Phillippines | Sept 27-28 2024 |
Sector 5 of my north Luzon journey. Mostly a decent ride, with some strange directions from Google (and Maps.me), as well as an underwhelming stay in Tabuk.
After a nice stay at Pagudpud, I didn't have a planned route for the return leg of my north Luzon journey. I chose to ride to Tabuk after reading about a rider tour operator using it as their overnight stay point - so I thought it must be a place of interest (wrong). Google was giving me a route along the main highway, which I was not keen to ride due to traffic and boredom. I saw a secondary route, 90 minutes longer, but it looked closer to mountains, so I planned to take a look once I got to the junction at Libertad. Either way, it was going to be a long day.
The ride out of Pagudpud is one of the Philippines' most famous route, along the Patapat Viaduct, a long section of sky-bridge running along the coast. There was also a long wait due to road work due to landslides. I also rode through Claveria town, looked like a nice place with a bit of a tourism industry.
Patapat Viaduct and the north coast
After about 2 hours, I stopped at Libertad, gassed up and asked about routes. I chose to turn right and take the backroute. A good decision, it was nice, hills, views, little traffic. As I got into the mountains again, one thing that struck me on this route was just how poor this area is. The forest was intact, but along the road it had been burned off, like the people were still practicing slash and burn agriculture. The houses were really basic, planks of rough hewn wood, super basic. Not sure what the story was, but it was a bit distressing to see (and it got worse the nect day, stay tuned).
So after about 6 hours of riding (much longer than a normal day for me), and 1 hour from Tabuk, Google Maps did one of the insane things it often does; it guided off the main road, onto some really nice new concrete tarmac - great. But this soon became a dirt road in farm country. Then a goat path. Next, I arrived at a raging creek. Being so close to my destination, and late in the day, I seriously thought about attempting to cross it, as I knew it would connect back to the main road in a few kms. But (I suppose), I did the right thing, turned around and back-tracked for 30 minutes to the main road. And then it got dark - really dark - on a road where many vehicles (mainly tractors and motorbikes) were driving without lights on. It was truly sketchy.
Tabuk
When I arrived in Tabuk, one of the first things I saw was a congregation of Philippines national treasures: Jolibee, McDonalds, and 7-11. I thought, "wow, this place must be happening". But man, was I ever wrong. I got on Agoda to book a room, and to my amazement, there wasn't a single property listed in Tabuk. I found about 5 on Google, only one with a price (very high). I had to ride around to a few places, all bad, and I ended up booking at the third one I looked at - and it was shabby, basically a support mechanism for a very loud karaoke joint next door. I needed to blast white noise on my phone all night to counter the screeching outside.
Ride: 270 km / 8 hrs
Stay: ? $20
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