CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
285 km from Solok to Solok, about 3 h 30 of riding. It goes by way of Batu Tabal Train Station, Coal Storage and back through Batu Tabal Train Station. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,000 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Between the lake at Singkarak and the rice plain near Solok, the Sumatran railway that carried coal to the sea runs through some of the quietest and prettiest country in West Sumatra. It was an engineering challenge, with a steep climb handled in places by a toothed rack rail and tunnels cut through the hills, and UNESCO now treats the whole network as heritage.
Read the complete Railway System write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Railway System is where the day begins. Next is Batu Tabal Train Station.
High in the mountains of West Sumatra, a railway line built by the Dutch in the late nineteenth century snakes between volcanoes, lakes and rice terraces. It was laid to carry coal from the mines of Sawahlunto down to the port of Padang, and the whole system, mines, company town and railway, forms the Ombilin Coal Mining Heritage of Sawahlunto, listed by UNESCO in 2019. Batu Tabal is one of the small stations along the route, near the shores of Lake Singkarak, where the line runs right along the water's edge.
Read the complete Batu Tabal Train Station write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Batu Tabal Train Station comes up about 50 km into the recorded legs. Next is Coal Storage.
Coal needs a harbour, and for the Ombilin mines the harbour was at Padang, on Sumatra's west coast, about five kilometres from the site. The Dutch built a deep-water port in the bay south of the town, naming it Emmahaven after the queen consort, and the railway from Sawahlunto ended here at the quay and the storage yards. Today the port is known as Teluk Bayur, and some of the old coal-handling structures can still be seen.
Read the complete Coal Storage write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 142 km into the recorded legs you reach Coal Storage. Next is back through Batu Tabal Train Station.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Batu Tabal Train Station write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Batu Tabal Train Station, late in the day. Next is Railway System.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Railway System write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Railway System. That is the ride.
Railway System → Batu Tabal Train Station is 50 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Batu Tabal Train Station → Coal Storage is 92 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Coal Storage → back through Batu Tabal Train Station is 93 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Batu Tabal Train Station → Railway System is 50 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.