Seohaerang Gil | Day 1 – 13

28 March – 9 April 2025 | Courses 83 to 97 (Incheon)

Welcome to our Seohaerang Gil adventures!

Korea Dulle has four different hiking trails around the coast of South Korea called the Haeparang Gil (east), Namparamg Gil (south), Seohaerang Gil (west) and DMZ Peace trail (north). We are hiking the Seohaerang Gil, which will take us over 1800km along the entire west coast of the country over 109 courses.

We started from course 97 and worked backwards, heading south during the first two weeks. The first three days were the toughest and probably conditioned us for the rest of the courses.

You can find out more information on the Durunubi website where you can also download their app to collect digital stamps. You can also follow our adventures as we go at the eatbikefly Instagram or Facebook pages!

Day 1: Friday 28 March. First day of hiking in Korea where we covered over 17km and 850m of elevation! The 10°c climate was a nice change to the 40°+ days we have gotten used to. The course is well marked out with ribbons and arrows, and you scan a QR code at each check point to receive your virtual stamp on the app. We are doing the 서해랑길 (Seohaerang gil) which is 1800km with 109 courses, so we have a long way to go. Looks like we started with the toughest course – views were amazing but the legs are a bit buggered! ⛰️

Day 2: Saturday 29 March. It snowed today! A top of maybe 5°c with some harsh winds, however not nearly as tough as yesterday with only 14.5km and two peaks to cover. The last section was more urban walking through the streets of Incheon. Came across a food market and children’s theme street nearby the local Chinatown, and what’s a trip to Korea without ending up at a random love motel 💕

Day 3: Sunday 30 March. Today we completed 16km along course 95, starting more urban and hiking along the river before climbing up 문학산 (Munhaksan Mountain). It was pretty chilly all day with a top of 5°c again, and felt even colder at the peak when the wind picked up. Views were worth it though! After hitting our final checkpoint we had a chat to some friendly locals (팀 and 송) before having some awesome 찌게 (Korean stew) for dinner which really hit the spot 🇰🇷😋

Day 4: Monday 31 March. We decided to knock out two courses today, 94 & 93, which may have been a bit ambitious as the legs were weary by the time we finished the 25km for the day. We ended up doing 340m of ascent which was a lot considering it was supposed to be a cruisy flat hike. The first half was a climb up 오봉산 (Obongsan) before stopping at a small kiosk in the park for some lunch. The second half was a straight and flat walk along the coast towards Oido, a fishing town by the water 🐟

Day 5: Tuesday 1 April. Course 92 today was rather unique starting in the seaside town of Oido before heading onto 12km of dead straight road along the sea wall. It was pretty cold and windy the entire way with one rest stop in the middle where we took a lunch stop with a view of the ocean. Once we arrived at the other end it turned into a food street full of Hawaiian beach themed cafes – we stopped at one and had the greatest mango croissant ever. Finished along the beach before checking into our accommodation. Unfortunately most food places were closed while the Spring season is still warming up so it was the 편의점 again for dinner 🏪

Day 6: Wednesday 2 April. Course 91 today was an easy 10km with a few hilly trails at the start, however there wasn’t much in the way of food options once we got to the main roads aside from seafood. Breakfast/lunch ended up being coffee, soda and cake because there was nothing else around, and there wasn’t even a 편의점 (convenience store) anywhere nearby. The course went past a golf course and it was lucky there was a single restaurant open about 1km from our accommodation for dinner. We stayed at 그린비치펜션 Green Beach Pension where it seemed like we were the only guests. After a look at the next course we decided to change tomorrow’s hotel to another area so we didn’t run into the food problem again!

Day 7: Thursday 3 April. Today started like any other day and ended up being one of the most eventful. Course 90 was a flat, cruisy 10km walk through the back streets of 대부도 / Debudo, passing by the odd cafe and barking dog. We started chatting to a lady named 미영 / Miyeong who invited us to a local cafe to try 솔트크림커피 / salt cream coffee ☕️ After a nice chat she then invited us to her house nearby where we met her little old dog Malgeum 🐕 She cooked us a wonderful lunch and we could’ve chatted with her all afternoon. We continued on looking for a coffee shop so we could whip out the laptop and do a bit of Korean study. A short walk later we found a place called Would U Like Cafe where the owner opened up the shop just for us, but instead of studying we ended up chatting to him for an hour or so (real conversation practise instead)! He was lovely and gave us a few gifts including a sachet of grape juice he used to distribute, so we gave him a small clip on koala and a card. He was so thankful he gave us a fold up lamp for our hiking travels. We continued onto our accommodation for the night, which looked like a haunted mansion from the outside and love motel on the inside 🏩

Day 8: Friday 4 April. We knocked out course 89 and started 88 on what was an extremely varied 15km route. We checked out of our haunted love motel mansion and walked along a busy highway for a bit before turning into a deserted camping area which would normally be very busy in the Summer. Took a detour along some trails and hills where there were some lovely views before heading to an awesome bakery cafe 메이플라워 / Mayflower. Finished along the water towards our accommodation for the night at 스위텔 / Suitel. We’re still passing through all the fishing towns but managed to find a place that had 김치찌개 / kimchi stew and heaps of 반찬 / side dishes!

