After a hiatus of almost exactly 8 months, we were back on our journey and once again headed out to the West Coast. All 4 walkers have been away from Taiwan for various reasons, so it was lovely to be able to finally meet up and the weather had obviously missed us, as it was a superb winter’s day: big blue skies and sunshine.
Our merry group of 4; Rich, Tim, Martyn and Elaine met up at Taipei Main Station and took the HSR down to MiaoLi 苗栗. It’s a quick 46 minute journey and as always, the train was exactly on time and the ride very smooth. When the HSR was first completed in January 2007, there were only 8 stops on the north / south line and Miaoli, together with Changhua and Yunlin were opened in 2015 and this has significantly reduced the time it takes to travel from Taipei down to Miaoli County.
It was a quick 15 minute taxi ride out to the coast and we were ready to start our walk at WaiPu harbour 外埔漁港 at 10:30am. The area to the south of the harbour is a favourite spot for surfing enthusiasts and we were able to ask one of the locals to down his board for a minute and help us take the regulatory start of the walk photo. Our surfer friend was in a full wetsuit and when we enquired if the water was cold, he said, “for you guys, it’s warm, but for us locals, it’s freezing!”. The outside temperature was already above 20C, so it’s didn’t feel at all cold to us, but then again, we weren’t surfing!
Looking south, we could just about make out TaiChung 台中 in the far distance and the XueShan 雪山 mountain range over to our left (East). A serene looking stone sculpture of the Goddess GuanYin 觀音proclaimed, ‘Generate Compassion in the World’ and ‘The Heart is very happy’ and with this in mind, we started our walk north.
We were immediately interrupted by a group of local school children drumming and as we were sure the fanfare wasn’t for us, we walked over to take a look at what was happening – it was the ground breaking ceremony for an extension to the harbour facility and the traditional offerings of food, in the form of pot noodles, fruit etc. were available for the Land God, as well as the spades, hardhats, ribbons and ghost money for the official portion of the ceremony. The drums are partly entertainment and partly to ward off any evil spirits which may be lurking around and possibly cause some unnecessary chaos or bad luck during the construction.
WaiPu harbour 外埔漁港 is relatively quiet during the week, but there were a decent number of fishing boats in the harbour, and signs promoting live sea catches and two stone sculptures showed traditional fishermen in bamboo hats, hauling their nets. Slightly further along the path there was yet another, ‘NFT’ – (Normal for Taiwan) art piece portraying a very poor replica of Jaws, which hopefully never made it into any of those local fishing nets.
Passing a lone sand dredger, we wandered up to the elevated boardwalk and headed out to the shoreline. Scattered throughout the nearby waters were hundreds of wind turbines stretching as far as the eye could see. We casually mentioned that in addition to providing much needed clean/green energy for Taiwan, these huge wind blades are also an extremely efficient deterrent for Chinese amphibious craft, so maybe Taiwan needs more of them – a lot more!! We passed an old army base with two spherical domes and wondered what the area would have been like back when it was a military restricted zone, prior to it being opened to the public.
The sun was shining down, the ocean spray cooled the air and stories of various summer activities were exchanged. Tim was particularly keen to share the success of the UK junior WuShu team, which he generously sponsors. Before long, the boardwalk had ended and we were forced onto the beach, which unfortunately was again quite apocalyptic due to the mass of plastic and styrofoam and other rubbish which had been washed ashore, because of the currents and lay of the land.
In the midst of this sea of rubbish, one can often find some real treasures; shell encrusted shoes, pieces of driftwood and various buoys, as well as odd bits of furniture, such as chairs etc. which make decent resting places, as well as providing nice photo opportunities.
We arrived at a small stream which was slightly too deep to wade across, so a small feat of civil engineering was undertaken and with helping hands, we were all able to cross without getting our feet wet. By now it was really starting to heat up, so we had a rest in the shade of one of the giant wind turbines and consulted the map to see which way we should head.
