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.
286 km from Bukittinggi to Bukittinggi, about 4 h 33 of riding. It goes by way of Batu Tabal Train Station, Kayu Tanam Train Station, Salak Power Plant and Ranith Water Pumping and back through Kayu Tanam Train Station. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 800 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available.
Sumatra's western highlands are the home of the Minangkabau, a matrilineal people whose houses have roofs curved like buffalo horns, and the road up from the coast at Padang to the cool plateau around Bukittinggi is one of the great short climbs in Indonesia. It passes through the Anai valley, past a waterfall that falls close to the roadside, and through the little railway halt of Kayu Tanam, where the old line from Padang once began its steep ascent on its way to the Ombilin coal fields. That railway, built by the Dutch in the late nineteenth century with a rack section to climb the grade, is now part of the UNESCO-listed Ombilin Coal Mining Heritage of Sawahlunto.
Read the complete Tinggi Bridge write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Tinggi Bridge 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 24 km into the recorded legs. Next is Kayu Tanam Train Station.
Kayu Tanam is a small mountain-foot town on the old road and railway between Padang and the highlands of West Sumatra, the place where the flat coastal plain gives up and the Bukit Barisan range begins. The station is a relic of the Dutch era, when the colonial railway pushed inland to bring coal from the Ombilin mines at Sawahlunto down to the port at Padang. The line climbed the steep Anai gorge and, higher up, used a toothed rack rail to manage the gradient, and the whole system was recognised by UNESCO in 2019 as part of the Ombilin coal mining heritage.
Read the complete Kayu Tanam Train Station write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 60 km into the recorded legs you reach Kayu Tanam Train Station. Next is Salak Power Plant and Ranith Water Pumping.
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, about halfway. Next is back through Kayu Tanam Train Station.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Kayu Tanam Train Station write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Kayu Tanam Train Station sits at 162 km, about halfway. 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 comes up about 263 km into the recorded legs. Next is Tinggi Bridge.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Tinggi Bridge write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Tinggi Bridge closes the day.
Tinggi Bridge → Batu Tabal Train Station is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Batu Tabal Train Station → Kayu Tanam Train Station is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Kayu Tanam Train Station → Salak Power Plant and Ranith Water Pumping is 83 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Salak Power Plant and Ranith Water Pumping → back through Kayu Tanam Train Station is 84 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Kayu Tanam Train Station → back through Batu Tabal Train Station is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Batu Tabal Train Station → Tinggi Bridge is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.