The next leg began at the beach and wound through another
little village before heading up the coast.
A short distance up the coast I reached a bird sanctuary. This area of the coast is a stopping point
for several bird species on their way south… or in the case of this winter in
Korea, not going south because it is so warm here. A large lake sits just inland and at the base
of the coastal mountains. The placid
waters of that lake are a good place for birds to spend some time. And with the birds come bird-watchers. The local government obligingly set up a bird
watching tower with large windows to look out on the lake, and free binoculars
to use to look at the birds.
I am not much of a bird watcher (“Oh look, a bird!” “Oh
year? What kind?” “The kind with wings.” “Sigh!!”, but I did rather like the vantage
point to see the view around the lake, both through the windows…
…and from the outside viewing platform. And the clear day made for a great view.
Then the trail went along the edge of the lake. As I was trudging along, I came upon some
hikers, and I wasn’t sure if they were doing the same trail as I was, or were
just out for a hike. They were good at
being in the way, and I was happy to discover that they probably weren’t out on
the trail. When the trail hung a left
and went into the hills, they continued on along the coast. I hate to say it, but “YAY!!!” They were out of my way.
Back in the hills, the trail followed the edge of the lake
for a ways and then headed up and over a pass.
In that area there was a little traditional village. It was arranged on the side of the hill. And it was empty. I suppose it must have been the late time in
the year, but I still couldn’t see it getting a lot of visitors, even in the
spring and summer. It was a bit
remote. And there really didn’t even
seem to be much in the way of inhabitants either. Maybe the “residents” come and reside in the
town during tourist times, but then head back to their real homes during other
times of the year. The two major
traditional villages that have been inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List
have residents all the time. Who knows
…
But it was nice to wander among the houses unmolested.
On the other side of the little pass between the hills I
passed another piece of the village, and it seemed to have some kind of
cultural experience component associated with it, making rice cakes or some
such. As I was perusing looking at and
walking along, there was a car that passed me, and then stopped and backed
up. I thought at first that he had
missed the entrance and was backing up to get in. So I walked past him. Then he pulled in front me again and
stopped. As I was walking past him, he
called through the window to get in.
Huh? Oh!! He thought I was stuck or something, and he
was offering to give me a lift to somewhere useful. I felt awful for declining, mostly because it
doesn’t happen that often (700 kms along the coast and this was the first
person who had stopped to make sure I wasn’t lost or in some kind of
trouble). And he seemed genuinely
surprised that I was on a major hike.
But when I pointed out the signs marking the trail, he understood and
drove with my profuse thanks for his thinking of me. I did want to encourage him to offer help to
others, after all.
There were some little totems associated with the
traditional village. I have seen these
at other traditional villages in Korea and they have always made me wonder if
they could somehow be possibly related to North American native totem
poles. The ones here are much smaller
and they seem to have people, where North American ones are much larger and
have animal totems that tell stories of the clans who put them up, but still…
In any case, the trail made its way back to the coast, and
the next harbour, with the end point of this leg.
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