It is always more pleasant to walk on the actual shore, but sometimes, there is no access from the beach to the bike paths or smaller farm roads, so in order not to arrive at a point where we couldn’t connect with either of these, we headed inland along a sandy track used for the maintenance of the wind turbines. We soon arrived at a temple, literally in the middle of nowhere, but with a field of beautiful sunflowers in front of it and a huge gourd as part of its roof. Tim took one look at the gourd, reached into his joke mine and quipped – There’s a bloke in this town who’s walking around saying ‘when I got here, I didn’t have a pot to piss in – and now look at me’.
The field of sunflowers provided a fun photo opportunity, and it was amazing to actually see them move in the direction of the sun. Leaving the flowers to return to their peaceful sun gazing, we headed towards the highway and passed underneath via a low tunnel, which brought us out on the eastern side next to the railway line.
Having looked at the various ways to cross the Zhongang 中港 estuary, the only viable option was to walk the bridge section of the coastal highway. Having had an hairy experience on day 16 walking this highway to cross the river at Taipei Port, we were slightly apprehensive to say the least, so to prepare, we stopped at a local temple, next to a Binlang 檳榔(Betel Nut) stand and had a cool drink and a snack, while Elaine attended to her blisters.
Fortunately, our fears were unwarranted, as this bridge had a separate section for pedestrians and cyclists and was a safe and easy walk. The vistas across the estuary were stunning, but the ominous power station served to remind us that we were still very close to the urban sprawl of ZhuNan 竹南 and its northernly neighbour, HsinChu 新竹.
The bike path meandered through scrubland and led to a small lake with a very impressive coastal pine, its roots exposed. As the surrounding pines still had their roots buried, we surmised that this one had probably been growing on slightly raised ground and during the excavation of the lake, the ground around it was dug away, leaving the tree with bare roots.
Continuing along northwards towards LongFeng harbour 龍鳳漁港, there were various signs on the side introducing the local wildlife, none of which we were lucky enough to spot, but it was nice to know that we were supposedly not alone! It was still warm, and the walking had made us all thirsty, so we took another quick break and were amused by a wayside side and its wonderful “Chinglish”.
Once again, we attempted to walk on the actual beach, but the wind was still savagely blowing sand in our faces, so we stuck to the path and soon arrived at LongFeng Harbour 龍鳳漁港. This is a natural harbour on the southern bank of the LengShui River estuary and Miaoli’s first weekend fish market is located here. The harbour is spanned by a steel bridge, built in 2008 and distinguished by its white sail like design.
We crossed the bridge and were greeted by a vast stretch of sand, which was at last walkable, as the wind had changed direction. The late afternoon light cast pretty shadows as we were once again forced to rejoin the bike path and continue our journey north. We passed an equestrian centre with a couple of riders putting their horses through their paces and talk turned to various UK TV shows in the late 70’s, 80’s and their horsey characters.
As we were now nearing the end of the day’s walk, we decided to make a last trek onto the beach and enjoyed some Milky Bar (brought all the way from Tesco in the UK) beneath yet another mammoth wind turbine. The sun was beginning to set, casting a beautiful orange glow on the afternoon as we passed an interesting ‘flying duck’ like sculpture, marking an entrance to the wetlands and a lookout tower, which had been painted yellow on the interior to avoid disturbing the birds.
Up ahead we could see the Harp Bridge and knowing this was the last point prior to heading inland, we merrily made our way past the XiangShan dune and wind farm and on towards the evening’s dinner destination.
Whilst charting the walking routes, it’s often challenging to find somewhere for the end of walk dinner and today’s destination was rather special, as it was a shrimping pond. Traditionally, one would be required to catch one’s own dinner, but luckily, we were presented with a menu and Tim did a wonderful job, yet again, of ordering the night’s dishes and as is customary, these were washed down with some wonderful cold, local beers. Cheers 乾杯.
Having eaten and drunk our fill, we called a local driver and drove to HsinChu high speed rail station and enjoyed a quick train ride back to Taipei. A fantastic end to Day 20.
Total Distance Walked 25.6km.
End of Day 20. Elaine.