[ Red Bridge! ] ChangHua Coastal Ride Part 1 彰化田海騎之一

ChangHua Coastal Ride Summary

• Self ride.
• Starting/ending Location: XiHu Family Mart, ChangHua (溪湖)
• Bike Length: ~ 105 km.
• Hill profile: flat.
• Good for: Avoiding rain training.
• Warning: XiHu rails cycling path still has rail gaps. Careful when using thin road tires.
• Route Highlights:
  • HeXing “Bomb” Mazu temple (埤頭合興宮)
  • XiLuo Old Town (西螺)
  • Jiulong Giant Banyan (九龍大榕公)
  • FangYuan Lighthouse (芳苑燈塔)
  • WangGong wind turbine array (王功小型風力發電廠)
  • LuKang Old Town (鹿港)
  • Old Japanese gun tower (番婆村日治古砲台)

Background

The ChangHua Coastal Ride is the is the 8th effort after South YunLin Coastal Temple Ride, to develop near 100 km Taiwan shore riding route.

As in YunLin ride, ChangHua Coastal Ride featured Taiwan’s rural culture, especially temple culture.

Start: XiHu 溪湖

Our ChangHua Coastal Ride started at XiHu (溪湖), following cycling trail converted from sugar cane train rails.

Rails converted cycling path.

Train bridge crossing!

Changhua’s rural views.

At the middle there was a cool Mazu temple with a WWII bomb. Legend said Mazu here showed up and caught the bomb by hand, preventing it from explosion.

“Bomb” Mazu temple.

The WWII bomb.

Jiulong Giant Banyan (九龍大榕公)

Near the river bank of ZhuoShei River (濁水溪) there was a giant banyan growing around a temple, covering an area of more than 3,000 square meter.

Giant banyan sign.

Temple below.

XiLuo Bridge and Old Town

At the southern border of ChanguHua we visited YunLin’s XiLuo (西螺) old town. To reach the town we crossed the historical XiLuo Red Bridge (西螺大橋).

Northern entrance.

XiLuo Old Street buildings.

Mazu temple.

The other Mazu temple in XiLuo.

Soy sauce, one of XiLuo’s main products.

Towards the Coast

After XiLuo, our ChangHua Coastal Ride began our way towards the coast.

Riding along the river bank.

Bike path towards ErLin (二林)

Erlin’s temple.

Old Japanese ceremony hall.

Soon we reached FangYuan, a small town near the coast. There was initially a shore recreational point here, but currently construction of West Coast Highway blocked the access to the shore.

Abandoned bird watching pavilion.

Oyster gathering truck.