Contemplating on trails of Jeju

Korea Times photo by Yun Suh-young

The most popular walking trail in the world is perhaps the one in Spain known as Camino de Santiago. This trail which stretches across Spain is also called the “pilgrimage trail” because it was the route Saint James, one of Jesus’ 12 disciples, took to travel to Spain for worship. When he died ― beheaded by the notorious King Herod in Jerusalem ― his body was taken back to Spain and buried near the northern coast. Since then Christian believers went on pilgrimages to his gravesite.

There is a trail in Korea also great for contemplation ― the Jeju Olle Trail, which stretches 410 kilometers around the island.

The fact that it’s a great meditating course is a similarity between the Jeju and Santiago trails ― except that Jeju’s trail offers an ocean view difficult to find in the Spanish one.

The birth of Olle

Suh Myung-sook, president of the Jeju Olle Foundation is the founder of the Jeju Olle Trail. She started paving the Jeju trails after coming back from her own journey to Camino de Santiago.

She realized that the one thing she missed while walking the Santiago trails was that it lacked a view of the ocean because most of the trails were inland. Jeju, on the other hand, had beautiful coasts surrounding the entire island. This triggered her to build a track along the coasts.

But a decisive reason that made her create the Olle trails was a shocking statement she heard from a British friend she met on the pilgrimage journey in Spain. That friend told her that Korea was a “crazy” country floundering in speed and competition and that it really needed a trail for contemplation.

That’s how the Olle trails were born.

The beauty of Olle

All of the Olle trails are established along the coasts of the Jeju Island.

The trails are numbered and the numbers tell us when they were created. There are 20 trails as of now but the 21st trail, the final one, will be finished by Nov. 24. When this one is complete, the full trip around the island on the trail will extend 430 kilometers.

Also, there are smaller islands around Jeju and these have their own Olle trails as well. Including those, the total number of Olle trails will soon reach 26.

One trail takes about one day to walk. If people walk at 3 kilometers per hour, the entire trip around the island takes 143 hours.

The Olle trails are all very windy as the ocean breeze blows constantly over the trails.

The best seasons for trekking are from spring to autumn, when the sky is clear and the wind is breezy yet not too cold. Summer can also be a great season for trekking if you manage to avoid the monsoon season.

One thing to do on the Olle trails is to let your thoughts runaway and focus on the beautiful scenery unfolding in front of you.

Once in a while, stop and take a deep breath, close your eyes and feel the breeze sweeping across your face.

The sweet wind and the warmness of the sun will make you feel happy for just being there.

The Olle festival

Since 2009, the island has held a trekking festival called the Jeju Olle Walking Festival, hosted by the Jeju Special Self-governing Province and the Visit Korea Committee.

The festival is held in October and November when Jeju boasts the best weather.

The Olle festival is held on different trails every year. This year, the festival will be held on Trails 10 to 13.

Participants of the walking festival will walk one trail every day for four days from Oct. 31 to Nov. 3. This year’s theme is “Seize the Joy on the Trail!” encompassing the Olle Foundation’s hope for everyone on the trail to enjoy their journey together with the local villagers.

The trekking distance is 16 km on average per trail and takes around five to six hours to complete. If participants walk all four trails during the festival, they will be covering a distance of 64 km.

What is unique about the Olle walking festival is that not only do village people come out to provide food there are also random outdoor performances on the side of the trails.

There will be 36 amateur and professional bands performing on the four trails. The performances range from acoustic guitar performance to classic music ensemble and even modern and traditional dances.

As for food, village people from 11 participating villages will provide food at the end point of the trails at extremely cheap prices ranging from 1,000 won to 4,000 won. They will introduce the native food of Jeju, not to mention in their own towns.

What is also unique about the festival is that there will be no disposable products used. All the food prepared by the villages will be provided on their own tableware while the participants have to bring their own cups and eating utensils.

This is a measure to keep the Olle trails clean and save the environment. Participants may also engage in the “Clean Olle” campaign where they can pick up garbage on the trails and be rewarded according to the amount they collected.

During the festival period, all participants will start off at the same point and do a group warm-up exercise before they begin walking.
The festival is popular among foreigners. Out of the 11,500 total participants last year, 2,100 of them were from overseas.

During this year’s festival, Bernard Ollivier, author of “Longue Marche,” will walk together with the participants. Ollivier is a journalist-turned-voyageur who walked along the Silk Road from Istanbul to Xian in China over a period of four years.

Those wishing to participate in the festival must register in advance at www.ollewalking.co.kr until Oct. 30. The participation fee is 10,000 won per person and 8,000 won if registering in a group of 20 people. <The Korea Times/Yun Suh-young>