16. 環島 Huándǎo

 環島 Huándǎo - means “journey around the island". 

With Bertie (the Giant) beneath me, that’s exactly what I’ve been embarking on. 

Riding from Taipei I started to gain height beginning the traverse of a mountain range. Cool and crisp in northern Taiwan, the bus depot was looking particularly lovely this day. 😻 

Temple decorations. 

I suppose that in the UK, people are enjoying snowdrops, celandines and dog’s mercury. Here the early cherry blossoms are the harbingers of spring. 🌺 

Bertie (the Giant) resting at the temple gates. 🚪

Tea plantations hugging the steep slopes. 🍵 

I have to confess that I’m mostly been surviving on coffee so far. Bought from convenience stores. Not very refined, I know. But the free WiFi is irresistible! 🛜 

The landscape is verily littered with temples, shrines and religious points of interest. If I stopped at all of them my island circuit would have stalled! 🚲 

Dan and Bertie (don’t get jealous, Bertha! I’ll be back in Bangkok soon). 🚴‍♂️

Looking down from the top of the mountain traverse, a good morning’s work. ⛰️ While I wouldn’t call Bertie a joy to ride, I think he’ll get me round Taiwan. I’m grateful for his services.

The mountain range is significant as it divides the densely populated, highly urbanised west of the island with the ‘quieter’, more natural east. Eastward-bound, I was looking forward to discovering the less populated part of Taiwan. 🇹🇼 

Osprey with freshly caught fish supper. 🐟 

Back down at sea-level, I was able to do some exploring on coastal bike paths….

….and met some day trippers from Taipei. Google Translate helped the conversation along. A very friendly bunch, and generous. I left with a bag of peanuts and some sweets in my panniers! 🥜 

Lots of agriculture in evidence this day. Impressive symmetry in the human landscape. 🥒 

This was an absolutely cracking Warm Showers stay! At a prison! 

Wan-wei, on the right, is a prison officer, living on site with his wife Joyee, who, as you can tell from this picture, is a joy! 🤩 

Ian, from Vancouver, was being hosted the same day as me so we all sat down for noodles and fish soup 🍜, century egg and tofu, pineapple and insects! 🐜  Insects weren’t the worst of it, I believe that, in part times, century eggs were preserved in horse urine!!! 

Such wonderful people, with amazing stories. Wan-wei is a keen advocate of human rights and, during his work time, makes sketches of prison scenes that have been published. I think his supervisors have to keep his activities ‘in check’ though!

Ian is, I’d describe, a ‘next-level’ traveller.🧳 Wow, so inspiring! He’s just been in India for 4 months and completely opened himself up to everything that can his way - offers to stay with families, helping out on farms, going for tea and meals. He couldn’t spend money for, well, love or money. In four months he got through just $400! His camping kit is a groundsheet and sleeping bag, open-air camper! 🌙 ✨ 

I thought I was an intrepid traveller, Ian is ‘next-level and I should add, humble, grounded and grateful to boot! 

A scene from one of my beloved convenience stores - journal time, reading time and planning ahead. 📖 

The next leg necessitated a train journey as the coastal road is impassable due to earthquake damage. I met fellow Brits, Sean and Emily (?) on the train and shared stories of what we’d done and why we’re here in Taiwan. More inspiring people to bounce good energy off! ☄️

Pacific coast road 🛣️ , I’ve loved riding this in the last few days. 

Whoops! Got off the train too early and encountered the landslides I’d been carefully advised to avoid. 

I clambered over the first two, dragging a reluctant Bertie with me. However, as I looked ahead, down the road, I saw landslide after landslide blocking the way. It didn’t feel completely safe crossing them so, discretion being the better part of valour, I clambered back over the first two and beat a retreat back to the train station, jumping on the next train. 🚆 

That’s one hell of a scree slope! 

Camp time again! As well as borrowing a bike, I’m using a borrowed tent and sleeping mat. Common sense would say practise pitching a new tent in daylight, so you can see what you’re doing. So, after nightfall, I had to work out how to pitch the tent for the first time. In the dark! ⛺️ 

It was pretty straightforward and, pitching fairly brazenly at Hualien’s seafront, there were plenty of streetlights to help me see what I was doing. 

