Distance: 48.31 miles
Time: 5:34
Elevation Gain: 1,424 feet
Having had the hot pot for dinner, I thought I should carry on with the theme of trying out Taiwanese specialities, so I wandered through the night market, and picked up a bubble tea, a boba milk tea with black sesame to be exact, before wandering back to the harbour to drink it.
The next morning, for breakfast, I discovered that there was a popular place across the road, selling scallion (spring onion) pancakes, and after one bite, I could see why they were so popular.
I took the road out of town, passing a giant port on the way out. I didn’t think about it at the time, but it soon dawned on me, that the one thing that a large port generates, is a lot of lorry traffic moving in the opposite direction, mostly along the road I was headed, it seemed.
Thankfully, there was a good shoulder at the start of the day, and before long, I had crossed the road and was tracking along it, on an excellent cycle path on the side nearest the sea.
The day started off brightly enough, but suspiciously dark looking clouds started to roll in over the coast, and as it reached mid afternoon, the light was already starting to dim, as I peered up towards the precariously positioned town of Jiufen, draped down the hillside high above. I knew it was one of the ‘must sees’ of Taiwan, but would it still be a must see to those people if they were on bikes?
Stopping in the small harbour town of Bitou village, I pulled in at the 7-Eleven for lunch. Ubiquitous throughout large parts of Asia, 7-Elevens are a grocery store chain that I had encountered before in Thailand, and knew would provide a vital service to me during my trip: due to them providing 24 hour shopping, and the possibility of hot food and somewhere indoors to sit, in many locations across the Island.
Handily they sold Bento boxes in a variety of flavours, which could be heated in the microwave by scanning the QR code on the side of the box. Today’s selection was Grilled Pork with Scallion-Salt Rice Bowl, and in this branch, the shop assistant popped it in the microwave for me, himself.
While I was eating, it struck me how unusual it was for such a prevalent global brand with such high visibility in multiple territories, not to be American. So I looked it up, founded in 1927 in Texas, and renamed in 1946 to match their new opening hours. Wholly-owned by a Japanese company now, though.
With the remains of the daylight, I pushed on along the coast, interest piqued by the tiny specks that were evidently fishermen balanced out on rocky outcrops far out by the water’s edge.
After dark, I was thankful to the powers that be for the first class cycling infrastructure in Taiwan, as I followed the streaks of blue paint – denoting the route – onto immaculate off-road paths, and past a toilet block with well placed vending machine, just when I needed a little energy boost.
I was keen to make it to Toucheng by the end of the day, so I persevered, even when the rain poured down. Don’t bring waterproof trousers to Taiwan they said, it wasn’t worth the extra weight, and it would be too warm to wear them. Well, I was glad that I brought them, but I wasn’t stopping now to get them out of my bag.
