Day 1 October 28th, 2020.
The one where we start.
DaDaoCheng was a hive of activity when we arrived, with a fire rescue drill taking place at the same time that hundreds of school children were setting off on a bike ride. At 10:45 we took our first group picture in front of the DaDaoCheng boat and then we were off on the riverside path to Tamsui. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step (千里之行，始於足下) and ours began in beautiful sunshine.
Off we go and in the first ten minutes, we pass two small temples. Whoever called Thailand “The Land of Temples” should definitely visit Taiwan. The riverside embankment walls have been brightened up with murals and we then crossed the bridge and walked past the Beitou Incinerator, with its revolving restaurant on top.
We stopped for the first coffee beer of the journey shortly after passing the Incinerator and feeling suitably refreshed, we were soon rewarded with a view of the Guandu Temple, the half-way mark of today’s walk.
Lucia joined us as we explored the Guandu Temple. There’s no shortage of temples in Taiwan but this is definitely worth checking out and make sure you climb up to the roof for the heavenly views over the Tamsui River.
From Guandu we carried on past Zhuwei and stopped in a wonderful little place called the “River Bank Farm”, that serves delicious fresh fruit and veggie shakes. Highly recommended if you are in the area.
The final part of our journey was through the wetlands to Tamsui MRT station. We started at 10:45am and finished at 3:30pm having walked 18.5km; all in all a great first day. Richie Rich.