Pesky Philippines 25

A very hot and muggy day, a lazy start and full English breakfasts all round. Mark took a day of to Chill in the South China sea at our base in Subic bay. A lesuirley 60km circular route for the others in the sunshine. Stopping at a viewpoint we were befriended by some emaciated hungry kittens, as we munched on a water mellon from a passing vendor. Russ an BJ had very different perspectives: Whilst the others carried on to a scenic lake:   BJ ,the softie, headed back to the shops. Sardines gratefully devoured Meeting up again followed a long sandy track beside the river hat seemed to be a neverending aggregate quarry     Before arriving at the coast. Terry had an upset stomach so he and Russ headed back to base where Terry soon felt better after vomitting up yesterdays 7_11 hotdog.🤮 That left David and BJ to do the scenic route. 30km through clean rural villages on narrow tracks   Then uphill to a road that may..... or...

A ride out of San Fernado via the backstreets. A bit Squalid and smelly and dubbed Cholera road. Once out of town a little off road action Past ponds with locals treading to find edible snails in the paddy fields.   Men standing astride their mopeds with harpoon and line shotguns to catch Talapia fish. Through the most amazing traffic to the open roads:   Being a health & body conscious group loaded up with fruit. Mangoes the best but messy. Russ and Terry diverted to sort a hotel for us in Subic bay whilst the rest added a 60 km loop 20km of traffic followed by twisting open roads arriving ar the scenic bay mid afternoon.  A few beers sunk in rapid succession, and then a few more, and then............

After a gentle night out for some, the morning greeted us with heat but,thankfully no rain. While Russ and BJ made like bedbugs and declared a rest day, the remaining trio set off on a 220km loop around the promontory to the south. BJ, not one to sit still for long, had his own little solo explore. Among his snaps was a local chap showing just how high the water had risen up his house during the recent typhoon—sobering stuff     Meanwhile, the intrepid bikers were having a glorious time. Th e first half of the loop was superb: super twisty, super smooth and surrounded by fantastic scenery   Then came the next quarter… best forgotten. Wide, flat-out roads with lorries belching fumes, spraying grit, and generally making life unpleasant. Yuk. The final stretch was ridden at “enthusiastic pace” as the trio tried to outrun the looming thunderstorms. They made it back before the heavens opened but… At a fo...

    The morning started very early, with all of us being serenaded by a cock... cock-a-doodle doo! Followed by a christmas beat mix tape played full volume by the neighbour. They are keen on their christmas decorations but they look a bit incongruous  in the humid rain or boiling sunshine.  Today served up 180 km of “character building” riding: it began with a twisty mountain road made far more exciting by the heavens opening and dumping rain so hard that visibility went from poor to “guess and hope.” Glimpes of the verdant forest could be seen through misty rain spotted visors and low cloud. Eventually the route spat us out onto a busy main road… just in time for the heavens to open again .  Still it was wrth it to get away from "rachel from Accounts" budget sham.   Mid-deluge, Russ discovered his front brake had completely given up—pads utterly shot. Luckily, the local Honda dealership worked at lightning speed and had him sorted in recor...

Its going to be a wet one today as we will be setting off from Cauayan for a 200km ride to Baler. The rain has been incessant since we arrived last night and will continue all day as tropical storm Verbena slowly passes over the area. Desperate attempts overnight to dry kit and buy new,so we have a chance of getting there at least partially dry.  That was the morning prediction but Russ reckoned the forecast was for the rain to clear about 9am.  We set off and he was right, bang on 9 the rain stopped for 5 minutes then came back in stairods all day. 40 km of main road then climbing up the hills still on good roads. The Typhon damage became more apparent with power lines down and trees stripped of leaves. We descended to the coast, stopping at a resturant  for lunch and snacks. Onward down the coast...which must have taken the brunt of the storm. Here whole concrete buildings had been undermined by the sea , some now at a jaunty angle. Vegitation de...

  Today was a 290 km slog , spent mostly grinding along main roads in every possible variety of precipitation: rain, drizzle, torrential rain, downpour, and mizzle (as the Cornish say). However, on meeting up at 0700 for breakfast it was apparent that Terry had upset someone!  BJ suggested it was Mark but most of us suspected a pesky little critter; either way Terry had to ride the day, in shit visability, with only one eye, a truly impressive feat!   Given the conditions, it was something of a surprise that, by the time we rolled into our hotel in Cauayan, everyone was in remarkably good spirits. Somehow, despite the relentless soaking, the grey skies, and the road spray, the day had been perversely enjoyable.   Waterproofs On    Appreciating some of the scenery!    Maybe it was the shared misery, maybe the absurdity of riding through what felt like a mobile car wash for eight hours straight, but for reasons none of us could quite pin down, mo...

7.30 am the adventures set off from Laoag and headed up the mountain twisting roads. The temprature dropped as we climbed as did the road surface condition over the top of the pass though cloud Descending the damage to the roads got steadily worse. Across a temporary ridge line bridge Plenty of Jcb diggers at work. Then our first proper river crossing       BJ first: Fail as chain came off Russ:success Mark::success David:fail as chain came off Terry: big fail as chain snapped   Some workmen neary buy provided a link and some inginuity in removing  the broken one...tools required a hammer and nail But another link was half broken and 20 km down the road it snapped again. Backtracking to a small villiage a local supplied another link and a bit of chain Meawhile an advanced party had purchased 2 new chains at £6 each. All met up and were famished. Stopping at a small shop t...