A rainy day stroll between Castle Cafe Branch in Mr. Brown TouCheng

After sightseeing at Magang Fishing Harbor and Sandiao Cape Lighthouse in New Taipei City, we skipped lunch because we had a filling breakfast. The lighthouse is quite close to Yilan, and it’s only about 10–15 minutes from Tou Cheng in Yilan to reach Shicheng. So, we decided to head to Yilan for dinner in the afternoon.

On the way, we passed by the Beiguan Scenic Area and thought it would be nice to revisit Mr. Brown Castle Café Branch 1 in TouCheng. The last time we were there was back in AD 2010, when we drove up the mountain using an industrial road. I wondered how much it might have changed since then.

After parking next to Mr. Brown Castle Café Branch 1, we took our umbrellas and strolled around. A light drizzle was falling, and the sky near the coast was rather dark, making the scenery a bit less vibrant. So, we headed in the direction of the windmill, which turned out to be the Windmill Pavilion.

Looking back at Mr. Brown Castle Café Branch 1, I remembered they served food here, but since we were still full from breakfast, we planned to head south to TouCheng in Yilan to enjoy their famous sesame sauce noodles instead. For now, we simply walked around, reminiscing about our previous visit.

Mr. Brown Castle Café Branch 1 was built in October 2009, and we first visited it in September the following year to enjoy the view. It’s amazing how much things have changed in over a decade. The King Car TouCheng Afforestation Leisure Farm has since added a Branch 2 café and the Windmill Pavilion, which we hadn’t seen before, so we took this opportunity to explore.

We were surprised to find it was a bit of a walk, about a 10 minute uphill stroll, before spotting Mr. Brown Castle Café Branch 2 in the distance. The ground was wet, and being a weekday, there were hardly any people around, so we just snapped a photo and headed back to the parking lot.

Earlier, a family had been taking photos at the Windmill Pavilion for a long time. After they left, we took our turn. The pavilion looked intriguing, though it seemed closed to visitors. Maybe next time, if the weather’s nice, we’ll come back to explore it properly.