Riding to Lovina Bali

Wanting to escape from Seminyak for a day, late saturday afternoon I packed my bag and hit the road for Lovina, on the north coast. The route I took went thorugh Kerobokan towards Tabanan, and the road to Bedugal.

Starting my trip at 5.30pm, I knew I only had an hour of daylight. Riding at night is not the smartest idea, but I have done that many times, and was not worried. The steamy temperatures in the Kuta area, meant I was only wearing long pants and a short sleeve soccer shirt when I left. Things were comfortable for the first hour and a half, then came the highlands near Bedugal. As the darkness descended, so did the fog. As mentioned earlier, most roads follow ridgelines, some with a steep drop either side. Most country roads are not lit either, which thrust me into a video game-like situation, of dealing with dark, hairpins bends, and banks of thick fog. I’d say the visibility went from 15-50 meters at times.

Once in a while, another motorbike rider would get into my rhythm, both of us negotiating the surprises as they revealed themselves and taking advantage of the extra set of headlights. As this point I was pretty much shivering. The bends in the road didn’t seem like they were ever going to end. Kuta-Singaraja usually takes 3 hours, but it doesn’t seem so stressful, when you can look ahead and enjoy the scenery. Last night was one big black tunnel.

Rounding a turn and dropping into a populated area, the warmer air hit me, and I felt way better. Singaraja came up soon after that, and a left turn along the coastal road, got me to the eastern edge Lovina. It took about 2 hours in the humid air, till I was fully warm again.