Sunshiny day

 Mist/fog gone and apart from the usual smog haze, things were almost back to normal.

After breakfast, Hennie and I went for a little ride.  First to the airport, because on Qantas website, it says there are bike boxes available at airports.  I thought I would book one for tomorrow, but I do have Hennie's plastic bag just in case.

I was quite surprised how accessible the airport is for cyclists, so I rode up to the first entrance, locked Hennie out of the way, and entered the building.  

Eventually I tracked down the area the Qantas check-in counter is, with some help from voluteers and went to the Information desk.  The helpful young lady wasn't sure if there were any Qantas staff around, but gave me a rather detailed mud map to find their office.  She warned me, it might not be open and it might not be easy to find!  

So off I went with map in hand and true, it was not easy to find, amongst a rabbit warren of corridors and tiny offices for all the world's airlines.  I found the door, but it was closed and locked!  sigh... anyways I had tried...

So... back to Hennie!  that took me another 30mins, wandering around trying to find the door I came in.  But eventually we were united and as the weather was right, we went for a spin!

Head wind!  the first day of any wind of any sort and of course its a head wind!  but not very strong and actually made cycling just that much cooler as it was already starting to heat up again.

We were heading for the south end of Jung-gu, along a beachfront.  I thought an ice-cream on the beach sounded like a plan, but also I needed to find a petrol station, where I might be able to give Hennie a good washing down.

The bike path was easy to find again and easy to ride and I spotted a SK petrol station, so we rolled into it.  A massive doberman pinscher stood in the doorway, unrestrained and demanded I go no further... so I didn't!

A bloke poked his head out, and when I asked if I could use a water hose to clean my bike, he just shook his head.  Are you sure?  No water...  

so on we went...  Just around the corner in front of a hotel, I spotted a tap with a short hose, probably to water the plants out the front.  No one was around to ask, so I just propped Hennie on her stand and turned on the tap and blasted off some of the dirt from the past 3 weeks.  It'll do, I shall finish it off back in my room...

Around another corner was a bakery - yay!  winning, so an Iced Americano and an apricot danish was perfect for morning tea.  I also bought a stubby of Bundaberg Tropical Mango drink for later!

The Koreans don't do the beach thing like us Aussies do...  There was actually no access to the actual sandy beach that I could find.  There were several cafes and a Seafood restaurant, which seemed to have seating on decks, so we pedalled on for a bit.  Down a narrow street, I noticed some exposed benches, but at least they were open to the sea.

The tide was out, so it was bit like Cairns foreshore - muddy :)  A few seagulls were arguing about something, otherwise nothing much was happening.  

I finished the coffee and danish and consulted Maps.Me.  There was a couple of bridges linking one very small island to the mainland, then another quite high and dramatic looking bridge bouncing onto the next island.  Wonder if they are bike accessible?

so off we went.  The first one had a bike/pedestrian separated path, so we rolled easily over that.  There didn't appear to be any way of getting off the pathway as it led right onto the much steeper and longer bridge, so we kept going.  I was sure I would have to walk the last bit, but these past weeks have put some strength into my legs and slowly we ground up over the tiny island and up onto the high bridge.  

If only the air quality was so much clearer, it would be such a good view from that bridge looking out into the Yellow Sea!  Still, the wind was pretty strong up there and the up-draught was trying to lift off my helmet!  I had to stop and tighten it.  I was also a tad worried it would blow my glasses off, but no dramas occurred.  

We easily rolled down onto the next island and into a shabby little fishing village.  The road ahead was now tilting up rather sharply and the urge to go forward dimished rather rapidly.  Besides, I have things I have to do today before departure back to Australia tomorrow, so we turned back, over the high bridge and the low bridge and back to our digs.  

Laundry to be done - thank you washing machine!  and now need to get all my gear ready for the flight home tomorrow.  I need to be out of here by 11am, but my flight is not till 9pm.  Check-in probably open 2-3 hours prior to that, so there'll be a bit of filling in time tomorrow.  And of course, Hennie needs to be securely packed, hoping for no major damage to her sturdy frame once we get home.  No worries!