October 8th

October 8, 2022

out with g

It's a long weekend here what with National Day falling on Monday. As there's no work, g and myself have decided to risk getting wet and cycle south. The forecast isa bit iffy, but I've plotted a quiet route starting at Fugang - a small town just a 20-minute train ride away. This will save us riding through familiar urban sprawl and it just so happens that one ride we did years ago ended in Fugang, so it's kind of sweet to start this ride there.

As g lives north of me, we agree to rendezvous on a commuter train heading south and I ride in drizzle to my local station with my raincoat on and board the 10:19 departure to find g stood in the bike carriage. We're off.

A shot of travelers on Platform 1 taken while waiting for the 10:19 commuter train south

It wasn't too crowded and g (left) had already boarded 10 minutes ago further north

Old carriage at Fugang Station, where we got off

It's just 20-odd minutes before we get a nice surprise after exiting the train, with everything dry and the temperature a tad warmer. You wouldn't think a such short journey would make much difference, but there you go.

It's coffee time and g searches for local branches of the familiar coffee chains on Google Maps without any luck, so we set off on the lookout. Fugang is a small place and it seems our best bet is its 'old street', which is only a block from the station. In fact the old street came into being when the station was built in 1908, leading to an economic boom of sorts.

Once outside the station, we ride past a repurposed warehouse that looks interesting. It has 25 in big numbers on a wall and it could well serve coffee, but it's unclear what it actually is, and we won't find out as it's closed today.

Wooden doors to a house on the 'old street' in Fugang

Once on 'old street' (Xinyi Street), we go in a house that's now got a display of old things from the town on its ground floor and get welcomed by an Engish-speaking guy who's probably in his 30s. He tells me the house was built in 1917 and will soon be 100 years old. I tell it already is, but he insists it won't be for another few years. I give up.

It's a shoebox-shaped place and he shows us around and says the back secion is where classes in Hakka are heald - a language spoken by a ot of people in this part of Taiwan, but one which is not taught at schools. He has a workshop on the upper floor and we pop up the wooden stairs for a quick look. It turns out he makes things from bamboo - specifically glasses cases, plus those small bits that go ont the end of each arm to rest on the ears. His rectangular cases with a sliding lid remind me of a pencil box. They cost NT$800 - nearly US$25. The triangular ones are more expensive.

Another young guy sat using a laptop tells us the place that has 25 on the wall is an agricultural institute that has a cafe, but it's closed today. he suggests another place nearby, so theat's where g and I ride to.

Us sat waiting for our coffees in S&D in Fugang

The coffee shop is on a corner and is called S&D. Its general style reminds me of a local chain called 85°C and we order cappuccinos and cake, then sit in a room with about four tables. When the drinks arrive, they're a misnomer, as the flavour is unlike coffee and it's just hot liquid that doesn't even taste of milk. The place should change it's name to SAD.

From our table, we can see a large gable wall opposite, just across the road, that has been decorated in black and white, so I walk over and take a few snaps, opting to get close-ups of the text. It seems to be a map of sorts, with various people's doodles and names added.

My 7" tablet has a host of screenshots with a quiet route plotted and we ride around looking for Fulian Road and eventually find it. It's a small street that heads west and there's no traffic as we trace the northern border of Hsinchu County.

We missed a right turn at the temple, so turned back

We pass a temple and I check a screenshot and know we should make a turn, but apart from that it's all plain sailing. It's a short distance before our direction veers south, then with a strong wind at our backs. It's like we're on ebikes and I keep saying it's all too easy. Maybe it's tempting fate.

The sun is out in force and the route is elevated and we have a panoramic view over to out right. It didn't occur to us we were high up in Fugang. We trace a shallow river for a while. It's a small one that doesn't seem to have a name - at least on Google Maps.

The only only problem is there's just not a lot to photograph. We go by a few older houses, but they lack character. I do opt to pause to take a couple of snaps, but the windows on all the places are simple and the security grills are not decorative. It seems people in the countrryside just went for the cheap option - metal bars.

There's not much for g either, with his eyes peeled in vain for traffic cones - he calls them pylons - that have been added to in some way. Maybe we'llhave more joy in the towns - we head into one as we go south.

We traced a river and had a strong wind blowing us south

It's really hot now. The wind blows us to the edge of Xinfeng and we stop at a 7-Eleven on a busy road for a bite to eat and some welcome AC. I have a microwaved pasta and a bottle of cold tea. It's a popular spot, but 20 minutes is enough for us.

We follow the road south out of the town pas businesses and shops before turning onto a rural road that weaves between rice fields. It's hard to know what is and isn't Xinfeng, as we go very close to its train station and spot another S&D coffee shop. Its sign actually does look like SAD.

The screenshots I have help us find a small path. It's a shortcut but when we get to a traffic cone and a chain across the road it seems like this is a no-no, but the guy on Google has been here - the traiif cone is on StreetView - so we continue. It's just wide enough for bikes and cuts through a spinney that shades us from the sun.

The path leads to a lane and we soon get to a large temple that has a parking area with a great view south. The tall buildings of Zhubei are filling the flat valley bottom. and we know there's a hill to zip down not far away.

It's a short steep drop and then we make a tiurn onto a side road and head towards the river. We decide to carry our bikes up some steps and ride along a flood defense wall as the view is better. It has a wide concrete surface that's free of weeds and garbage, but it only lasts for about five minutes.

It's seems like a photo opportunity and I place my bike against a post and set up the ripod and befroe I can get my camera sorted, my bike falls over with a crash. A round things rolls across the top of the all, drops over the side and disappears into the foliage and crap at the very bottom. It turns out it's my Cateye mirror that's snapped off.

There's now a choice of going on a path on the wall's south side, or dropping back to the road. We opt for the path, but it ends after a hundred metres.

We decided to ride on top of a wide flood defense wall for a while

The end of the wall - where my bike fel over

There's no choice but to cross the river and ride on a busy bridge. There's a path, so it's OK. We keep on the main artery headingg to central Zhubei for a few minutes, then veer off and search for the train station. We find it on Google Mps on g's phone and once there I buy a ticket and g does the same but 4:22 train is now full of bikes - mine took the final place.

We ponder what to do and g buys a ticket for the follwing departure, which means another hour's wait. It's then agreed to just see if he can get the same train and that's what happens. There are already seven bikes on board, but the female conductor doesn't seem to be counting and doesn't ask to see our tickets. Nice.

Today's ride: 36 km (22 miles)
Total: 1,800 km (1,118 miles)

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