Today was to be a short hop up along the coast to Pakmeng beach. The first bit was backtracking along the main road, an easy and fast ride in the morning. The roads were still wet from the rain last night, the sky still overcast, perfect conditions for this first part.

Then I turned left into plantation country, for a good half of today’s distance. Good riding on gravel and dirt roads, hills to the left and right, the soft morning sun now on the sky. Before things got too hot the dirt road narrowed into a single track, right through dense forest. At times the passages underneath the brush were so low that I had to get off the bike and push.

A steep gulley, still wet from last night’s rainfall, led down to a stream, and back up on the other side. A lot of pushing down and up here, hard work, very slippery. I considered falling on my butt just once here a great success. The single track continued on the other side of the stream, and now there was a track of a dirt bike visible in the mud, so I wasn’t the only one out there.

About a kilometre later there he was, sitting in the shade of a hut, checking his phone, the bike parked next to the trail. He looked up, nodded, and laughed out loudly. He certainly knew where I had passed through. Soon thereafter the trail widened and it was plantation roads once more, down the hill towards the main road.