Nan To North Of Bo Kleau Some New Roads

[Captain_Slash]

The route 1169, 1081, Unknown, 1256,

Total distance 298 km

I take the 1169 out of town and enjoying probably my last holiday in Nan seeing this road like this as the widening is moving towards the town

This is what it will look and while some may say its an improvement I disagree, its a wider road that has lost a lot of its old charm plus before you were riding in the shade under the trees, now there are no trees.
It may be more appealing to the infernal tin box drivers but as a motorcyclist I mourn the old roads passing

A quick stop at the Khon Kaen reservoir

Now on the lovely old section that has yet to be widened of the 1081 heading towards Bo Kleau

Soon to become this, now I appreciate those of you coming to this on your first trip in Nan will think wow what a lovely road, but to those of us who have been riding here for many years its just not the same and lots of the tight corners have disappeared

At Bo Kleau I see this, is it a picture of Bangkok and if so whats it doing here? if anyone can translate it I would love to know what it says

The Wa river

No chainsaw for him hes got to chop it down by hand

This old bridge that was damaged a year ago still looks the same

I guess its not high on the repair list.
From here I turn round a ride a few km to a village where I take a left to map some roads that I checked out two or three years ago

Climbing out of the village on an unknown road and a backward shot

Looking back down it appears theres another new road going off of the 1081 in the opposite direction, something to explore another day

This road certainly has a few potholes

I take a few side shoots that end in villages and theres quite a few villages in this small area

Rice threshing in here

The school but being saturday its completely deserted

Theres a road heading north that turns to dirt at N19.22.510 E101.11.475 virtually at the border and I ride it for 2.6 km and it appears to run parallel with the border about 300 metres inside Thailand

I wonder what that thing hanging up there is

Here at N19.23.550 E101.11.104 I turn around and this road can be explored further along on another day.
I had absolutely no idea where it was going to as it didnt show on any of my GPS maps

Quite high out here

Everybody was very friendly in these villages and only to happy to smile and pose for the camera

I rode up a steep paved road to see another village and now its a steep downhill ride on a rough dirt track, its unpaved from N19.21.384 E101.11.461 to N19.21.235 E101.10.703

At the top of another offshoot and its watering time

Lots of strawberries growing here, sadly none were ripe for picking

Riding back towards the 1081 and I take a left to explore another road that I havent been on before that should lead me back to the 1081 nearer to Bo Kleau

This turns to dirt at N19.20.907 E101.10.497 and stays like this until it gets back to the 1081 plus its a rough ride most of the way

Another village along here

It looks like one of them is slyly giving me the finger

There were some more off shoots to explore but times getting on and they will still be there next visit

I stop in Bo Kleau for some fuel and drink then its the 1256 and halfway up it turns very cold, the view from the view point at the peak

Heading towards Pua and its a cold foggy ride

Much lower down the sun comes out and its a lot warmer

Pork ribs, fries and onions for 220 Baht at Tonys Place



You can get the gdb file from my website here … http://www.captainslash.com

 

[KTMphil]

That's one of the most secret beautiful riding areas in Thailand - more new roads for the map, excellent!

 

[Loop]

I did the Doi Phukkha loop last wed.

One of my pics,i came from the right (east) acrooss the top and down the other side.

Lovely ride/day out..