Seohaerang Gil| Day 31 – 36

27 April – 2 May 2025 | Course 21 – 34 (Muan)

We made our way to the smallish town of Muan (still pretty big!) known for the unfortunate plane crash that happened in December 2024.

This is where we really started to become really efficient and knock out multiple courses on a day (up to four!). Not recommended but helped save us some time.

Day 31: Sunday 27 April. We get the early bus from Mokpo and arrive in Muan around 9am. We then have a few problems trying to figure out the rural buses but with the help of a few friendly locals we manage to find the right bus 🚎 One great hack we’ve discovered on the Korea Dulle Trails is you only need to pass three checkpoints for a course to be considered ‘complete’ so we knocked out three courses today (31, 32 & 33). It takes 3 hours hiking through mostly farmland – we have passed so much farmland these past few weeks it will be nice to finally get back onto the trails and mountains ⛰️ There is also a big camping ground along the way which will start to get more crowded as the weather warms up. We make our way back to Muan but being a Sunday most shops are closed. We find a small 분식점 / bunsikjeom for dinner and order 콩국수 / Kong Guksu like we did two nights ago. It’s starting to become one of our new favourite Korean dishes as it’s so different to your usual spicy and sweet flavours 🇰🇷

Day 32: Monday 28 April. Hiked 13.6km along courses 21,22,23. Catch the 9:15am to a bus stop that was literally called ‘Farm’ (농장) so we obviously walk more farms today 🌾 It’s quite windy which makes it a bit chilly despite being 20°c but we find a nice cafe to stop by for a bit. We are finished by lunchtime, catch the bus back to town and discover a great bakery called Bakemode plus a steamed mandu and bun stall 🥟 Dinner is a basic bunsikjeom followed by planning for a big day tomorrow where we will head to Jido (as opposed to Jindo)!

Day 33: Tuesday 29 April. A big day of hiking today! We catch the bus to Jido and complete 33km along four courses 26,27,28,29. Jido is a bit tough to get to so we want to knock everything out in one go. It is a nice change of scenery from all the farms we’ve been seeing, and heading across three islands we see many ocean views, bridges and a lot of salt harvesting 🌊 There is only one bus heading back to Muan later in the afternoon so we are on a bit of a time constraint and can’t enjoy it as much as we want. There is a lovely cafe we would be nice to sit down in but instead we get some drinks and bread to go. We make up for it later when we get back to Muan by jumping straight off the bus and bus and straight into a restaurant for an awesome Korean baekban dinner. We have decided to stay in Muan until Saturday to continue the hiking and exploring 🌲

Day 34: Wednesday 30 April. Complete 20km along courses 24 & 34. It’s quite warm today and we are finally able to steer away from the farms for a bit and hike along the beach 🏖️ We do end back on the farms though and after seeing many locals busy harvesting onion crops we discovered that Muan contributes to 16% of South Korea’s total onion supply, which explains why the logo for the local taxi company has an onion as a driver 🧅 Our legs are pretty tired from yesterday’s massive hike so we struggle a little but that was a good excuse to head to the bakery and finish with dinner at 국수나무 / Noodles Tree 🍜🌲

Day 35: Thursday 1 May. Muan. Rainy day = recovery day ☔️ During our travels we have been keeping track off our expenses with a daily budget and anything leftover would go into what we called the ‘shoe fund’ for when we need new hiking shoes 🥾 Our shoes have copped a bit of a battering since we started our hiking adventures so it is lucky that Muan just happened to have a sports outlet sale in town this week. We pick up a few new pairs of hiking shoes and spend the rest of the day wandering the town when the rain isn’t too heavy. Also visit the small local bakery 🥐 a nice coffee place called Ten Percent and a bunsik place for dinner that seems very popular with the locals. Hiking will recommence tomorrow! 🌲

Day 36: Friday 2 May. Our last day in Muan! We hike 21.5km along courses 25 and 30. The first course is really enjoyable, hiking along the coast, seawalls and trails. It’s fascinating watching the baby crabs and mudflat eels moving about along the coast 🦀 10km later we complete the course and have to catch a bus to our final course in Muan. It is another coastal trail, with strange pink grass growing out of the mudflats. This course is closer to 12km and we see more farms plus thousands of solar panels in one area ☀️ After catching the bus back to Muan we have one final wander around town and Bulmu Park nearby before heading back to the Baekban restaurant for dinner again as it was so good the other night 🇰🇷