May 9

Suanbo - Andong City


The day dawned without a cloud in the sky.  And it stayed that way all day.  Here's the church across the way from our hotel; beautiful lawns.  


Oh - and our room had a massage chair in it.  Nice touch (pun intended)…


So - after two very flat days, we had the opportunity to test our climbing legs first thing this morning.  Ugh! Actually - the climb wasn’t too bad, and by about 17 km we had pretty much done all our climbing for the day.  

Views on the way up.





Views at the top.




About halfway up the climb there was this interesting carving of two Buddhas in the rock face.  



And a view coming down the other side. 


Once we were onto the flats, we were clearly into agricultural lands for the rest of the day.  Lots and lots of greenhouses, but also many rows of mounded earth covered in black material with holes through which the crops grow.  We saw lots of people out tending some of the smaller plots.  Also - quite a bit of heavy machinery working in the small ponds which I assume are the rice paddies.  They certainly appear to maximize the use of all available land for farming.  It looks like some of the crops are further along in this area than those we saw the first two days.  Here's a smattering of pics I took throughout the day.









Our route was varied. Bike paths in varying states of repair.  Bike routes on the road.  And - some sections on the road, sharing with cars.  At one point we were “on” a four lane highway, but we were well separated from the cars.  
















We saw lots of these big white birds in various places.  White herons, or egrets.  We saw a few grey ones as well, but many more white.  Apparently they are revered in Korean culture as symbols of righteousness, grace, and good fortune.


Passing through Mungyeong, there were lots of recreational facilities close to the bike path.  I really liked these contained soccer fields for the little ones.  




Oh - and they have their ducks in a row.............


Nearing the end of the ride we saw quite a few solar panels in the fields.


Some more interesting bridges as we came in to Andong.  And a good bike path beside the river all the way in.  




I was totally pooped by the time I got in.  First day with some climbing, and 123 km.  Also - the temperature got a bit hot for me.  We started at about 15C (perfect for climbing, although the sweat was dripping), then got up to 32C for a while after lunch before settling to mid-20s for the rest of the ride.  Thank goodness tomorrow is a rest day!  But first - out to dinner to enjoy a local specialty - Andong Jjimdak (braised chicken).  

Another day of beautiful riding and stellar weather.  I'm a little concerned about how tired I was by the end of the day and the fact that the climbing just increases from here, and the big mileage continues.  Time will tell..............


Stats for the day:

Garmin:  122.0 km.  3187 feet up.  3576 feet down.

RWGPS:  123.5 km.  1665m up.  1771m down.  


Andong

Population:  170,000

Wikipedia:  It is the capital of North Gyeongsang Province.  The Nakdong River flows through the city.  Andong is a market centre for the surrounding agricultural areas.  Since the 1970s Andong has developed rapidly, although the population has fallen by nearly 70,000 as people have moved away to Seoul, Busan, Daegu and other urban centres.  In the late 1990s and early 2000s it became a tourism and cultural centre.  Andong is known as a centre of culture and folk traditions.  

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