RAKNUS SELU TRAIL DAY 7 (樟之細路D7)

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RAKNUS SELU TRAIL – SECTIONS RSA29.2 – 31.1

After spending the night at Quanhua Temple, day seven on the Raknus Selu Trail was an easy walk along rural roads into the town of Sanwan. In fact, it was so simple, that we were done before midday and were home by dinner time.

RAKNUS SELU STAMPS: RSA32: Located in a small traditional-style convenience store in Sanwan on the corner of Mingsheng Street and Zhongfeng Road. The stamp shows a crab-eating mongoose, I don’t think I’ve ever seen one, but they’re not uncommon in Taiwan.

DISTANCE: 13.4km.

TIME: 2½-3½ hours at a meandering pace. If you plan to explore around the Lion’s Head Temple Complex or Sanwan, you’ll want to give yourself extra time.

TOTAL ASCENT: About 400 metres.

DIFFICULTY (REGULAR TAIWAN HIKERS): 0.5/10 – This is a very easy walk.

DIFFICULTY (NEW HIKERS): 1/10 – Even for a new hiker, this shouldn’t be challenging. There are just a few junctions to navigate and a few noisy dogs to stand up to.

FOOD, DRINKS & PIT STOPS: Quanhua Temple offers breakfast between 6:30 and 7:30 in the morning, and there’s also a small convenience store by the temple. Along the route, we found a few village convenience stores too, and in Sanwan, there are several restaurants and places to pick up refreshments.

TRAIL SURFACES: The whole of this day’s walking follows roads.

SHADE: I needed my umbrella for much of this route on a bright day.

MOBILE NETWORK: Not strong, but I had signal the whole way.

SOLO HIKE-ABILITY: The walking itself is not risky in any way, so if you’re comfortable walking on quiet roads by yourself, then there’s no problem.

SECTIONS COVERED:

  • RSA29.2: Bogong Temple → Lion’s Head Mountain Archway (伯公廟→獅頭山牌樓)
  • RSA30.1: Lion’s Head Mountain Archway → County Highway 124 (獅頭山牌樓→縣道124)
  • RSA30.2: Miaoli District Road 19 → Provincial Highway 3 (苗19→臺三線)
  • RSA31.1: Provincial Highway 3 → Sanwan Town Centre (臺三線→三灣市區)

Jump to the bottom of this post for a trail map, GPX file and all the other practicalities, and if you would like assistance booking your stay at Quanhua Temple, you can click here.

DETAILS & DIRECTIONS:

BOOM, boom, boom.

BOOM, boom, boom.

Boom, boom.

Boom, boom.

BOOM, boom, boom.

The day started with the 6am opening of the temple ritual. This means ten minutes of drum beating so deep and resonant that it vibrated in my chest and set the bed springs aquiver. Teresa is able to turn back and go to sleep after being awoken, but not me. So that meant I was up and outside to catch sight of this beautiful scene and have a little wander around before breakfast was served. The people working at the temple were as enamoured as me. They said that usually, the clouds sit higher up and don’t just fill the valley like that. The early morning dawn chorus was dominated by something with a sweet and melodic call, but by the time breakfast rolled around, the soundscape was dominated by bulbuls and barbets and screech monsters whistling thrushes.

07:10 – Breakfast is served between 6:30am and 7:30am and is ridiculously filling. We were given a bun, as much congee as we could manage, and a spread of vegetables, pickles, peanuts and dried tofu to add to it. I think this has been one of the unexpected highlights of this long trail. I’ve found a new type of breakfast that I really like.

I was ready to go before Teresa, so I wandered through Ziyang Gate to look at the cherry blossom while waiting for her.

At the top of the steps, I encountered this minuscule stick insect hanging out on one of the prayer wheels lining the steps.

08:42 – Teresa took her sweet time getting out, and as I waited for her, I saw literally masses of hikers flow up the stairs. This group must have been 100-strong at least. Turn right at the bottom of this first flight of steps and continue going downwards.

At the bottom of the next flight of steps, you’ll pass one of the temple’s large carparks on your left. Keep straight here.

Teresa had caught up with me by this point, and looked unfairly fresh. At this crossroads, turn left. The first time I visited this path, it was so slippery that I struggled to walk downhill, but on this occasion, it was an entirely different experience. Only a few darker-coloured steps were hard to walk on.

Roughly halfway down, the trail crosses over a small stream via a stone bridge. The stone railings at either end of the bridge are decorated with these absolutely beautiful carved guardians. The elephants are on the uphill side, and the lions guard the roadside.

They aren’t the only carved stonework either. Just a little further along you’ll find more auspicious characters etched into a rock face….

09:07 – …and look carefully just up and to the right of the rightmost character and you can spot the fearsome visage of this guardian lion.

Before the trail drops down to join the road, there’s one final view of Jiali Shan rising above Nanzhuang’s river valley.

09:12 – When you reach the bottom of the steps, take a right turn onto County Highway 124 (left in the above photo).

09:33 – We stayed on County Highway 124 for the next kilometre and a bit. It’s not especially interesting, but it passes a couple of villages along the way. At the junction, RST signage directs you to turn right onto Miaoli District Road 19.

09:51 – The most curious thing along this part of the walk was this long-abandoned church. I have tried unsuccessfully to find out more about it.

09:51 – At the next junction, take a left and stick with Miaoli District Road 19 as it briefly follows a river. (We debated for a while whether or not to pop into the Baba Tunnel Park, which would have been a short diversion on the right here, but in the end decided not to.)

10:00 – One of the few buildings we passed along the way was this sanheyuan that was being advertised for sale. (We had a nice little joint daydream about moving to the countryside for a few minutes.) It was also guarded by a pack of at least ten pups. They rushed out to bark at us but didn’t leave their driveway.

There are a couple of junctions, but at all of them, you only need to stay on the road you’re already on. I’m not sure what this place is. It looks maybe like it was going to be a campsite but never fully got off the ground.

10:42 – Head straight over at this junction.

10:46 – My attention was caught by this temple sat prettily against a field of flowers. Here you can either head over to the temple and down the steps beside it, or keep on the road and turn left at the junction.

From here on, we started to pass more small villages and farms.

One plot on the left had an enclosure with several ducks and this pair of Taiwan geese. Ever since I was rescued by a guy who keeps these during my Tamsui-Kavalan Trails adventures, I’ve felt differently about these creatures. Knowing that they can be so intelligent and affectionate makes me want to get to know them better.

Speaking of getting to know animals… of course, we stopped to acquaint ourselves with several canines along the way.

11:01 – At a village, we passed a couple of rural convenience stores. Teresa has this thing where, if she knows the walk we’re doing is particularly easy, she likes to buy a beer to enjoy along the way. The grandma-run store only had one choice of beer, but no matter. On a warm day, it was very welcome. We shared the can between us, but unlike Teresa, I am not very good at drinking, and the few sips I had rendered the walking exhausting. (I always forget that this is how I react.)

From just beyond the village until we rejoined Provincial Highway 3, the road sticks close to Emei River.

11:27 – When you reach the junction, cross over and turn left. Provincial Highway 3 zooms up a flyover to skirt around the edge of Sanwan. Do not go with it; instead take the road on right.

It was a relief to have some shade to walk in.

Farms and small businesses line the road into the centre of Sanwan.

11:55 – This was our final destination for the day, but before we headed home, we popped into this convenience store to pick up another passport stamp.

The store owner shuffled to a corner of the store to retrieve the stamp. When he asked us where we’d come from and we told him we’d walked from Quanhua Temple, he looked amused. He said local people aren’t too interested in walking the Raknus Selu and collecting the stamps. For them, it’s just where they live. Before we left, we bought a bag of salted peanuts and some chocolate did the journey, and he gave us a book detailing many of the attractions to be found in Miaoli.

Teresa had parked in the school’s carpark the day before, so we headed over to drop our bags and make use of the schools toilets. From there, we drove a couple of kilometres down the road to a little coffee shop/restaurant called Shanwan Café, where we sat outside to sip coffee and eat baked rice to fuel the homeward journey.

GETTING THERE

Public transport:

  • Getting to Lion’s Head Mountain in Miaoli – The 5805 and 5805A shuttle between Zhunan TRA Station and the gates at the bottom of the steps leading to Quanhua Temple. Starting here means you would have to walk up the steps to the temple and then back down again (or just skip it, but the temple is the best part of this day, so don’t skip it if you’ve not been before). Alternatively, if you want to walk the whole of the Lion’s Head Trail, you could take the 5700 Taiwan Tourist Shuttle from Hsinchu HSR Station to the Lion Mountain Visitor Centre and walk past all of the temples. (This second option would add another 4-5km to your walk.)
  • Getting back from Sanwan – Take the 5805 or 5806 from Sanwan Post Office bound for Kuo-Kuang Motor Toufen Station. At the station, transfer onto the 1823 Via Toufen and ride that all the way back to Taipei.

Accommodation:

Staying at Quanhua Temple – Quanhua Temple offers basic rooms starting at $1,300 a night for a double without a view. The rooms are comfortable but do not have anything except for a towel (no shampoo, no hairdryer). the temple provides dinner (5:30pm) and breakfast (6:30-7:30am) for a voluntary donation (or for free). You will need to show some form of ID to stay here. If you need help booking Quanhua Temple hotel, you can click here.

Staying in Sanwan – There are a few campsites scattered around this area, but not much else in our price range. Since we’re doing this trail as a series of comfortable section hikes, we haven’t been carrying tents, so when we came back to walk day eight, it meant we ended up spending the night before in an AirBnB in Toufen. I would rather have stayed in an actual B&B (and there are several of these in Toufen), but none were available on the day of our trip.

RAKNUS SELU DAY 7 TRAIL MAP

GPX file available here on Outdoor Active. (Account needed, but the free one works just fine.)

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