Day 9: Saturday 5 April. Rain! ☔️ It was supposed to be a 22km hiking day but we ended up only doing 12km as it was raining for the first half of the day. We spent most of the morning at 제부도 제빵소 bakery cafe before catching the bus part way. The public transport system in Korea is so good, even in these remote areas. The good thing about these hiking courses is you only have to hit three checkpoints to complete each course so we skipped a bunch to save some time 🚍 We spent 10km hiking through the wind, rain and cold along what felt like an endless straight seawall before turning off to our accommodation 발리호텔 Bali Hotel. Our friend Junsik, who lives not too far away, met us that evening for dinner but the only place open was a seafood and 칼국수 kalguksu restaurant. We are excited to have him join the hike tomorrow! 🥾

Day 10: Sunday 6 April. It was a perfect day for hiking today, made even better as we had company! Our friend Junsik joined us for the day for almost 20km along courses 87 & 86. We hiked along the coast, roads and backstreets, visiting a temple and even spotted the first cherry blossoms blooming 🌸 We made a few more stops than normal for morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea before checking into our hotel. Before dinner we took a walk to Sindang Neighbourhood Park then headed to a Korean buffet place, whose normal clientele is solo male construction workers in the area. The vibe is quite surreal seeing workers come in and eat alone in silence before leaving. We finally bid farewell to Junsik so he could catch his bus home. Thanks for joining us Junsik! ☺️

Day 11: Monday 7 April. The plan today has been to knock out three courses (86,85,84) but turned into a bit of an adventure. We started by heading to Main Street, a unique, multi-level food experience with amazing bakery on the bottom level, and other food services in the upper levels 🥐 The bread was awesome and we could have easily spent half the day there but there were trails to be hiked. We caught the bus part way and ended up walking the other 7km because our second bus was an hour wait. We continued hiking along the course to get our checkpoints, including Pyeongtaek International Daegyo, which is quite a big bridge. At the end of the course we were about to start the next one when we started chatting to an Ajushi. He told us about his cycling adventures and after a nice chat he offered to drive us to our motel. We still had a few more check points to hit but would have been rude to turn him down so we accepted. There was a bit of confusion along the way but we eventually made it despite having to backtrack along course 84 now. All good, we got to our motel and even found another buffet for dinner where we had the whole restaurant to ourselves! 🥗

Day 12: Tuesday 8 April. Carrying our big packs can get tiring so we decided to stay an extra night at our motel and do some pack-free hiking for a change 🌲 The plan was to catch two buses to the end of course 83 and hike the 15km back to the motel, however the bus services in this area aren’t that frequent. The first bus took us across the bridge but the second bus was pretty much non-existent, so we decided to do an out and back for an 18km hike then bus it back. It was a nice seaside hike along the water, passing a town with a nice marine park, restaurants and even an amusement park with ferris wheel and pirate ship 🎡 A few kms along was another cool bakery cafe called Road 1950, which could possibly be owned by the same guys from Main Street which we visited yesterday. We continued to the end of the course and double backed to the bus stop but the wait for the bus was 2.5 hrs so we ended up walking the 7km back across the bridge to the motel. Dinner was a simple bibimbap place and we have some alternative plans for the coming week! 🤩

Day 13: Wednesday 9 April. Hello Mokpo! We have decided set up a base for the next week so we don’t have to hike the trails fully loaded. After missing course 84 the other day due to 아주시 (Ajusji) wanting to drive us to the motel, we decided to hit the check points by running the 10.5km course 🏃🏻‍♀️ It was actually really nice not having to run in 40° heat like we’ve been doing for the past 5 years in WA. We then took a bus and two trains to Mokpo, which included the SRT train. Public transport in Korea is so good, especiallly the high speed rail 🚆 The journey takes sbout 3 hours and on arrival we decide to walk the rest of the way to our accommodation, and it’s such a pretty walk with the cherry blossoms in full bloom 🌸 Our base for the week is called ‘Luxury Hotel’ and it has to be one of the best (if not the most novelty) love motels we’ve ever stayed in. We finish off with some 비빔냉면 bibim noodles for dinner and a visit to Lotte Mart Maxx, which is like a Korean Costco!