Walking the Jeju Olle Trail

This is the island of sea women – the haeyneo - who free dive to great depths without tanks to collect their bounty from the ocean. We’ve watched them at work and hopefully we’ll get to meet some of them on the second half of my journey.

I’ve been on Jeju Island for just over a week and we’ve covered quite a lot of ground on the north coast - there’s quite a bit more to go. I wouldn’t say the hiking is hard - the scenery goes from urban to forest with the ocean as a constant backdrop.

The terrain varies from coastal to farmland, forest and small peaks offering great views up and down the coast. Hallasan dominates the landscape wherever you go and when the weather is as good as we’ve had it, you can always see it as a centrepiece to the island.

The coastline is sprinkled with signal towers and the remains of fortresses built to keep out pirates and other invaders, all built from pieces of lava.

Jeju has had it's share of grief during the Japanese invasion, the coastline dotted with memorials to those who died trying to resist. It's also been an island where prisoners were once sent and islanders weren't allowed onto the mainland, all of which has helped make this place unique.

The black of the lava rock dominates – what surprised me was how beautiful the ocean has been – the most stunning shade of aquamarine in the shallows near the shore which makes the black rocks stand out even more.

There are hundreds of mandarin trees and vegetables growing everywhere taking advantage of the volcanic soil.

Because of its historical isolation, Jeju has developed a character all its own. People are friendly and the food is fabulous. The public transport is extensive and inexpensive, so is the food.

This is hiking in style – after a day of walking, you can have a hot shower, relax and wander down the street for dinner.

I’m looking forward to the next section of the Jeju Olle Trail – we’ve only just touched the surface - there are 27 trails covering over 400km in total and we're only doing a small number of them.En savoir plus