I set off at six o’clock on Monday morning to ride across the Northern Cross Island Highway. This road, which Taiwanese call the Bei Heng (北橫), begins at Daxi in Taoyuan County and goes across the mountains to Yilan. I stopped to eat breakfast somewhere on the road between Xindian and Sanxia. Once I rode through Sanxia the worst of the traffic and urban ugliness was behind me. The scenery on Route 7乙 between Sanxia consisted of small farms with bigger mountains off in the distance.

At Sanmin I joined the Route 7 proper passing by Fuxing and the Xiao Wulai waterfall which I had visited before. I stopped on the Luofu Bridge to take a few photos.

Beyond Luofu the road narrowed and you really had the sense of being in the mountains as the road travelled along the side of a steep valley. The next stop was in Ronghua at an altitude of 510 metres. The Leaf Cafe (葉子咖啡) was a perfect refuelling stop. I made fairly good time and not long after midday I rolled in to the small town of Baling where I had lunch. Baling has hot springs and several hotels and would make a good spot for an overnight stop if you are cycling at a more sedate pace.

Beyond Baling the road headed further upward. You are really in the mountains here and there is very little traffic on the road. At the higher elevations there are cypress trees. The road kept going up beyond the sign in the photo above. I believe the high point of the road is around 1,200 metres. At this altitude the temperature is also noticeably cooler especially when the clouds started rolling in the afternoon.

Around mid-afternoon I reached Mingchi. I arrived there at the same time as two other cyclists and they asked me if I would like to share a room with them. I was grateful for their kindness and company. They were also riding the Bei Heng, but at a slower pace having taken two days to get to Mingchi from Taipei. Mingchi has a beautiful resort set amongst the giant trees of the Ma-kau Ecological Park (馬告生態公園). After taking a shower there was still enough daylight to walk around the lake at Mingchi and enjoy the beautiful forest.

The next morning I was on the road before seven. The road was fairly level for a while before the long descent down to Yilan began. On the narrow mountain roads people generally drive slowly and carefully. It is amazing how two vehicles can pass each other when it seems so narrow. Many people also shouted out encouragement to me as they drove past.

The road descends to the valley of the Lanyang River and follows its banks until it reaches the Yilan Plain. When I got to Yilan there was an ominous looking black cloud to the north and shortly before I reached Jiaoxi it started raining. I took shelter and waited until the rain stopped. I rode through Jiaoxi and started to head along Route 9 to Pinglin. It started raining again. I stopped for a while, but then decided to push on rain, hail or shine. The “nine turns and eighteen bends” afforded some wonderfully dramatic views of Toucheng and the ocean.

When I rolled into Pinglin for a late lunch the roads were finally dry even if I wasn’t. After a hearty lunch I started on the home stretch along a familiar road. A large golden statue of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva stands guard over the road on the climb up from Pinglin. It was still a bit further to the top of the hill but then it was a nice easy downhill run home.

The two day ride was a great experience and the forest and mountain scenery was especially beautiful. I should add that it is possible to take your bikes back to Taipei on the Capital Bus (首都客運) from Jiaoxi or Yilan if you don’t want to ride over Route 9 or one of the other routes.

*more photos in the Northern Cross Island Highway set at flickr.

#Thanks to Rank and Biking in Taiwan who have both posted helpful descriptions of the route (and some alternative routes).

Update: An article about the ride has now been published in Highway 11 magazine. It is online in both English and Chinese.

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I went to Yilan on the weekend. I love going there and enjoy the rural feeling with the backdrop of mountains. The rice fields seem to be giving way to new houses at a rapid pace though. I wonder how long it will be before this is just another ugly urban area like many other places in Taiwan. 

On Sunday morning we went to the Luodong Sports Park (羅東運動公園). I am sure just about everybody that visits Yilan goes there. There is a good reason why though. It is a beautiful park and I don't know of any others in Taiwan that could compare to it.

"The General Temple of Taoism Sanqing Temple" (道教總廟三清宮) was an interesting and busy place. The three deities in the photo are the Three Pure Ones. I didn't get to spend as much time there as I would have liked but you can see a couple more photos here. 

Yulan (玉蘭) is a small village where tea is the major industry. This photo shows the view from above Yulan with tea fields covering the mountainside. On a clear day there would be spectacular views of some of Taiwan's high mountains and the ocean here. 

Returning to Taipei on Monday morning I went through the Hsuehshan Tunnel (雪山隧道) for the first time. My main impression of the tunnel was that it is very long! Driving for 12.9 km at the 70 km/h speed limit, it should take about 11 minutes to get through the tunnel. I am curious to know why there were two motorcycles parked at the entrance to the tunnel (motorcycles are not allowed to travel through the tunnel). 

• 206cc in Yilan
• Cycling along the Tonghou River
• Pinglin and Shenkeng: tea and tofu
• Links 20 July 2007
• Cycling the Northern Cross Island Highway

Peugeot 206cc

206cc stands for 206 convertible car. It is also the name of a a club for owners of Peugeot 206 cars in Taiwan.

Shot of Guishan Island taken from the train

Most of the club members had gone to Yilan on Saturday night, but I caught the train to Luodong and met them there on Sunday morning. Even though there was a typhoon looming off the coast the weather was perfect.

Motorbikes of all shapes and sizes

From Luodong we drove up to Toucheng. When we stopped at 7-Eleven there were motorcycles of all shapes and sizes parked outside. These were from a variety of clubs also heading out for a weekend excursion.

206cc girls

Our first destination was the Toucheng Farm (頭城農場). Tourist resort would be a more apt description for the place than a farm (although I did spot two goats).

Preparing food for the BBQ

The BBQ

It was about lunchtime when we arrived there and we started preparing the BBQ. The food was great. One of the 206cc members was a prawn farmer and he brought several boxes of prawns for everyone to enjoy.

Post-BBQ swim

After lunch we walked a short distance to a nearby river for a swim. Well, most Taiwanese people can't really swim so "playing in the water" might be a more accurate description. Still it was a great way to cool off and relax.

Top down 206

After the swim it was late afternoon. The weather had cooled down and it was time for a bit of top down, open road cruising.

David ready to roll

Hitting the road

On the road

Nothing like the feeling of the wind in your hair

Green machine

We went back to Luodong for a while. At about 8:00pm the car park freeway back to Taipei was backed up with traffic all the way to Yilan and beyond. We went into Yilan to eat dinner at the night market and wait for the traffic to clear.

Entrance to the Hsuehshan Tunnel

By the time we started to head back to Taipei at 11:30pm traffic was still entering the Hsuehshan Tunnel (雪山隧道) at a snail's pace. We drove to Pinglin via Route 9 and then took the freeway back to Taipei from there. It made for a late finish to a great day. 感謝亮亮

• Weekend in Yilan
• Pinglin and Shenkeng: tea and tofu
• Cycling the Northern Cross Island Highway
• Mum and Dad visit Taiwan
• Cycling along the Tonghou River