I was just settling down in the spacious and comfortable tent when the first of many fireworks were set off for the evening! This was the day before a national holiday - Peace Memorial Day so people were taking the opportunity to celebrate. 🥳 

Absolutely glorious weather the next day. Incredible views of the mountains. ⛰️ 

Quick stop, I was beckoned over to share some banana chips. 🍟 

Mountain peaks playing hide and seek in the clouds. ☁️ 

Camp 2 in Taiwan, again, I ended up pitching in the dark. This was at a little wetland nature reserve. Some kind of nightjar was hawking around the car park as I was pitching. Wetted my appetite for my annual pilgrimage to Surrey heaths to see and hear them this summer. 🪶 

No fireworks this evening, I slept like a log here. 🪵 

Plate boundary! I’ve taught hundreds of students about these plates over the years. Great to see them outside of a textbook! 🏫  But not inspiring enough to tempt me back into the classroom!

The weather has just been getting better and better in the last week. ☀️ 

It was so chilly in Taipei that I bought a pair of gloves. They’ve now come in handy (😉) to protect my skin from the intense sunshine. 

Ahh, that’s how they make such straight lines of rice. The planting process is efficient and fully mechanised.  🌾 

Bit of a climb into the hills. Quite a lot of monkeys were lurking in the undergrowth up here. 🙉 

Riding the Pacific coast road on this Sunday, the traffic was pretty constant as day trippers or weekend trippers came out to enjoy the good weather. This was a particularly popular spot for taking photos. 📸 

Approaching the south of the island it was time to traverse back to the west side, another mountain climb. 🧗 

In a good rhythm with Bertie now, we made light work of it. Generally in Taiwan, I’m riding well within myself, averaging around 50 miles/80 km per day. Nice not to be rushed but I’ve got to keep a regular pace to complete the Huándǎo.

On the way to summit I passed this little shrine which had a shelter next to it. Looked like a good camp spot but I had more miles to make that day. However, with my preferred route having a road closure, I had to make a plan B. 📝 

So I backtracked to the shrine to camp but saw that a couple of bikers had beaten me to it! “Room for a little one?”. They welcomed me into the shelter and made sure there was space for my tent. ⛺️ 

It had begun to mist over with rain falling so I was glad of the roof. 🌫️ 

They didn’t speak much English (and my Mandarin is very limited) but, with a shared purpose, we got on very well and I felt very comfortable camping with them. That shared focus being a thirst for adventure and  an appreciation of their food! 🥘 

The Taiwanese hospitality soon kicked in as they insisted on sharing their food with me - rice cakes, corn on the cob, boiled eggs, apples.🍏 

I apologetically accepted. And stuffed the lot down my gob! The next morning, as I tried to set off, the same happened. They sat me down and insisted I had some of their bread and tomatoes. 🍅 

My guardians! Easy to say this as the recipient of kindness, but I think they got a real kick from looking after me. I’ve learned, over the years, that it’s generally polite and good manners to simply accept what is offered you as people want to help. 

I (and Google Translate) told them how grateful I was and how great the camp had been. 

Lots of smiles as I left! 😃

This is always a fun part of the day, going to local restaurants. I’m never quite sure with I’m going to get but, with Google Lens, you can hover your phone camera over the menu and it translates it for you! Makes ordering much less of a lottery. And sometimes the staff, noticing the bemused expression on my face, simply point at items as recommendations, at which point I just agree and accept their suggestions. This approach has worked out well! 

I love how informal the experience is, often you just sit at a spare seat, sharing tables with strangers. There tends to be a fair bit of slurping and burping - I’m just glad people are enjoying their food! 🍱 

Typically, lunch might cost a little over £2 for a main dish and a side dish. Cheap and cheerful, in enjoying my food here!

Feeling pretty tropical down here in the south…

…so my most recent pitch was without the flysheet. Nice views across the ocean. Wild camping feels easier than ever here in Taiwan. Everything feels so safe. So safe that, in Taitung, I was actually locked in to a city park where I’d surreptitiously (and illicitly camped). I had to scale the park gates to get to a 7-Eleven for some supplies. Felt like a teenager again, getting up to mischief (of a mostly innocent nature 🙃). 🔐 

Noisy egrets. 

Bertie, getting excited for an island crossing. 🏝️ 

OK, I’ll stop here. I’ll tell more about the island next time. Just a few more blogs to go and I’ll be home!