Jeju Olle

We started at Course 18 because it departed from Jeju City; enteted the first stamp in our passport book and set off in the wind and rain. It’s BYO stamp pads but luckily we found them in Daiso (1000 ₩ Store)…

Another wet day.  With 3km to the start of Stage 19 and a kilometer to our pension after the end, all up it was about 24km (7 hours).  A varied Course, sometimes hugging the rugged coast then meandering through farms…

Pack away the GoreTex, it’s a bright sunny day! Course 20 undulates along the coast, sometimes diverting inland between houses and farms.  About 15km of easy walking, very pleasant. We were lucky enough to come across a group of Haenyeo…

Route 21 remains within sight of the ocean, except for the 170 meter climb up Jimi-Bong.  It’s only 10km so we continued further on to Seongsan, almost at the end of Route 1, another 12 or so kilometers. 8 hours…

Starting in Jeju City on Stage 18, our route carrried on to the end of Stage 21 and then contunued with Stage 1. We walked Route 1 back to the start from the end of Route 21 climbing Al Oreum, one…

We stayed 2 nights in Seongsan so we could walk the Olle on Udo Island. Udo, or Cow, Island is a 10 minute ferry ride from Seongsan.  The Olle trail is about 11km on paved surfaces, flat except for a…

We continued 2km from Seongsan on Route 1 to walk all of Route 2 and about 6km of Route 3 to make 23km for the day, 6 hours. On a dull day with showers forecast for the afternoon, we wasted…

After walking 2km on Route 1 and 14.5km on Route 2, we had a choice for Route 3 – inland or along the coast.  We took the coastal route (3B) as we could not find anywhere to stay on the…

Route 4 starts at Pyoseon, an attractive small town with a white sand beach at the river mouth, following the coast before climbing through tangerine orchards to Mang-oreum (175m) and returing to the coastal path again. After finishing Route 3…

Route 5 starts at Namwon Pogu (Port) and follows the most beautiful seaside trail to eventually reach the Soesokkak Estuary.  Today was calm and with a public holiday for Children’s Day, quiet. The Korean National Institute of Fisheries Science was…

Jim Saunders, the English Jeju Olle volunteer joined us to show us the sights on Route 6 into Seogwipo. Thanks Jim, it was a great day! After heavy rain overnight, the coast was eerily covered in fog all day. We…

Stage 7.1 begins at the World Cup Stadium, 6km and a $6 taxi ride from Seogwipo.  The trail passes through a built up area, enters the forest and climbs 370 meters to the top of Gogeunsan Oreum. The descent back…

We left Seogwipo with all clean clothes (washing machine in hotel room) and lunch, dinner, breakfast and beer as we knew there were no stores. The day started with a heavy wet mist and remained cloudy, but no rain.  Route…

We spent the night just into Route 8 near a most spectacular Buddhist complex, Yakcheon-sa Temple. Raining on departure, but stopped after an hour or so.  The Route goes through the Jungmun resort area, frantic and a bit tacky but soon…

At 7.5km, Route 9 is the shortest Olle stage. It includes 2 not so tough uphills and some very nice forest trails. Warm and sunny, the air smells fresh after rain, the birds are singing so a good day’s walking.…

Route 10 is closed for a rest year, probably until January 2017, and all waymarks removed. We decided to walk anyway, but using roads instead of the Route 10 trails, and overnighted about 5km in.  From there we picked up…

Gapa-do Island is a 15 miute ferry ride from the finishing point of Route 10.  The trail is only about 5km and the Island completely flat so an easy stroll in the 3 hours between ferries. There were lots of…

There is no accommodation, stores or restaurants at the end of Route 11 so we stayed an extra night at Moseulpo, took a taxi to the end point (about 20 minutes, $10) and walked back. Small problem after half an…

Took a taxi back to the start of Route 12. Every month volunteers clean a different section of the Jeju Olle.  This month’s “Clean Olle” event was tidying up Course 12.   As it happened we were walking Route 12 so…

Route 13 heads inland gradually going uphill from the port of Yongsu to the village of Jeoji,  mostly on a deserted narrow concrete road.  There are also some forest trails, 3km of which was restored by the 13th Special Air Forces…

Route 14.1 was a real surprise.  It’s almost all on narrow paths through dense jungle or open tracks though forest, and in the middle is a tea plantation. We took a taxi to the end and walked back to the…

Route 14 starts at about 150 meters and descends 10km to the sea.  It then follows the coast for about another 10km called the Blue Olle for the blue of the sea.   It’s the bluest sea we’ve seen anyway.…

Route 15 immediately turns inland from the Port of Hallim passing mainly through farmlands.  90% on secondary roads with little traffic makes for easy quick walking (we did the 19km in 4 hours including a lunch break) but it’s hard…

Route 16 follows the coastal cliffs for an hour or so before turning inland and uphill.  It goes beside farms growing beans, corn and peppers, cuts through wild forest and climbs over an Oreum. There are 368 Oreums (extinct volcanic…

Route 17, our final stage, is quite a nice walk.  It descends 6km following a river to the sea then along the coast to Jeju City. After 23 days and about 400km we are back where we stated having circumnavigated…