This morning I set off cycling in the same direction as my last trip to Nanpu [南埔], only this this time instead of turning off to ride through the farms of the area I decided to ride uphill and see what was in store for me.

I passed at least two dozen other cyclists along the way. At this time, there were a lot more cyclists than cars on the road. It was still fairly early in the morning so the air was nice and cool. Along the journey the roads were nice and largely free of litter, except for, of course, the occasional empty box of Betel Nuts:

Telling yourself the whole trip back will be downhill is pretty encouraging after a few turns like this:

An obligatory self-portrait using a traffic mirror:

A sign for this path said that it was a “Physically Strenuous” path. That might of been true had the sign been at the other end of the path, but from here it’s almost completely downhill:

The narrow path is shaded and there are only a few low branches to watch out for:

A pineapple farm along the rural bike path:

Before long wonderful views start opening up along the path:

The sky was a little hazy but that didn’t prevent Caotun [草屯] from being visible in the background

Be sure to check your brakes before going on this one:

An old house:

I spotted a couple of Crested Goshawks [Accipiter trivirgatus] towards the end of the path. They sat on branches far out of the reach of my lens, they would fly off the tree they were on and come back a few seconds later. I stood around and hoped that they would fly back to a lower branch after one of their short journeys but that never happened:

A nice view of Nanpu opens up:

Finally off the trail and biking past some of the farms:

With the day growing rapidly warmer I took one final shot before making my way back home: