May 9, 2025
May 9th
Xinfeng via the west coast
There's a plan, but it's not carved in stone. When I ride away from home at gone nine, the idea is to get a train south for about 45 minutes to a town called Zhubei, then cycle back home, but once at the station, there's an urge to keep cycling west along route 114, then ride south, which firmly takes hold.
Riding west isn't something that I've done for a long time, mainly because it means going right through the centre of town and continuing along a very busy section of road. There are no quiet options when heading to the coast, but they say a change is as good as a rest, so I keep on pedalling.
There's sun cream on my arms and face, as it'll likely be up around 30°C today, but the forecast also says thunderstorms are possible later. We'll see.
Around four o'cock yesterday afternoon, as usual for Thursdays, I was on a bus that runs along route 114 to a district called Yangmei, as I teach staff at Chunghwa Telecom's huge office complex located out there. Not far from the company's entrance is a small canal with a path beside it and I've often wondered about riding along it. The problem is it only appears after the city's edge, once past a large intersection where the 114 feeds the country's main north-south highway.
Riding through town to the intersection is the familiar, stressful city cycling, then the route morphs into four lanes going each way and it gets quite hairy, especially near the busy intersection, where I have to ride in the central part of the wide road. Once safely past all that, it's a case of looking out for a side road that will get me on to the canal path and eventually one appears. After making a left at a set of lights, a sense of relief washes over me.
The narrow path is less than 100 metres away from the busy 114, but a world away in terms of enjoyment. There's hardly anyone walking along and nobody else cycling. An assortment of homes and metal-clad structures back on to it, and there's the real possibility of seeing some brooms and mops to take snaps of.
The canal path ends at the road near the Chunghwa Telecom complex, so I drop back 100 metres to the parallel 114 and keep pedalling west. The road is quieter as it gets further from away the city, yet it's flat and wide with not many interesting things to see. Eventually there are a few rice fields between small industrial units that are sandwiched between rows of homes and my eyes are on the lookout for more mops, but there's not even many of those.
Eventually I stop at a 7-Eleven, as my Casio says it's 11:30 and a cold drink seems in order. It's been hot and humid and I grab a pastry to keep me going. It gets zapped in a microwave for 10 seconds to warm it up and goes well with an iced latte.
Not long after the break, the road takes me through a town called Xinwu. There's really nothing to stop for apart from taking snaps of a mops and chairs that are visible from the wide 114. If I hadn't just had the latte, it'd be different.
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The 114 ends at a fishing harbour called Yongan. When my daughter and grandsons visited last April, we got a taxi out here as there's a go-kart track nearby. The boys loved it. We also rented a four-wheel contraption that we pedalled for a couple of hours. It all comes back to me as I see the fishing boats moored in the harbour and the 7-Eleven where we got some drinks.
As I explore the jetty, taking snaps of the various fishing paraphernalia, a group of weathered workers invite me come over and have a bite to eat. It's hard to make my mind up, as I'm not really hungry, but don't want to appear antisocial. In the end I thank them, but decline and make my way along a sea-front road of poured concrete. The sea to my left is pretty dull-looking, what with the sky being cloudy. The sand is quite an expanse, which is basically empty save for a few fishermen.
My decision to head to the coast and ride south was based on the fact that the wind invariably blows in that direction, giving me a decent push, but today it's right in my face and strong. It's slightly better once I turn onto a tree-shrouded lane that's known as the Green Tunnel. It's quite sheltered here.
While pedalling that four-wheeled contraption last year, we had lunch in a nice cafe and I go down a couple of side lanes looking for it, but it remains elusive and I end up back on the Green Tunnel route, then on the blustery coastal path.
In the sea just off shore are lots of kite surfers, taking advantage of the windy conditions.
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The thought of riding into a head wind becomes an increasing problem and venturing away from the coast to head for an inland town with a train station appeals. In fact my mind is made up.
It's only a few minutes to get to a main north-south road, where there's a large 7-Eleven-type convenience store on a corner and it strikes me as a good idea to get another cold drink and rest for a minute. I end up buying what I call a rice triangle - a snack that's an inch-thick of compact rice wrapped in a thin seaweed sheet. This one has a tuna filling.
The young woman serving speaks decent English and confirms the place is just north of Xinfeng and later I ask her about the nearest strain station. She looks at Google Maps on her phone and shows me the route there, which looks straightforward, with just a couple of turns, but I've no idea how far it is.
It's further than my rough guess and I end up stopping at a 7-Eleven to check on my whereabouts after climbing a steady incline. The woman behind the counter says it's another 10 minutes further along this road and it turns out she's about right.
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The man selling tickets gives me one for the 3:07 departure, but that's another 45 minutes, so I get another cold drink then make my way down to the platform. It's a roughly 30-minute journey and costs just US$2.
The electronic display on Platform 1B shows a train arriving very shortly and it dawns on me to get on that one if it has a bicycle rack. The bicycle carriage is the very last one and the guard is always positioned there. When it comes to a stop, the young guy who is the guard sees me with my bike and asks if I have a ticket. When I tell him I do, he says I still can't get on this train, even though all the bike racks are clearly empty. He just shrugs when I ask why.
Half an hour later, the 3:07 arrives and there's just one fellow cyclist. He looks at least my age and his Giant mountain bike is loaded with an assortment of bags and stuff. He wears a fluorescent orange baseball cap with three decorative things attached. There's a wire basket fixed on the front of the bike which has a red sign stating details of a pilgrimage that loops between the Matsu temples in Baishatun and Gongtian - Matsu is a goddess that's believed to protect fishermen and sailors.
Walking the route usually takes 35 hours or so in each direction. It's a very popular cultural event, one that attracts well over 300,000 pilgrims, but I didn't know some join on bikes, like this guy. Debbie is going to walk along the final section on Sunday, heading down there with a few friends in the early hours of the morning. The forecast is for rain.
Today's ride: 45 km (28 miles)
Total: 139 km (86 miles)
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