Life is what happens when you are making it happen - to repurpose a classic quote.
Today, got up early, put on some vaseline and headed out as far south as I could on the Korean Peninsula - Ttangkkeut. The province of Haenam is a hidden gem and secret, not much tourism there but lots to discover besides its bountiful fields of all kinds of agricultural products or aquaculture. It’s a bread and fish basket for sure.
Riding bikes, it is rolling, rolling, rolling and easy going - the numerous highways are almost empty, just got to avoid the big expressways - duck under them!
I’m learning lots about riding long. It’s a learning curve, the hydration, feeding, comfort, maintaining momentum “constant pressure” rather than just rolling along. But I do need to slow a bit and smell the roses along the way, will try to do that - we all should.
Haenam is off the beaten path and we all need time to do that - go somewhere you’ve never ventured before. Surprise yourself in a new locale. You’ll grow immensely from that time off the path well trodden (I’ll refrain from quoting Robert Frost).
Ttanggeut is a lovely little village. It has a nice “train” that will take you up to the top of the small mountain gracing Korea’s most southernly point. Plenty of seafood and friendly folks.
I’ll end with a poem I had rolling through my head …. probably nothing like what I composed as I rode along, up and down and hither and yonder. Looking out at nature’s bounty, but the sentiment and meaning remains the same.
Get off the beaten path.
Knick-knack paddy wack
give yourself a bone,
get out there
roast marshmallows alone,
cuddle up in a tent and bag for one
for you have won
and stick it to whatever is bothering you.
Forsake the paths well traveled
been there done that,
rattity tat tat tat
get out there
where there is fat on the bone,
undiscovered everything
for you and you alone.
Your grasp should exceed your reach.
Or what’s a bike or your feet for?
Get off the beaten path.
Riding To Land's End