Day 03

Keelung to Fulong.

Last night was host to a very pleasant evening of socialising with the Keelung massif, a fine array of foreign teachers making The Truck, 50% of Keelung’s nightlife, a lovely place to pass the time. But a good sleep was in order and a late start ensued. Starting out from Keelung harbour, the finish line from Day One, we loaded up the motorbike for the first time and headed out into the pouring rain. We were thankful that the temperature is not too low, for warm and wet beats cold and wet hands down.

Neil sets off east out of Keelung and we’re soon in Rui-Fang, a small strange town on the ocean which sports spherical objects the size of space stations. This may be where world domination begins from. We are excited to finally be on the road and really exploring. Seeing things we’ve not seen before, encountering delightful scenery at every twist and turn of the winding coastal road. The area around Nanya Peculiar Rocks is particularly pretty and the pinkish hues of the mountains and green grasses are only slightly dimmed by the rain and mist. Looking carefully, one can see fishermen dotted here and there, perched precariously on high rocks jutting out into the sea.

At Bitou Cape Neil stopped for lunch and we ate a deliciously fresh steamed fish and noodles. As we ate into the fish we were blissfully unaware that, unfortunately, the meal was disproportiately eating into our budget. But we didn’t care. The scenery here is fabulous. The little harbour village nestles into the ancient cliffs and locals fish from the harbour. I doubt there’s much else to do.

Neil is as bright and shiny as a new Taiwanese dollar. There’s no way in the world one could guess he’d covered 21.5km today, or 105km in the last three days. His only complaint thus far is of the cold drafts of air created by the countless lorries as they whizz unforgivingly by. The beach at Jinwanshang is lovely and I’m happy to see a 7eleven with seating so I can drink coffee, listen to Taiwanese pop and look out at the view. (I know, it’s a hard job.) As tomorrow is Tombsweeping Day and a national holiday we’ve been inundated with calls from prospective runners. There’ll be a lot of lemmings tomorrow.

Neil arrives and the girl in the shop recognises him from the TV. He has also been receiving words of encouragement from drivers who pass by. He tells me that he enjoyed running through the tunnel, which arches gracefully allowing a view of the sky and sea, until suddenly sinking into the ground. The wet concrete, unsigned, is forever marked with three imprints of Neil’s brand new trainers. We ended at Fulong at 8pm. It was dark and cold and we realised the early starts are advantageous in many ways.

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