Day Ride to Pos Senderut

Kampung Ulu Tual (Pos Senderut) is located about 45km from the main road (C5) that connects Sungai Koyan and Raub. It is a settlement of Suku Semai, made of 14 smaller villages which has population of about 500 people.

In January 2014, the government has announce that the road leading into the settlement will be upgraded and shorten the journey from 4 hours to about one hour. Pos Senderut has a primary school, a surau and a village clinic.

Yusuf and I met at R&R Rawang around 7.30am that Saturday morning and we departed about 10 minutes afterwards. The weather that morning is clear and hot although is it still early in the morning.

We exited through Bukit Beruntung exit and heads towards Rasa before stopping right before Sungai Selangor Dam to fix my helmet mounted camera.

The dam water level is lower than what I saw in February and there are a lot of bush fires along the route to Fraser Hill. 

The winding road up is smooth and there are a lot of group of bicyclist riding up.

We arrived at Raub around 10.00am and stopped by a small warung by the roadside to pack our lunch. 

We then made another stop at Petronas Raub heading to Sungai Koyan to refuel. By 10.30am, we have arrived at the main junction on the road construction to Pos Senderut and we reduce our tyre pressure to begin our offroad adventure.

Pos Senderut Entrance (4.116714, 101.777798)

The road under construction is made of loose gravel (medium to big size), small section of red colored soil and about 30% of 2 inch thick white fine dust. The dust is so thick, you are unable to see small holes and waterways on the road.

It was scouring hot and dusty journey towards Pos Senderut and by the time we arrive at Kampung Tual (about 10km to SK Senderut), a steady stream of cold water is flowing by the roadside and we are tempted to stop and jump into it!

Upgrading works is still on-going but only at small areas

thick white dust, almost like smoke from 2T engine

Thick white dust completely covered the road and Yusuf slipped his front wheel during one of the ascending section

Parked and went for immediate assistance

minor scratches and good to continue.. note the thick dust on the road surface

Yusuf was stranded in the thick dust and his road tyre provide little traction on this ascending dusty section so we stopped for water and rest. A little bit of push and we are good to continue.

Note how thick was the dust

We arrived at the school around 12.15pm, about 2 hours after we started our offroad inbound. 

Children of the village having fun in the river

After a quick look around, we decided to rest near Surau Pos Senderut, and finally into the water!

Surau Pos Senderut (4.169260, 101.585835) possible campsite with facilities: Surau, toilet

We went out around 2pm and the journey out is faster and we made it out safely under 1 hour.

We stopped by Lemang To'ki restaurant in Raub for a drink

We made our last stop at Gombak rest area and I arrived home around 6pm.

I am satisfied because I have finally completed this ride, which was planned and queued since June 2015. The road connecting this settlement to the main road is at 75%, with most of the bridges, drainage and terracing work is completed. The river flowing along the settlement is cold and refreshing which made the entire ride worthwhile.

My advice to other rider planning to visit the place is to prepare for very thick dust by wearing proper helmet, mask or other face shields. Brought back all rubbish and litters you bring and say hi to almost everyone you met along the route and in the destination and finally bring something for the kids in Pos Senderut.

I am hoping that with the completion of the road upgrading soon, the river remains crystal clear, steady strong current (altough amidst hot season) and remains cool for our future generations to enjoy.

p/s - please ignore the date on most of the picture. Its my bad ; 0

Ride snippets

Rider: Mr. Yusuf Musa & Myself

Distance: 370km

Duration: 10.5 hours

Petrol: RM90

Date: 9^th April 2016