Toucheng to Keelung

The missed tunnel

It was a lovely, mild morning as Si, G and j enjoyed breakfast on our terrace, and the views over a relatively underdeveloped part of Toucheng.  As usual, we left Jonno to check out later at his leisure.

We cycled out of town around the Wushi fishing harbour and past the surf shops and cafes at Waiao beach, with views to Turtle Island.  The paths along the coast were rough in parts, but very scenic and we alternated between them and the dedicated cycle lane on the highway.  Unfortunately all cycle path options ran out after about 10 kilometres.  The next 10 kilometres or so was a harrowing journey as we shared the narrow shoulder with lots of trucks and other vehicles. Most gave us a reasonably wide berth, but the occasional one passed a little too close for comfort.  The views along the coastline provided some visual distraction from the incessant traffic. There were lots of surfers in the water, though the waves were only about a metre high.

It was a relief to turn off to the Old Caoling Tunnel and we stopped for a coffee at Cafe 99 which had been well signposted. We weren’t allowed upstairs as we were only having coffees so I took some photos from the outside instead.  The coffee wasn’t too bad and G had a caramel apple tea which appeared to be a teabag with a slice of apple in a pot.

There were lots of people emerging from the Caoling tunnel as we approached but after we had gone a few hundred metres, it was largely deserted.  Completed in 1924, the tunnel was 2 kilometres long and built during the a Japanese occupation to ease traffic difficulties between Yilan and greater Taipei.  As we headed towards Fulong we passed heaps of cyclists heading towards the tunnel.

We reached he main road and turned off after a few kilometres to take a quiet back road into Shuangxi.  We found a little stall selling noodle soup.  The broth was quite tasty but there was only a few pieces of gristly beef.  Si made a better choice with his wonton soup.  We bought some dried mango and peanuts from a nearby fruit stall for dessert.  Just around the corner, I spied a bakery with French style baguettes so we stopped for a second lunch with a sausage bun, green onion tart and two cinnamon rolls. We now had enough carb-loading to tackle the imminent hill. 

We started climbing almost immediately and initially the gradient was-easily manageable but it soon became more challenging. Part way up, Si let me know that we could have taken an alternative tunnel route and avoided the hill but we were now committed enough to keep going.  It was a total climb of 3.8 kilometres and a 213 metres elevation gain, with an average gradient of 5.6% and a maximum grade of 18%. This was our most challenging hill of the trip.  It was a long, slow climb and I was relieved to reach the top.  We descended briefly before climbing again and it was then an even steeper descent down to the river.

We followed a quiet, scenic road to Houtong village, once known for its prosperous coal mine, and now known for its abundance of cats.  We spotted a few, but didn’t go in search of any more.  There was plenty of cat paraphernalia and a few places to eat, however, we didn’t loiter and continued on a few more kilometres, passing through some more modern tunnels, before stopping at a picnic area for afternoon tea. 

We cycled through Ruifang and found cycle route 12, the same route that had included the tunnel option to Houtang and I suggested we take it.  However, it soon turned west and we were continuing north and had to divert onto an even steeper hill that was not even rideable and required us to push our bikes around a hundred metres to the top.  From there it was an easy ride into Keelung.  We had come in from the coast side so we could see the port but this took us along busy roads so we had to focus on the traffic with Jonno catching up to us as we navigated our way through the Main Street. It  was a relief to reach the centre of town and our accommodation at the Harbour View hotel as it was starting to rain.

Keelung is renowned for its rainy weather so we packed our raincoats as we headed out to its famous night market. The L-shaped night market is centred around a temple, and many of the stalls had English as well sd Chinese names. I had listed a few places we should try, including fish paste cakes, chicken rolls and one-bite sausages.   In addition we tried the duck burritos and pork in roti buns - these two were my favourites of all the street food we tried in Taiwan.  Si and I share a passionfruit shaved ice to finish.

These markets offered  lots of places to sit and eat as well as plenty of space to walk between the stalls. We all agreed that Keelung night market was our favourite.

 Prev entry - Home - Next entry