The Eastern Rift Valley

Taiwan's Easter Rift Valley was formed by the convergence of the Philippine and Eurasian Plates.  To the west the land was forced upwards to form the higher Central Mountain Range whilst to the east is the lower Coastal Mountain Range.  Between them is the Eastern Rift Valley which is approximately 180km long and runs north to south.  The floor of the valley is quite fertile and mostly used for agriculture. 

Volcanic activity does occur in this area.  There are numerous hot springs and there have been several earthquakes.

My plan is to cycle down the valley from the north to the city of Taichung at the southern end and the cycle back north along the coastal road.

I woke early and thought it might be a good idea to get out of the city (Hualien) before the traffic started to build up.

As part of my pre-departure checks I made sure the ebike battery was fully charged. It was a shock to 41.7% on the display.  I was sure I'd fully recharged the battery.  Not wanting to depart with a battery less than 50% full I opened the pannier and got out the charging brick and adapter.   The charger is only rated at 3A which meant hours would pass before the battery reached 100%   

After 30 minutes I checked on progress by looking at the battery display.   100%…   @#$%&*.    That's when I realised the 41.7% was actually the voltage reading (41.7V).  The battery had always been fully charged.

I don't particularly like cycling through cities.  It's not just the traffic.  I seem to catch every red light.  Get the bike up to cruising speed and then have to stop.

Today I would be cycling down Provincial Highway 9

Note the two marked narrow lanes on the right in the above photo.  These are motorbike and cycle lanes. 

After an hour I stopped for a brief rest and took a photo of three women weeding a field of what I think is rice.  I don't think my back could cope!

Highway 9 is wide, smooth and frequently very straight.

Suddenly the right verge was full of parked cars with the occupants walking into what I initially thought was a park.

Almost immediately I passed this partially completed Adobe building.  It was at this point I noticed the area was actually a theme park with lakes and different style buildings from around the world.

The highway is part of National Cycling Route 1 which goes around the island.  It's well sign posted.

It, and many other cycling routes are also marked on the road with blue paint and the route numbers.

Many of the smaller towns appear to have a welcome structure on their outskirts.

This part of the valley appears to be well known for its pears.

Two thirds of the way through today's ride and just south of Ruisui I reached the Tropic of Cancer marker.  I'm not sure of the relevance with the teapot?

A large stone surface was covered in drawings of animals and symbols along with Chinese text.  There was nothing in English to provide any idea of its meaning or purpose.

Just as I was about to depart a young female cyclist arrived.  She spoke very good English informing me she was from mainland China and had purchased her bike in Taiwan on arrival with the intention of cycling around the island.

I asked if she was willing to allow me to take her photo and as you can see she has given me the traditional Winston Churchill hand greeting used in this part of the world

It wasn't all flat cycling.  At least the hills provided an opportunity to take more panoramic photos.

At 3PM I reached Chishang where I had booked a room in a B&B.

After several bad experiences using Google Maps I'd been using Osmand today as my satnav app.  However it was easier to cut and paste the B&B address from www.Booking.com into Google Maps for the final couple of kilometres.

google Maps took me through the back streets of Chishang right to the door of my B&B.  For 10 minutes the lady at the B&B and I struggled with Google Translate whilst I attempted to explain I had booked a room.  Eventually she realised from the booking confirmation email that I was at the wrong address!  I didn't know this because the address in the booking email was in Chinese characters.  My B&B was a further four houses down the street.  Bloody Google Maps strikes again!

120km cycled today.