Gareth and I cycled 160 km from Daejin near the North Korean border, south to Donghae. We did a leisurely ~50 km a day. The route is along the 동해안 자전거길 (Donghae-an Cycle Path) and this trip was the end of September, 2023.
Day 1 – Daejin to Sokcho – 48 km – Sept 29
I got up early Friday and cycled to Hongdae subway station. This was Chuseok, a long national holiday. Holidays mean you’re allowed to take bicycles on the subway. I was first at the bus gate at Dong Seoul bus terminal; I was paranoid there’d be no room on the bus for our bikes. A couple with bikes arrived soon after me and looked as panicked as me! After Gareth arrived, one of the terminal staff instructed us to take our front wheels off in preparation for boarding. I had my fingers crossed there’d be no more cyclists arriving. And fortunately, there were no more…apart from the guy that showed up his bike after the luggage doors had closed and the driver had started then engine to leave. So we waited while he jammed his bike in the already full storage area then get on the bus. Yeah, fuck that guy…
It was quite a long bus ride, four hours, with a 15 min break. At Daejin Bus Terminal, we reassembled our bikes and headed north about 4 km to get to the official start of the trail. I have a cycle trail passport from Niall (Seoul City Outdoors) and I wanted to start getting stamps. After that, and heading south, we stopped for coffee and cake at Cafe DoIt 192.
Now we were fully on the road and really enjoying the scenery. The weather was sunny and cool and the sea looked inviting. There a few great bits of rocky coastline that we stopped at. We cycled inland a bit, around a large lake then continued south along the coast. There were a few smallish towns we had to navigate through; the along the trail, you’re looking for a blue line on the road, plus signs saying 동해안 자전거길 (Donghae-an Cycle Path) and these are not always easy to see. We had a beer break near some apartments after one of these harder to navigate areas.
We entered Sokcho around 5:30 or 6 pm and cycled straight to Sokcho Hutte Guesthouse. It was a self check-in place, and I’d booked a room with a bunkbed. After showering and resting, we headed into town for food. We weren’t really sure about the area so took a while to find a place to eat we were both up for! We got a beef barbeque and booze at 됐고연탄한우실비, before heading to the rocky coast for a few more beers by the sea. Then it was back to the accommodation for an early night; we were both pretty beat.
Day 2 – Sokcho to Gangneung – 63 km – Sept 30
I got a quick breakfast in the kitchen area at about 8:30; the host was making breakfast for all the other guests. The German couple did a double-take between themselves when they got their egg and cheese toast with jam! There were quite a few European guests actually. We left then cycled about 30 minutes to a cafe for a coffee. We were properly on the road by about 10:30. The route was mainly beach front, with a few inland sections and village detours. One such place was a huge ugly intersection area where we got some pretty rank tasting beef dish… We had some drink and ice cream stops at beaches, and some lovely beach pine forests. All in all, a (mostly) pleasant ride. I actually did part of this route when I cycled from Jumun to Gangneung in 2018.
This would be the most we’d cycle in one day, about 60 km(?) so we were definitely in need of all the stops and a good rest by the time we arrived at Coa Motel, our stay in Gangneung. After a rest and shower, we walked to Tom’s Bistro for some pizza and a bottle of wine. Then it was more beer on the beach watching people set off fireworks.
Day 3 – Gangneung to Donghae – 49 km – Oct 1
For our final day, we got our earliest start. We splashed out a bit at a cafe called Longbread on the Anmok beach cafe street. This was eggs Benedict and a decent coffee next to a large open window looking out to sea. Lovely. We were done just before 10 am and set off again.
This trail would take us along beaches, rocky and hilly coastlines, and inland through farm and industrial sections. It was and interesting and varied trail. I didn’t really enjoy the hilly rocky sections simply because there was so much holiday traffic snarling up the roads (this was Chuseok, one of the two biggest holidays in Korea). Fortunately, the traffic wasn’t fast, but it did mean having to weave in and out of slow moving cars as they fought there way of Gangneung and into Donghae!
Our final stop was for a convenience store meal and can of beer at an Emart24 by the beach near Donghae town. After that, we cycled through the town to the bus station.
We got to the very calm Donghae bus station by about 15:30, and Gareth suggested we switch tickets to an earlier bus. I’d booked later ones, not realising that if we took a bus to Dong Seoul (and not the main terminal) we could leave earlier on a relatively uncrowded bus. With Chuseok traffic, this turned out to be a five hour trip!
As my first multi-night cycle adventure, this was a great start. I’m looking forward to cycling further south from Donghae, may another two or three nights.