November 4th, 2020.
The one with the Wedding Photographers.
Day 2 of our odyssey started as we met up outside Tamsui Station around 1pm. A somewhat inauspicious start as Uber decided not to cooperate with Elaine’s iPhone but fortunately there were taxis aplenty and we were soon on our way to Qianshuiwan. We had opted to walk this leg in reverse so that we could enjoy a slap-up dinner in Tamsui at the end. A cunning plan indeed.
Watches set, and a photo requested from a wandering local, and we were ready to start our day’s walk. A somewhat lowering sky, a cool wind blowing and the wave tops scudding across the path made for an atmospheric setting, and the perfect walking weather, as long as the rain held off. We set off along the boardwalk, which was relatively deserted, being mid afternoon on a Wednesday, but the size of the car park and the various small restaurants suggested it was a popular spot for many at weekends. Before long we ran out of concrete and were on to the beach itself. The going was a tad harder as a result, and I doubt that the beach will be winning any awards soon, strewn as it was with countless plastic bottles and a myriad items of fishing detritus, but nothing was going to dampen our spirits and we enjoyed with gusto the sound of the sea, the wind and the hundreds of crabs, birds and other assorted creatures dwelling by the sea shore.
As we wended our way down the coast, hopping from beach to beach, it was fascinating as well to come across the many reminders of how well fortified the coast line has been in times past. Large bunkers popped up from time to time, some teetering on cliff edges and others seemingly collapsed and now being eroded away by the tides. There was, on our penultimate beach as well, a rather incongruous sight – shorty after a bunker, a large concrete bench and chairs set up right in the water, that emerged only as the tide went out, and that seemed to offer a different take on ROC – PRC relations. An occasion to sit down and chat over a cup of tea perhaps?
While we managed to stick mostly to the seashore, there were a number of times that required rather large detours inland as rivers disgorged into the sea. Without bridges, and being too deep to fjord we were forced to walk a few kilometers back to the main road to overcome these obstacles These detours offered their own charms of course, such as at one stage finding and reading more about the aboriginal designed salmon/trout runs, which was fascinating (and rather more enjoyable than the few times we had to walk along the main road, hugging the shoulder and hoping that no one would drive into us!) Despite a few wrong turns on the way back to the coast, we soon found a suitable path, even if it did take Elaine’s Taiwanese skills to persuade a toothless and suitably unkempt local fisherman that we were serious about walking!
As the day started to draw to a close, we rounded another rocky headland and found ourselves on an almost deserted, pristine beach. Deserted, apart from two parties doing their wedding photographs – one in Western style, her long white dress flapping in the wind, and one Aboriginal, with the bare-chested groom looking decidedly chilly as the sun crept toward the horizon. Behind us our footsteps in the sand were clear – the only visitors that day. Up ahead a last stream to fjord and then the long bike path to follow back to Tamsui. With our knees beginning to ache after the endless boulders and sand walking it was nice to leave the beach, get past the overpowering stench from the animal shelter (!) and start on the last few kilometers through Tamsui before a well-deserved meal by the river bank.
And so we ended day 2. A tad over 18km walked in around 4 hours. And needless to say, the beers and the food slipped down easily. Rich MN.
