Through Jinshan and Wanli

Jinshan, the nucleus of Jinshan District, is the largest town between Tamsui and Keelung. Wanli District is right next door to the east. The winding and very scenic Provincial Highway No. 2A, which leaps the Yangmingshan massif through Yangmingshan National Park, has its North Coast terminus here.

The gradient-friendly Wanjin Bikeway runs about 8km parallel to the coastline in Jinshan and Wanli districts. The route is a mix, featuring paved path, wooden boardwalk, separate paved bike lanes on roads (about 1km in total), and one quick 200m section on the coastal highway. You’ll breeze by beaches, wetlands, coastal hiking trails, and myriad establishments offering good food and drink. The cycleway gives you access to all the other attractions introduced in this section.

Zhongjiao Bay, wide and comparatively shallow, has long been the North Coast’s hottest spot for surfing, and now also for SUP (standup paddleboarding), which has become very popular in Taiwan in the last decade. The young, voluminous Jhongjiao Bay Surf/SUP Center, beside the coastal highway at the bay’s west end, has been set up to promote it as an international surf/SUP destination. Gear rental/sales and both surfing and SUP training are provided (fee; available in English), along with tourism services, a snack bar, shower facilities, etc.

The irresistible Umi Coffee Bus (www.facebook.com/umicoffeebus), which has become a North Coast-traverse milestone, is in a nearby parking lot overlooking the fine-sand beach’s west-end tip. The van, painted bright red and white, is nigh impossible to miss. A long row of umbrella-shade tables runs along the top of the waterside bluff. Beyond invigorating and/or refreshing lattes, cappuccinos, and milk teas, from the “kitchen” also come hot hit-the-spot waffles and pizzas.

JHONGJIAO BAY SURF/SUP CENTER ( 中角灣國際衝浪基地 ) (02) 2498-8226

No. 162-1, Haixing Rd., Wanshou Borough, Jinshan District, New Taipei City ( 新北市金山區萬壽里海興路 162-1 號 ) www.facebook.com/jinshansurfing

Between central Jinshan and the sea is forested Shitoushan Park , which takes up the better part of Jinshan Cape. Pleasant well-paved pathways wend over the promontory. For much of the last century this was an offlimits military zone. One beneficial result for today’s visitor is the wellprotected natural ecology, with a splendidly diverse forest physiognomy, artistry-augmented with the cultivation of trail-side Formosan lilies and red spider lilies. Another intriguing leftover is the presence of fortification remains such as barracks and artillery emplacements. Look out to sea from lookouts along the outer edge of Shitoushan Park and you’ll see one of the North Coast’s geo-icons, the Twin Candlestick Islets. These two rocky outcrops, 60m high, leap straight up out of the waves 450m offshore. Not in fact individual islets, they are mounted atop a partially exposed one-piece understructure. This unique formation was long-ago “hidden” within a much larger Jinshan Cape, and for a long period after the geo-sculpture was freed by erosion and tectonic forces the candlesticks were connected at the top, forming a great stone arch. The surrounding 19m-deep waters, rich with flamboyant marine creatures, are regularly visited by pods of scuba divers.

SUPer Scenery