Autumn Trip Following Beolgyo Cockles

Published 18 Oct.2023 14:46(KST)

Enjoying the Cockle Festival and Gourmet Tour, Taebaeksanmaek Literary Tour

The season of cockles has returned. As the cold wind blows, Beolgyo cockles, which are in season, are attracting food lovers from all over the country to Beolgyo, Boseong-gun, Jeollanam-do.

While the cockles alone are enough, Beolgyo in autumn shines even more with its charms such as literary tours following the setting of the novel Taebaek Mountain Range, the shimmering reeds of Jungdo Bangjuk, and the UNESCO World Natural Heritage Beolgyo mudflats. We introduce a trip to Beolgyo, Boseong-gun, where rest, culture, and romance await.

[Photo by Boseong-gun]

▲ A gourmet journey with the 19th Beolgyo Cockle Festival

Cockles are in season from now until midwinter. Beolgyo cockles are produced in the deep and firm mudflats of Yeojaman and are famous for their chewier texture and better taste than cockles from any other region.

Beolgyo cockles, which account for more than 70% of the national cockle production, are registered and managed as the first seafood geographical indication. Along Beolgyo Stream, cockle restaurants line up where you can enjoy various cockle dishes such as cockle salad, cockle pancakes, and sweet and sour cockle pork.

The 19th Beolgyo Cockle Festival, where you can fully enjoy Korea’s representative Beolgyo cockles, will be held for three days from Friday, October 27 to Sunday, October 29, in the Cheonbyeon area of Beolgyo-eup. Under the theme “Clean mudflats and cockles! And the meeting of literature,” the festival will offer a participatory event that the whole family can enjoy, attracting many tourists.

Key programs include making 1,000 servings of cockle bibimbap, the 22nd Beolgyo Residents’ Day, “Find the Golden Cockle,” the Cockle Grill (free cockle tasting), and the wheeled plank boat race.

▲ Literary tour of the novel Taebaek Mountain Range with author Jo Jung-rae

During the 19th Beolgyo Cockle Festival, a rich literary event with Jo Jung-rae, the author of the novel Taebaek Mountain Range, will also be held.

On October 28, a commemorative event with author Jo Jung-rae will be held to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the opening of the Taebaek Mountain Range Literature Museum.

Author Jo Jung-rae will personally present plaques of appreciation to four people who transcribed and donated all 10 volumes of the novel Taebaek Mountain Range. A book concert with Jo Jung-rae and Professor Yuseongho of Hanyang University, as well as a “Close Look at the Taebaek Mountain Range Literature Museum,” will be held.

On the 29th, a “Taebaek Mountain Range Beolgyo Literary Tour with author Jo Jung-rae” is also prepared in the Beolgyo-eup area, the main setting of the novel. Participants will tour the locations such as the Hyunbuja family house and Kim Beom-woo’s house, guided by author Jo Jung-rae and a tour guide, experiencing the atmosphere and sentiment of the novel Taebaek Mountain Range.

▲ Historical tour of Jungdo Bangjuk in Beolgyo, the center of the novel Taebaek Mountain Range

Jungdo Bangjuk, which also appears in the novel Taebaek Mountain Range, is a place that vividly reflects the harsh reality and sorrows of our people during the Japanese colonial period.

Jungdo Bangjuk, which stretches long to Beolgyo Bridge, is especially known as a famous autumn walking spot. The reed trail, where you can walk through reed forests as tall as an adult, shows its most beautiful appearance in autumn.

You can see various mudflat creatures up close, such as mudskippers crawling on the mudflats and halophyte plants, making it popular as an ecotourism destination.

▲ Ecotour to Beolgyo mudflats, a UNESCO World Natural Heritage site

Boseong Beolgyo mudflats have been recognized for their excellence since ancient times due to their firm clay mud without sand or loess mixed in, unlike other regions.

In 2006, it was registered as the first Ramsar wetland in domestic coastal wetlands, and you can observe the hooded crane, Natural Monument No. 228.

In 2021, Boseong Beolgyo mudflats were also registered as a UNESCO World Natural Heritage site under the name “Korean Mudflats.” It is the second World Natural Heritage site registered in South Korea.

A consultant from the International Union for Conservation of Nature, who visited Boseong-gun for the World Heritage registration, showed considerable interest in mudflat boat fishing and commented, “Among the Korean mudflat heritage applications, this is the best place where humans and nature live in harmony.”

Mudflat boat fishing was designated as the 2nd National Important Fishery Heritage in 2015. Boseong-gun preserves, manages, and passes down the traditional fishing method of Boseong mudflat boat fishing and holds the annual Beolgyo Mudflat Leisure Boat Competition so that more people can experience mudflat boat fishing.