Long Weekend- Lets Ride! Bangkok - Loei - Nan!

Left the Big Smoke bright and early on Friday morning- Neil on Triumph Sprint ST and me on Suzuki GSXR 1000 :wave:

Made excellent time- took the main highway to Saraburi then north to Petchabun on the 21. Took a left on the 2258 to enjoy the roller coaster twisties through Khao Kho and stopped there for an early lunch.
Cool and foggy in Khao Kho, Petchabun!

These amazing flowers are in bloom all over the place at the moment.

Then north on 2196 to the Indo-China Highway #12 and some fast twisties to Lom Sak then on to "Nam Nao Circuit" :happy5:

 

After blasting highway 12 through Nam Nao National Park (who says there aren't any liter bike roads in Thailand?!) we took the back road to Loei. 2016 is an amazing roller coaster ridge road with stunning views.


Checked in at the King Hotel. Nothing better than a nice cold beer after a long ride! Followed by an in room massage.

Our fearless leader sent me an SMS earlier in the day to advise that he was riding to Loei from Vientiane! Fantastic! The mighty Africa Twin towered over all the other bikes, but was in need of some tlc as the front sprocket was again loose on the drive shaft. Over 300,000km on that old Honda and it still looks fantastic!

Sarge arrived from Khon Kaen on his Kawasaki ER6n and Rob took the LONG WAY from Chiang Mai to Loei, racking up over 800km that day on his Yamaha FZ1- Respect!

In front of the King Hotel, Loei-

It was very quiet in Loei on account of an election so most of the nightspots were closed, but we still enjoyed an excellent dinner at Chris's Steakhouse and I enjoyed catching up with David at Baan Jrua Yai (sp?) over a bottle of Jameson that he had picked up from duty free earlier in the day.

Slept like a baby in my big comfy bed at the King Hotel :clap:

 

Brilliant ride out to Bo Klua on the 1169 and 1081 :thumbup:

Recommended restaurant and resort in Bo Klua, Nan:

Bo Klua Restaurant and Resort: http://www.bokluaview.com/

Located just up the mountain, overlooking Bo Klua and the valley.

View from the restaurant:

 

On a whim we decided to head south on the 1333 to see where it goes. On some maps it appears to dead end, but on google maps it seems to connect with the 1257 and go through to Mae Charim and Santisuk. Only one way to find out for sure- lets hit it!

Nan always seems to hold some surprises.

Route 1333 to 1257- What a cool discovery!

 

I'm guessing people don't ride it because on some paper maps and GPS it appears to dead-end.

The road started off in great condition but kept getting smaller and smaller, rougher and rougher, and we briefly considered turning around, but I'm glad we pushed on through!

Simply amazing!

 

Next time you're in Nan check out the 1333 to nowhere!

The first 10 minutes or so it's a beautiful twisty road in perfect repair-



:happy5:

 

Yes- big thanks to all for a fantastic weekend!

The larger the group the more potential for problems yet I have to say this one of the best tours yet! Not a single accident, mechanical problem or any other problem the entire weekend.

I guess the biggest "drama" to report would be Frank's puncture at the hotel? Took him all of 15 minutes to go have it plugged and off we went. :happy1:

 

Here's Route 1333, Part Deux!



At about 1:30 we slow down to marvel over the amazing view from the ridge road- Wow, simply Wow! Hard to keep one's eyes on the road with such stunning views! Watch this video in HD to get a sense for the natural beauty.

The road gets smaller and rougher as we go, you see Frank putting his foot down through a turn (~4:40) as there's a lot of sand and gravel. This road was a bit of work for the fellas on the big sport touring bikes!

We briefly stopped around 6:15 as I think we were all thinking this road might simply disappear into the jungle, but it was a beautiful day and we were all having fun so all agreed to carry on and see where it would lead! Notice that we haven't passed a single vehicle for many miles.

At ~12:30 the rough road is replaced by clean smooth blacktop! Eureka! I think, as I twist the throttle, but just a little bit further, the goat path of a road resumes, and if anything, is even rougher than before!

Stopped a few minutes later to let the rest of the gang catch up and to marvel at the view- looking back the way we've just come:

 

Whoever designed this road MUST be a biker no? Whoever it is, I'd like to shake his hand and buy him a beer! What a road!!!


A short clip of the 1081-

 

Not sure but I think Brian may have recorded the route on his Garmin GPS- I found this on his facebook:

 

I'm a noob when it comes to real GPS. For road trips Google Maps on my iPhone has always been more than adequate for me. But now that I'm getting into off-road riding I can appreciate the value of a real GPS.

Anyway- here's the route we did on Sunday:



And here's a Google Maps link: https://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=Thanon+Mahawong&daddr=bo+klua+to:%E0%B8%99%E0%B8%99.+4016+to:18.9441176,101.0302959+to:Mano&hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=18.956948,101.128464&spn=0.526664,1.056747&sll=18.955974,101.068382&sspn=0.263334,0.528374&geocode=FQV_HgEdbMMBBg%3BFVkwJAEdfIoHBikzHpB41tAnMTGAcor6xUYDAw%3BFWTJIQEdOFoIBg%3BFXUQIQEdl5kFBikjzc8QkcEnMTEA71LPxUYDEw%3BFdB8HgEdaMEBBg&mra=dpe&mrsp=3&sz=12&via=3&t=m&z=11

I know that there are some programs that can translate a Google Maps link into a GPS .kml file, but I've never tried to do that as I don't own a GPS yet

Happy Trails!

Tony

 

Another vid- this one showing a couple washouts and a landslide near the end route 1333. What a contrast to the beginning, eh?

Washouts and Landslide on Route 1333, Nan, Thailand. Suzuki GSXR 1000 Bike Cam!

 

The 1333 is the road that connects the 1081 and 1257 via Phu Fa. For some reason Google Maps is showing the road number as 4016, but the actual signs show 1333.

I have MotionX GPS on my iPhone and it can record tracks in GPX format.