Whilst in Pua for a few days, the above roads caught my eye. And I’m glad it did. Not sure completely if the beginning of the road was the 3023 or the 4023 as there were conflicting sign posts off the main drag. Anyway around 10ks up the road is a divide in the road, the 4017 veers left and this was the road we took. Fantastic views over massive valleys on a pretty good surface, no switch backs just winding up the valleys. By the 20k point we were at 1200m. There was the odd short patch of broken surface and some of the road repairs could have been a little smoother. We ended up at Mani Phruek village and that’s where the road turned to rutted dirt and we decided to turn around. Back down the road was a fork in the road at the national park entrance. We decided to have a look out of curiosity and took the other leg. Mainly concrete road up through a hill tribe village and we pushed through the 1500m mark and turned around just before a muddy section up in the pine trees.
Lovely glide back down the hill to the junction of the 3023/4023. We went left and past Ban Kok and several other schools along a relatively lightly used road. Very little in the way of traffic or locals for that matter along the way. We turned around at another section of steep down hill rutted dirt road and could see 2 villages on the other side of the valley. One was quite big and high up on the hill. A quick look at maps suggests their access is via R1256.
To sum up, it was thoroughly enjoyable, great roads and awesome scenery. Our track was 160ks from Pua there and back and around 4 1/2 hrs ride time. If I’d been 1 up and on a trail bike I would have done a loop like Oddvar and Greg have on each of the 4017 and the 3023/4023.
Regards Wazza
Lovely glide back down the hill to the junction of the 3023/4023. We went left and past Ban Kok and several other schools along a relatively lightly used road. Very little in the way of traffic or locals for that matter along the way. We turned around at another section of steep down hill rutted dirt road and could see 2 villages on the other side of the valley. One was quite big and high up on the hill. A quick look at maps suggests their access is via R1256.
To sum up, it was thoroughly enjoyable, great roads and awesome scenery. Our track was 160ks from Pua there and back and around 4 1/2 hrs ride time. If I’d been 1 up and on a trail bike I would have done a loop like Oddvar and Greg have on each of the 4017 and the 3023/4023.
Regards Wazza
