It was a wet month of October when we planned for this ride. After a brief voting in the group, Bukit Perangin Campsite in Yan, Kedah was selected, beating two other destinations. Located around 350km north of Kuala Lumpur, it is a private property open for camping enthusiast with view of Straits of Malacca including nearby islands such as Penang, Langkawi, Song Song, Telur, Bidan and Bunting.
The five of us - Ishar, Saini, Razzie, Ross and I met at R&R Rawang on Saturday morning around 8am. It was a clear morning with ambient temperature around 24°C. Razzie & Ross who were riding from Singapore's Causeway since 4am arrived on their Africa Twin complete with full touring bags- looks ready for two weeks campaign towards the north while Saini arrived earlier and spent the night in Gombak.
En-route to Sungai Perak R&R, we met Joe around Gopeng area and later he told us that he was riding alone from Dungun starting at 4am trying to meet us before RV2. He had initially planned to come on Friday, but he was dragged on unsettled errands and has very little sleep before taking the decision to start early on Saturday. Weather near Ipoh was cloudy but hot with ambient temperature around 29°C. There was relatively less traffic on the road heading north.
We arrived at R&R Gunung Semanggol around 10.30am trying to find access to the maintenance alley but couldn’t find it- so we went to Bukit Merah exit about 2km ahead.
We turned left into A111 towards Gunung Semanggol and took another left towards A4 through Kampung Balek Bukit before making another left turn towards A197 Jalan Kg. Selamat. The first section of the road is a normal B-road on good tarmac surface going through Kg. Selamat and some palm oil plantation before we made it to the edge of Tasik Merah reservoir.
The second section of the road was a loose gravel trail through palm oil plantation with interesting sharp turns. However, as we passed the halfway mark coming into the last section, the B-road turned into narrow double trail with overgrown vegetation on both sides, through secondary jungles area and due to the rain, it was wet and slippery.
They were a few bike-falls in this area with Ross making us anxious when we heard him screaming at top of his lung -when his right ankle was trapped underneath his crash bar during one of the falls. Luckily that fall was on soft grounds, and he was wearing high cut adventure boots and he escaped with no serious injury. The offroad section was really a surprise since in the google map it was clearly marked as A-197 Jalan Kampung Selamat – which would normally mean a decent tarmac road. We cleared this 15.5km detour in about 2 hours.
We turned right at A7 towards Selama and were stopped just before the town as there were road resurfacing was in progress. We passed Lunas and as we crossed into Penang’s state border, we turned into Jambatan Tun Sardon over Sungai Kulim. We followed a trail on the riverbank of Sungai Kulim starting from Kampung Tun Sardon through Kampung Mengkuang to Jambatan Labuh Banting near Tasek Gelugor. The trail is a mixed of broken tarmac and loose gravel, used as maintenance road by the irrigation department.
Kubang Semang Viewpoint
GPS 5.444041, 100.460893
As we were unexpectedly slowed down during our adventurous ride to complete A197, we were 2 hours behind schedule for lunch. Asoi - who were riding alone from Muar on CBX500 were already at the designated lunch place near Pongsu Seribu before our arrival. Eventually the place closed, and we had lunch at a restaurant next to it.
After lunch we moved towards Penaga and eventually towards Kampung Kuala Muda. During this leg we passed through various type of roads - from state road, small narrow road, in-between people home trail and kitchen door knocking road to get there. Eventually we made it to Pantai Kuala Muda to enjoy the sea breeze with Penang’s Island in the background.
It’s already half past four and I have decided to skip our next coastal detour through Singkir Laut and ride direct to the campsite trailhead near Ruat. We arrived at the trailhead around 5.00pm and were reunited with KW Mark. The trail heading up was made of concrete with steep elevation and narrow shoulders. Joe said it reminded him of the trail heading to Pos Lemoi.
Bukit Perangin Campsite Trailhead
GPS 5.749667, 100.361763
That night we enjoyed our packed meal and exchanges stories among ourselves. There were moments of drizzles, but it soon passes so we didn’t setup any fly sheets. We retreated to our tents at around 11pm.
The next day we had instant noodles for breakfast and KW Mark brought Nan bread this time, eaten with dhal curry. We will go separately today as most of us have other agendas and Joe Dungun will return to Dungun through Gerik and Jeli. Team Lion has plans to ride around Penang Island while Ishar and I have family commitment.
Around 8am, the sun has already passed Gunung Jerai ridge behind us and it’s getting hot. We were gathered one last time for a group photo although Saini and Ross were still getting ready. We said goodbye to each other here and Ishar, Joe, KW Mark and I went to Gurun to have brunch. After brunch I followed Ishar to Gurun interchange, and we rode back to KL. I arrived home around 2.00pm.
1. Rashidin Triumph Tiger 800 XCX
2. Ross Honda Africa Twin 1000
3. Razzie Honda Africa Twin 1000
4. Saini Honda Africa Twin 1000
5. Joe Dungun Honda CRF 250 L
6. Ishar Honda Xadv 750
7. Asoi Zairul Honda CB500X
8. KW Mark Honda PCX150
Date: 30-31 Oct 2022
Lowest temperature: 19°C (Campsite)
Highest temperature: 38°C (Ipoh)
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