Day 7: February 2nd, 2021.
The one with the Queen’s Head.
Before describing today’s walk, it’s worth mentioning John Groot’s book “Taiwanese Feet: My Walk Around Taiwan”. John, a Canadian, is a long-term resident of Taiwan and last year, as we were in the planning stages of our walk, published a book, which as you’ve probably guessed, describes his journey around Taiwan. So, to those of you who know John and are wondering whether his book inspired us to start our own walk, the answer is no; however, we have met up with John, chatted about his journey and bought copies of the book – and very useful it has proved to be.
John’s journey took 8 (yes eight) years to complete and he was very meticulous about starting each day’s journey from whichever point he’d previously finished at. He also tried, wherever possible, to walk along the coast or as close as he could get and hats off to John for his single-minded determination because we’ve found out from our first few days of walking that this is extremely tricky. There are plenty of delightful coastal paths, well-maintained boardwalks and beautiful beaches to walk along, which is all very enjoyable. Equally, there are plenty of places where the access to the beach disappears and you have to clamber across rubbish strewn fields with stray dogs lurking or backtrack because there’s no clear route at all. Even worse, there are stretches where the only way forward is on a busy main road that wasn’t designed for pedestrians and you’re only a few inches away from the oncoming traffic, which is not much fun and potentially dangerous.
Having read the chapters in John’s book on the route from Jinshan to Yehliu and on to Keelung, it was clear there were plenty of places we’d like to walk but also lots of areas we wanted to avoid. Our cunning solution to this conundrum was to use a driver to pick us up whenever we reached a stretch we didn’t want to walk. Elaine provided not only our support vehicle, but also the driver, in the shape of Chester, affectionately known as her “adopted” son, though he’s really just a close family friend. Just like Elaine’s actual son, Ryan, the week before, Chester proved to be an excellent driver and a very agreeable companion and so with that preamble out the way, let us begin.
Day 7 started at the Huanggang (磺港) fishing harbour, near Jinshan and with Chester on hand, our customary pre-walk photo was quickly taken before we set off up the hill to the Shi-TouShan trail. Within a few minutes we’d gained enough elevation to be treated to stunning views of the harbour, the coastline and the famous Candlestick Rocks, which rise out of the sea 450 metres offshore. We passed an old sentry box, which had been dug into the cliff and while it had a sumptuous view, it was also subject to the full force of the wind; not a place you’d want to spend a chilly night on guard duty.
A series of well-maintained steps led us down to the shore and an enjoyable scramble around the rugged rocks brought us ragged rascals to the Shuiwei Fishing Harbour. Here we saw our usual array of fishermen together with something else that seems almost obligatory for Taiwan, an abandoned, derelict building. This was just the warm-up act though; as you shall see, we were treated to the main show later on in the day and that was indeed a sight to behold.
Crossing the Yuantan River Scenic Bridge took us to a long stretch of the almost deserted XiaoLiao Beach; one of the joys of walking mid-week on a relatively cool day is that there are very few people around. The firm sand made for fairly easy walking and good progress, as we were able to admire one area sprinkled with shells, while puzzling over the remains of a mysterious, decomposing sea creature.
An inlet at the end of the beach proved no barrier to our progress, as there were plenty of large, flat rocks to keep our feet dry, and we moved swiftly along to the outlet for the second nuclear power plant. The water here was gushing out with tremendous force so hopefully there’s nothing radioactive in there. Shortly thereafter the waves were lapping right up to the cliffs and there was no clear route back up to the road, so it was time to call up Chester for the short trip round to Yehliu Geopark.
Yehliu Geopark, with its bizarre rock formations, is generally rammed on weekends but on a quiet day, such as we had, it’s a wonderful place to wander around. The sign at the entrance certainly whetted our appetites – “This is the closest you’ll get to Mars on Earth -CNN”, so we joked about perhaps meeting Elon Musk, as we set off to explore. The most famous formation is the “Queen’s Head Rock”, which depending on your point of view, looks like the ancient Egyptian Queen Nefertiti or Queen Elizabeth II on a postage stamp. In our opinion though, there are several equally impressive rocks all around, so it’s well worth inspecting the whole area.
There’s also a statue to commemorate the bravery of a Mr. Lin Tien-Chien, who died while trying to save a student who was swept off the rocks by a rogue wave. Nowadays, red lines on the rocks and the park staff ensure that visitors don’t get too close to the sea but the sight and sound of waves crashing into the cliffs all around are a constant reminder of how dangerous it is.
A quick drive further round the coast brought us to Wanli Beach and the strangest part of the day. At the entrance to the beach stands an abandoned hotel; “nothing special” we hear you say, but just a short distance away lies one of the Top Ten Abandoned Sites in Taiwan and another glimpse of Life on Mars. The Wanli UFO Houses are supposedly copies of the Futuro houses, made famous by the Finnish designer Matti Suuronen and date back to the 1970’s or 80’s (reports vary). Most of them were left to rot years ago and now look like leftovers from a science fiction film set. However, a few still have residents, including one with a Tesla parked outside, which led to more thoughts of Elon Musk. When we got down to the beach level, we saw that the Tesla owner’s pod was actually quite stunning but out of respect for his privacy we didn’t take any further photos. If you want to read more about the UFO Houses click here for an interesting blog in English.
We now had a pleasant stroll along the almost deserted Wanli Beach until we reached the White House Beach Resort, with its odd-looking pipe sculptures in front.
Chester was on hand again to give us a lift round to Dawulun Fishing Harbour and Beach for what proved to be our final walk of the day. And what a lovely walk it was too, so full marks to Taiwan for this stretch of the route. A nice wide path for pedestrians, plenty of signboards showing the local attractions, cafes and restaurants at regular intervals all combined with stunning views out to sea and steep cliffs on the other side. How we’d love it to be like this all the time. We sauntered on along the Waimushan Shore Walk, with Keelung Islet out at sea keeping us company, as we got closer to Keelung City.
Just before Waimushan Harbour we saw a foolhardy fisherman, who looked in imminent danger of being swept away, right next to an open-air swimming pool sunk in the rocks by the harbour wall. These pools are a common sight in Australia but very unusual in Taiwan, so well done to the Keelung Haixing Swimming Association. We stopped to admire the one hardy swimmer, who gave us a cheery wave and we yelled “Jia Yo 加油” back to encourage him. It was now 4pm, we hadn’t eaten lunch and we’d hit the industrial part of Keelung, with the power station and oil refineries up ahead. After 15km of walking, this seemed a good point to call it a day; fortunately, there was a nice café nearby, overlooking the sea and serving ice cold beers, while we waited for our support vehicle. Our last stop of the day was at a Cambodian restaurant, where we feasted on prawn and beef noodles washed down with Taiwan beer. We rewarded Chester for his day’s efforts with the ultimate gift – a Liverpool FC red envelope / HongBao 紅包. Can life get any better than this?
End of Day 7: Richie Rich.