Vallley (두모계곡) entrance to the mountain, on the south side. I’ve added my AllTrails recording below.

The hike up was mainly through forest and very pleasant. It was a while until I got to some rocks and views back down to the ocean. The skies, unfortunately, weren’t super clear but I enjoyed the views. There were a few metal stepped areas and a little bridge to traverse which I found very cool. There was also a small temple on the was being refurbished or repaired.

The main ridge was very interesting. I took a detour to find a restaurant that I’d heard about, a stone house on the mountain that served food, called Geumsan Sanjang (금산산장); I found it but the main dishes were cup ramyeon and pajeon. The woman running it seemed to be resting so I didn’t feel like bothering her and also didn’t fancy eating noodles. There was a group of hikers eating at the restaurant though, and the picnic table had a fantastic view (I didn’t take a photo so as not to disturb the dining hikers! However, the Instagram page has lots of photos). The house, too, was unusual; it reminded me of the stone cottages you might find in the UK countryside.

Boriam Temple

Walking on, I found the trail to Boriam Hermitage / Temple (보리암); for some reason there were no signposts on this trail leading the way to Boriam, even though the map app clearly showed a route. I was fully expecting to come across a locked gate or fence barring entry! But there was nothing like that (I think the reason for not advertising this route is to encourage people to use the main entrance on the east side where, I believe, there in an fee. Also, there is a shuttle bus that runs up to the temple).

The temple is quite large and there’s a fantastic view from there into the sea. I was here with Romana years ago while it was rainy and misty; a very different atmosphere to this clear day! I mooched around for a bit then ate my sandwich on the decking next a big rock!

I left the mountain heading mainly south, not to the main entrance on the west. The start of the hike down takes you through some interesting cave-like rocky features.

Down at the bottom, I had to walk about 40 minutes along the road to my car; this got a bit hairy in places where the road narrowed. And yes, some drivers on this island are complete @$#%#!@’s.

Voyage Cafe and Guesthouse

I was now looking for coffee and other distractions! After noticing the Liam Neeson picture on wall(!), I drove east to an observatory tower. I immediately left after hearing the music blaring out; yes, I’m officially old! I drove back west and and found a coffee shop called Voyage Cafe where I sat for a bit looking at the sea. I went down to the harbour area to walk around but was told there was filming going on for a drama so I couldn’t go further…

I bought supplies for dinner then drove back to the guesthouse. Showered and napped, then spent ages deciding how to spend the the next few days. I knew the next day would be extremely wet, so contemplated leaving and going inland a bit. Then I though about Daegu, but the bus network would have meant lots of changes and a wasted day. After much umm-ing and ah-ing, I decided to stay on Namhae and explore my wet-weather list of things to do. And as it turns out, I had a great rainy day!

My AllTrails recording of the hike:

Places visited on this, and earlier trips (click the little ‘door’ icon to see the list):