October 9, 2022
October 9th
out with Debbie
On my way to the nearby 7-Eleven for a coffee and the newspaper this morning, I spotted a traffic cone that g might like, one that's seriously damaged, so take a snap of it when Debbie and I leave for a short ride to Longtan. She hasn't been for about a year, so it's about time.
The weather is decent and the brain-frying heat of summer has finally gone. Yes, we're well into October, but the days can still be pretty warm, just like it was yesterday. I put sun cream on my arms and face, a tube of which has been in my bar-bag for who knows how long. It's almost empty.
We ride along the wide road that goes from our place and cycle on a cycle path on the newest section that takes us away from the backs of homes and metal-clad warehouses. I opt to take a photo of one of the walls of a house that has a mural incoroparting a window, as I know that there are few sights that I haven't snapped before. Riding to Longtan is a vey familiar experience for me.
With this in mind, I suggest going there a slightly different way, one which we did many years ago. My memory is vague, but I'm sure where the route starts and once over the big junction that's below the elevated section of Route 66, we make a left.
The start of the back lane isn't too far - about five miuutes' cycling - and it soon takes us by a few huge warehouses that stand quiet this holiday Sunday, then a handful of houses before heading into open countryside. The usual road is almost visible across some flat rice fields.
We eventually get to a T and take a guess at which way to go - left. It becomes a bit familar and I know that ahead is a right turn that goes past a few industrial units. However, after a while we're not sure where we are and Debbie suggests making a right at the next intersection and we do and fibe minutes later we end up connecting to the usual route, still a little way from Longtan.
As we wait at a red light on the edge of town, Debbie looks up to the upper floor of a house and notices some tiles that have printed rural scenes on them. I've never noticed them before and they look to be roughly 40 years old. The sun is not quite on them at this time, so I reckon it'll be better to take a snap on the way home, once the light is enhancing the colours.
We ride into the centre of town and stop off at a clothing shop and I manage to find five things as gifts for my daughter that gets me 70 percent off. We then walk the short distance to a new Louisa voffee shop and pass by a placed called HWC.
There was a branch of this coffee chain near our place, but it closed down a few months ago. The coffee was good, but the cups were small - they don't serve large ones - and the cakes seemed pricey, so I stopped going.
Having WC in the name always seemed like a bad idea and it also srikes us as strange that this branch is directly oppoosite the new Louisa, which is located right next door to 85°C. This was the only place we could have coffee in Longtan years ago - before Starbucks arrived... then Louisa. Now we're spoilt for choice.
As we sit in Louisa along with a shop-ful of others, I mention a pottery workshop that was recently featured in the local newspaper. Debbie finds the article on her phone and Google Maps says it's about 5km away - along Route 20 - which is doable today. I've a rough idea of where it actually is, and it'll involve a climb, but we decide to give it a go.
We cycle out of town and make the right turn onto a small road - the 20 - which climbs for a while. We spin away and where we usually take a turn at a crossroads to keep riding higher, this time we follow the 20 straight and it drops us down a winding descent. There's a fair amount of traffic - probably because this is a holiday weekend.
The road eventually levels out and a 3m long banner tells us that Heyao Cultural and Creative Park (和窯文創園區) is up a small lane that turns out to be steep.
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The place is an assembly of rustic wood buildings and open-sided sheds, with piles of sawn wood here and there. Our bikes get leant against a wall and Debbie wanders over to a woman selling bread. It's all baked in a large, wood-fired oven and there are packed loafs for sale and she buys one. It's not cheap.
We stroll around and notice some teapots. A man says they're not for sale but he has some that are, so we take a look. The ones he shows us are seconds and cost NT$1,000 - about US$30. Perfect they are triple that and the defects are minor. They are the traditional small ones the size of a tecup that are best for brewing green tea, and are ash glazed - that is the wood gives the surface of the clay a sheen during the diring. My daughter drinks grren tea, so I get the nicest looking teapot, which the potter wraps up and puts in a bag. Hopefuly it survives our return ride.
There's a coffe shop that sells ice cream and we treat ourselves - chocolate for me and mango for Debbie. The woman running the shop brings us some dragon eyes - a berry-like fruit roughly the size of a grape. Inside the hard skin is a small stone that has a soft coating that tastes a bit like nothing else. These remind me of an ashtray, but Debbie finishes them off. We also get treated to a pot of tea while sat there. Nice.
There's no option but to return teh way we came, back down to te h20 than climb up to teh crossroads before dropping into Longtan. It is what it is.
Driizzle is coming down as we descend and it doesn't cease when we ride up the 20. It's not drenching us, just coating our glasses in spots that make seeing clearly an issue. We cut through Longtan without stopping and press on to get home as soon as possible.
Today's ride: 35 km (22 miles)
Total: 1,835 km (1,140 miles)
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