My friend came along during the second
leg of the Haeparang Trail. Kind of. He slept in and I started out
when I figured he had decided not to come along. I began the leg at
a spot I figured would be a good starting spot. It may have been the
beginning. It may not have been the beginning. In the absence of
good signage, it was the best I could do.
I followed the flags and signs that
were there back to where I had left off and then beyond. Initially,
the views were really nice. The trail wound and twisted along a
hillside through a forest by a rather nice part of town. There
looked to be a lot of nice food along there inland, and the sea
stretched out to the horizon past the shore.
As I arrived above Songjeong Beach, the
next beach along from Haeundae, my friend got in touch. He had slept
long and was just then getting up. He was going to hurry along. I
noticed a rail line below and there were people walking along it. I
told him he could probably go faster along there if he wanted to
catch up. He did that, but shortly after this point, the tracks were
blocked and he had to take buses and then walk along a road to catch
up.
I decided to wait for him at Songjeong
Beach. The waves were coming in and it was apparently a good place
to go surfing, as there were surfers in the water. There was also a
large group of university students rushing around the beach. They
seemed to be in teams and it looked a lot like they were completing
some sort of tasks as teams. I didn't know for sure, but I did
imagine some kind of scavenger hunt going on.
When Geoff caught up to me, we got some
lunch and headed off further down the trail. But where the initial
part had been quite nice, the next part was less so. We were walking
along streets and roads. I thought we must have missed a turn
somewhere, except that the flags were still with us and we were
clearly following the trail. We came upon a Korean version of an
outlet mall and we wandered around there for a while. I even bought
a winter-ish jacket, something I have kind of needed for a while. I
guess it wasn't a total loss, but the trail really was a bit of a
disappointment during this stretch. Geoff even suggested that if it
continued much longer along the streets he would beg off and return
to Haeundae.
Happily the trail headed back to the
coast towards a fairly famous Buddhist temple, situated on the rocks
of the coast. Haedongyonggungsa (the temple) really was a beautiful
sight and must be breathtaking under the right conditions.
Then it was on towards the end of the
leg at Daebyeonhang. But not without some wave watching as the surf
was a bit high that day.
I was unsure of where the end of the
leg was, so when we reached a bridge to a little island in the
harbour, I decided to say that was my end. I would prove to be wrong
about that, as I found a leg beginning/ending sign a short distance
farther into the harbour on the next day that I hiked.
Then Geoff and I headed back to
Haeundae and a well-earned dinner... after missing a bus by seconds
and waiting for about twenty minutes for the next one. Drat!!
Other than the part through the streets
between Songjeong Beach and the seaside temple, this was a good leg
and I recommend it.
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