One of the most fun riding tours we’ve has this year, even forgot about the smoke in the air as we were discovering new trails and linking routes that we didn’t know would go through.
1st time Heinz had been on R1091 – he loved it.
Heinz with speedy Con in the distance
Towards the eastern end of R 1091 there was still some subsidence work underway getting ready for rainy season
Towards the eastern end of R 1091 the viz was getting bad, you could just make out the dirt trails through the hills
R 1091 a fun ride to Nan
Heinz on the Lifan
Fish and chips at Tonys Place in Nan, Tony is back from Papua New Guinea, great to see him in Nan
Next day we meet up with Colin and off up R 1080 to poke around some new trails
End of the tarmac, time for some fun
Colin having some fun in the dirt
Heinz
Con in the dirt
We stumble on an unexpected, beautiful viewpoint
As we’re standing there a small vortex whizzes by
It was a beautiful viewpoint even in the smokey haze
Then onwards down the trail, there seemed to be less smoke for a while
Around each bend there were more great views we’d never seen before
Fisherman having lunch down by the river
The direction we want to go in doesn’t look good, one of the local farmers shows us where we should head
Off we head over the top of the mountain, lots of burning around us
The trails we have taken look fantastic from the top of the mountain
Virgin ridge line trail none of us had ridden before
Hill tribe village on the next mountain
MORE TO COME
Then up onto R 4001 NE of Nan
Collecting firewood
Down onto another trail that dead ends at this beautiful traditional structure
Off on another unknown trail, plenty here to keep Auke busy mapping
We didn’t do this trail
We did this one
As far as we knew from Satellite images, this was as far as the trail went, luckily in the dry season the river is low enough to make the crossing a nice surprise
There were some big old pebbles under the water throwing the bike around
Heinz going across
Colin
The burning was quite dramatic
Heinz’s chain came off the Lifan, no drama, easy fix
The views of the trails we had done were excellent
Smokey mountains
So the trail we had been on did go all the way through to the 4001, great to link it up!
R 4001
We’d ordered roast pork from Tony in the morning, it was huge and waiting for us when we got back to Nan
Next morning back at Tonys for b/fast and we find out that one of Tonys friends takes Socks the dog for a ride every day.
We’re told Socks absolutely loves it, she only has one eye which was lost in an accident
About 60km of tarmac north and then onto the unmapped trails
Some fantastic views of some orchards on the way through the trails
We try and close a loop that got us confused the day before & we see why the locals were saying go the other way, the bridge was gone
We go further down and find that we can get around in the river bed
The we get on the trail which is unused an overgrown
We get within about 1km of linking the trails, but it gets too overgrown and a gate is in the way so we turn back
Heinz had had enough anyway!
Onwards in a more NW direction and more great scenery
We bump into this farmer mid burning
The views went on and on, none of us had seen this before
The river we had to cross before
Heinz had a slip on some rocks, no damage
The trail ahead
A locals bridge next to R 4001
The old bridge across the river on R 4001 has been washed away
This is the replacement
Evidence of the burn-off was everywhere
Views of some of the trails we had done
Great viewpoint overlooking the remainder of R 4001
Coming back along R 120, I did a bit of mapping of some trails Auke didn’t have, on one of them ran across this giant Buddha
On another, didn’t want to chance this bridge
Found a better bridge option further along
This one kept going and got kinda boring
Back on the black top, always chuckle at the short time hotel on R 120 approaching the Wang Nua area (near the junction with R 118) – love the “car curtains” and the location right next to the farm processing company!
Gave the Fai Bakery a try, they have great cakes and a nice cup of tea
Looks like they have an expensive coffee machine too
In the PTT fuel station in Mae Kachan, the World Class Hamburgers has been replaced by “La Cuisine”, Jim aka KMA was in there, we’ll have to get a report on the food from him
If a motorcycle tour in Thailand like this interests you, then click on the below link to get the details of how to join a tour:
