CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
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Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
A 291 km round trip from Talawi - roughly 4 h 32 in the saddle. It goes by way of Padang Pandjang Train Station, Coal Storage and back through Padang Pandjang Train Station. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 850 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. The line favours views over speed.
Coal built this corner of West Sumatra, and the buildings at Salak and the Ranith pumping station are part of the machinery that moved it. The Dutch colonial government developed the Ombilin coalfield after a geologist found rich seams near Sawahlunto in the nineteenth century, and the whole system of mine, railway, power plant and port was later recognised by UNESCO as the Ombilin Coal Mining Heritage of Sawahlunto. A power station gave the mines electricity, and a pumping station supplied water, because a steam age needs both.
Read the complete Salak Power Plant and Ranith Water Pumping write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Salak Power Plant and Ranith Water Pumping is where the day begins. Next is Padang Pandjang Train Station.
Padang Panjang is a cool, rain-washed town in the highlands of West Sumatra, in the land of the Minangkabau, at the foot of two volcanoes, Marapi and Singgalang, each rising to nearly three thousand metres. The railway station here is a relic of the Dutch colonial network built in the 1890s to carry coal from the mines of Sawahlunto to the port of Padang. The line had a difficult climb to make from the coast, and part of it used a rack system, with a toothed rail between the running rails and special locomotives gripping it to haul trains up the steep slope.
Read the complete Padang Pandjang Train Station write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Padang Pandjang Train Station comes up 71 km in. 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.
141 km in you reach Coal Storage. Next is back through Padang Pandjang Train Station.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Padang Pandjang Train Station write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Padang Pandjang Train Station, late in the day. Next is Salak Power Plant and Ranith Water Pumping.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Salak Power Plant and Ranith Water Pumping write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Salak Power Plant and Ranith Water Pumping. That is the ride.
Salak Power Plant and Ranith Water Pumping → Padang Pandjang Train Station is 62 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Padang Pandjang Train Station → Coal Storage is 79 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Coal Storage → back through Padang Pandjang Train Station is 79 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Padang Pandjang Train Station → Salak Power Plant and Ranith Water Pumping is 62 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.