Day 2, Leg 2

Where to begin? With stats!

Distance: about 27.1 km

Time: from 5:35 a.m. to 2:09 p.m., so about 8.5 hours (walked faster because I took far fewer photos, but still hundreds)

Steps: 39,492

Calories Burned: 4,258

Calories Consumed: 2,622 (deficit = 1,636)

Today's route was also familiar, but what I was very interested in finding out was whether the paths that had been closed off this past December had been reopened for the summer. They had. I didn't have to ignore a single "no trespassing" sign, for there were none to ignore. Beachgoers were and are out in droves, soaking up the last of the summer sun, fishing (legally and illegally), and camping (legally and illegally). The populace's response to the mask mandate seems, overall, to be take-it-or-leave-it. Some folks are masked; many are unmasked. My new theory is that the east coast is far enough from Seoul, where all the confirmed new infections are happening, for people on the coast not to care too much.

How's the body doing? Glad you asked. My hands are nastily sunburned, as per usual. The neck and face aren't doing so hot, either. My skin will soon bubble, crack, and peel (then finally tan). There might even be some pustulation soon, if you care to know such things. My feet were a tiny bit achy at the end of the day, but thus far, I haven't used a single pain pill. Weight loss works wonders. I think the feet of this new, lighter Kevin can take a lot more strain. (Remember when I had that hairline fracture? I've probably grown way beyond that.)

Diet-wise, as you see with the stats above, I did better than I did on Day 1. I can do even better still, but I'm honestly not going to push myself too hard. I can work myself to death once I'm back in Seoul. Am in a hotel in Sokcho right now, right at the waterfront, and this is apparently Restaurant Row. I had my pick of seafood places, but commenter Daniel is right: pretty much all the seafood is going to be hellishly expensive except for things like mulhoe and various basic soups and stews.

Paid W100,000 for this waterfront room, which lacks the scattered hair that plagued yesterday's room, but the place smells like sweaty armpits, as if the previous occupant were someone Western, and either super-athletic or super-slobby. Nasty either way. 

Day 2's path strayed inland a lot. Chunks of the route hewed close to the sea, though, so I took plenty of pics of lighthouses and beaches. I've been trying to snap pics of the blue signs with white arrows marking the Gukto Jongju, but there will be parts of the path where I'll follow the indicated walking route if it's significantly shorter than the bike route. 

You'll recall that, last December, I gave up my reconnoiter on Day 2. Today, I did the final 3.7 km of the Day 2 route, and it was all new to me, but not bad. From tomorrow on, everything will be new.  Expect plenty of pictures. For now, here are 20 from today, with a promise to upload the rest once I'm back in Seoul.

In his novels, Tom Robbins likes reusing Homer's image of the "rosy-fingered dawn."

a pretty dramatically splattered frog

We're on top of the harvest season, and while I have seen some prematurely harvested rice fields, most are still too green. Another few weeks, and the Korean earth will yield up the next wave of edible vegetation. No tarps covered in red chili peppers yet, either.

more concrete barriers ready to drop onto the street

What is it with Korean trees and S&M?

a big-ass motel

the path next to Songji Lake

a shot of Songji Lake

surf's up!

proud Goseong-gun manhole cover

a road, a fence

kitteh!

guess what's writhing around in there

two lighthouses 

pergola gone wild

large enough shade/protection for that tent?

typical beach

This certification center was moved as well. It's about a kilometer closer (for someone coming from the north) compared to where it was last December.

my motel

a late lunch of mulhoe (raw fish in chili sauce with pasta)

I saw that big haul of writhing fish being brought in by crane, so I took two bits of video of the event and have uploaded them below:

Tuna, right?

Final note: based on what's turning out to be three expensive nights, I'm starting to think that motels on the coast are, on average, more expensive than the facilities I used inland while walking the Four Rivers. Time to consider minbak? I wonder. While a lot of the minbak I've seen over two days have been ratty as hell, there have been a few decent-looking ones, and they may be a good alternative to pensions and motels. Do minbak usually have WiFi? I somehow doubt that that's guaranteed. No Wifi, no photo upload. No photo upload, no happy blog readers. No happy blog readers, no high traffic stats. Much depends on what facilities come with being in a minbak, and I don't want to have to keep asking, "Do you have Wifi?" over and over for twenty-four more days. Suggestions? Come on, commentariat, this is your time to shine!

PHOTO ESSAY

before sunrise

frogs die horrible deaths

into the sunrise

waves of grain

trees, tied up

advertised as a hotel

Lake Songji, almost as nice as Hwajinpo

a lot of stuff here devoted to reunification

René Bleu Hotel

the hotel that stands in René Bleu's shadow

YOLO

I normally think of ivy-covered buildings as a European thing, so it's always a little weird to see them here in Korea.

lazy kitty

kitteh!

often, there are pairs of lighthouses like this

pergola, unleashed

never forget the militarization

Ayajin Beach

Does anyone still play "Among Us"?

spider

digital zoom to the rescue

military installation off to the right

a lot of this was closed off last December

Right about here is where I decided to give up last December. This time around, everything was open.

so all this was new

a really sad horse's ass

The cert center had been moved.

whoosh

a series of painted bears

that bus I saw last year

At this point, I'm moving into unknown territory.

glamping... ick

the experience of horseriding

the horses in question, which don't look sturdy enough to hold someone of my size

This was across the street, and there was a lot of traffic, so I once again had to rely on digital zoom. 

some love for the chewed-up-looking flowers

officially in Sokcho now

stairs to mystery

sexually confused?

I see squid, I click

Helios Motel

Sun and Moon (il-weol), where I ate lunch

mulhoe (sounds like "mool-hweh")

yours truly, but horizontally flipped (I have to remember to flip selfie images)