There is hardly any information on the internet about the new island I was about to catch a ferry to visit – Sumbawa.  On google maps, I had seen a bay that lay about 50km from the ferry port which looked beautiful, and that would be my destination for my first night on my new island; hopefully there would be something nice there when I arrived…

First, I needed to pack up the tent as I had once again camped on the beach the night before.

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Perhaps, not the most beautiful beach that I had slept on but it served its purpose – as a place to sleep for free near to the ferry port of Labuhan.

Once on the road I had around 15km to cover to catch the ferry.  I knew that they were supposed to run every hour around the clock, although the tide times could severely disrupt this schedule, especially at low tide.

After a quick stop outside the port to get breakfast I paid my 25000 rupiah, about £1.50, for the 90 minute boat ride and joined the line of motorbikes which were waiting to be called to board.

I had just missed the 11am ferry and was now waiting for the midday ferry.  At about 11.30 our ferry rounded the headland and sailed into the dock to unload its passengers.

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It was low tide which meant that the trucks and buses had a pretty hard job to get off the steep ramp without grounding the bottom of their vehicles.  One of the coaches got completely stuck and the only way they could get it off was to untie the boat to let it drift off the quay slightly.  Not exactly the safest thing to do as the bus could have easily ended up going off the end of the ferry.  Luckily, it worked and the coach was able to get over the lip and onto the quay side.

Now it was out turn to board and as the ticket collector dropped the iron chain at the end of the motorbike lane it was like the start of a moto GP as everybody roared off to secure their place at the front of the ferry to ensure that they disembarked first.

I cycled onto the ferry and parked my bike on the side of the car deck and headed to join the other drivers on the top deck.  Here there was a seating area and locals selling food to the passengers.  A group of lads with a guitar struck up a tune and entertained the crowd before passing a hat around.

The ferry sounded its horn to signal that we were off and we pushed off from the quayside.  This was the signal for the food sellers and singers to disembark the boat in order to get on the next ferry that arrived in port.  There were bodies jumping over the side aimed at any part of the quay that they could land on.  Nobody ended up in the water which was a bonus.

After the entertainment of the departure it was time to sit back, relax and watch Lombok slip away as we headed out to sea en route for Sumbawa.  From this vantage point you could appreciate just how enormous Mount Rinjani, the active volcano that I had climbed a couple of days ago  really was at it dominated the skyline behind us. (see post – Climbing Rinjani)

Ninety minutes later we sailed into the port of Poto Tano and my first impressions of my new island was that it was hilly.

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I knew from looking at Sumbawa on google maps that it would take me a couple of weeks to cycle across the island towards Flores but what I didn’t expect was the size of the mountains in front of me.  I was expecting the western side of the island to be fairly flat and the further east I cycled towards XXX the more mountainous the terrain would become.  There was no turning back now and what would be would be.

To this point I had cycled nearly 4000km and surprisingly Sumbawa would be the first island that I had not visited at some point before.  Another first as I disembarked and headed south chasing the bay I had seen on google maps was that this would be the first time that I had to retrace my route – the road that I was on headed south for a couple of hundred kilometers before coming to a dead end in the mountains.  At least I was only going to be cycling 50km down the road and if there was no beautiful beach at the end it wasn’t that much out of my way.

It was nearly 2pm before I finally got on the road and it would be dark in 4 hours. Given the look of the terrain in front of me it would be a push to get there before dark.  In for a penny, in for a pound and I set off cycling south.

If Bali is commercial and Lombok lacks well behind then from the countryside I was passing through Sumbawa is still in the dark ages.  For miles upon miles there was literally nothing but trees and the odd farmer walking his cattle by the roadside.  Amazingly though, the surface of the road was among the best that I had cycled on.  Perhaps, the infrastructure is being put into place for when the tourists arrive on mass at some point in the future.

The whole scene that was unfolding in front of me kind of reminded me of the set of Jurrasic Park; I wouldn’t have been surprised if a Tyrannosaurus Rex had wandered out from behind one of the many hills which lined the valley that I was cycling through.

The hills were not too bad and for the most part the road snaked its was around the peaks rather than going over them.  I was making good time and as the heavens opened I decided that this was a good point for a food stop to wait the worst of the rain to pass.

It seems that most ‘restaurants’ here are mobile with food being served off the back of motorbikes that tour around the villages selling to the locals.  I cycled on through the rain until I found a motorbike pulled over at a house and parked the bike to ‘join’ the family for dinner.

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The food being served was called Soto which is a kind of noodle soup with meat balls and vegetables.  Very hot and tasty.   The family moved over to make space for me on the sitting table and   even got a free portion of soup when there was a mix up over my order – I ate one portion and then ordered a second as I had missed lunch one again.  The seller thought I wanted two more as without language it was quite confusing.  Hey, at only 30p a portion it was not going to break the bank.

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The rain had eased by now and it was time for me to go find this bay.  I continued down the road towards the coast and that was where the road ended and a dirt track began.  Thankfully the rain had not been as heavy here otherwise getting up the hills would have been even more treacherous than it already was.  As I had road tyres on I had to get off and push the bike up and over a couple of the hills as there was not enough traction on the rear wheel which just span out on the loose earth.

After about 3 km of constant up and down I had pushed my bike up the third hill when I saw the bay that I had seen on google maps appear in front of me and what a sight it was. Pure white sand, a deserted crescent bay and not a house in sight for as far as I could see.

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Now this was the sort of beach that I had hoped to find when I had been planning my route through Indonesia, and hell had I found it in bucket loads.  Sometimes hunches do pay off and this was definitely one of those occasions.

I just had one more hill to get over and I had about 20 minutes before the sun set and the lights went out.  It still amazes me after living in Asia for so long how quickly it goes dark – at around 6pm each day the day turns to night with no twilight – just straight from daylight to darkness in a matter of minutes.

As I came down the final hill there was a farmers field off to my left that had a track running through it which would give me access to the beach.  In the field there was a building so I shouted my hellos in case anybody was living there but no response was forthcoming and so it was either empty or abandoned.  I opened the gate and crossed the field to get to the beach and pushed the fully loaded bike about 100m down the beach where a couple of trees were growing on the top of the dune.  The trees would give me protection from the rain if the heavens opened and shade during the day and this is where I set up camp.

The whole area under the trees was crawling with ants that lived in the trunks of the trees but as they didn’t seem to be biting me as they crawled over my feet I could live with them.  At other beaches I have found that ants can’t climb up the polished steel legs of the chair that I carry with me which is an added bonus when trying to enjoy a cuppa on the beach.

There was just time to get my tent set up before the sun set in a blood red light that lit up the whole bay around me.

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A beautiful end to my first day on Sumbawa, and in the morning I would have paradise all to myself.  If there was a cycling god out there she was smiling down on me right now.

Here is a video that I shot to record the day:

Cheers

Stewart

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The run to Sumbawa
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One thought on “The run to Sumbawa

  • October 1, 2016 at 10:11 am
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    I loved reading about this Stew. Can’t wait to see how your night on that stunning beach was x

    Reply

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