I had a friend (from Australia) and customer come back over here to see his gf so he wanted to ride again on the island of Leyte where his gf is from .... This was a little different idea than most because I had to move the bikes over from Cebu without a second rider ... The port was just a few miles away from me so I just hired a local tall friend to ride the bike to the port ... The island was scouted again a couple weeks back and I found alot of trails going out into the mountains that divide the entire island and back to the hiway with a few connecting roads after you left the hill sides of the trails ... Lots of natural water springs filling the creeks at the flat side of the island before the foot hills and mountain climbs ... Lots of rounded, smooth rocks also ... Many not embedded so beware ... There is alot more here to be ridden and I found a local rider who knows a great deal about the island in the area I'm interested in riding ... So I'll be going back there before the end of January I hope for more scouting ...Negros island to the west needs another scouting trip first maybe ... Looks like twins here on the boat ... Bikes loaded first ... Everyone is watching the loading of the boat because we know it will be packed and don't want a scare from the trucks ... You can see I moved the bikes up and over with the rear tire of the TXC inserted inside that I-beam of the boat ... This gave alot more room for the trks ... Looking back at Cebu ... I ride up in and around the small Mt range in the back ground ... Can't really cross directly over it but you can ride very close to it and look up its walls and there is a short cut (Monte Maria) over it to the north(right) side that is pretty cool to ride up or down ... The main road goes over it on the low side to the south and I found another short cut across the mid lower side of the ridge on that end also but have never pushed all the through it to date Leyte island here looking out the side of the roro .. we land on the land you see to the left but if you look to the center of the pic and right side, you'll see Mts in the background ...We ride in those Mts after driving around that inlet of water ... Hotel on Leyte ... It was really nice and had a cool swimming pool ...
A good example of some rounded rocks and a natural spring creek ... Gary on 010 TC250 Everyone is interested in a new big bike here ... ESP if a foreigner is on it ... I crashed just about where the bike is parked ... You can't tell it from these pics but that ground there is very hard and slick ...Very clayey ground .. My front end was either in a slight rut or hit an embedded rock and slide out ... Gary might have pics of this later... We found a small coconut farm ... And it was really really hot ...You gotta just keep poring water down ... The guy who was there climbed a tree and got us some coconuts to carve open and drink ... This guy had a sword instead of a machete for working with... Little unusual as compared to Cebu ..
The magic go-juice ... I never get tired after drinking a couple of these and eating some of the meat inside ... Back to the low lands for gas and food and drinks .... I don't remember this cigarette brand but it looks very heavy on the American influenced side ... Back up in the foot hills and at the end of a trail ... Looking back across the water inlet we traveled around when we landed ...The front water line is the Ormoc area ... More of the trail going back down ... Not too well traveled, but traveled .. we also saw several people who had horses here for travel ... Many of the roads here were very rocky for these small bikes here ...
You never hear much on the subject but the Philippines bakes bread, many types, daily ....Its very good, keeps well without getting stale too quickly, and is about 10 cents for 1 of any thing they have. Usually baked right on the spot. Washed out creek crossing below where the bike is parked. At the bottom ... The road on the other side heading back out from the bottom of the valley towards the higher ground. A view from the bottom back up to the top towards the bike... Here is a short video made with my Kodak Playsport camera of the fresh water running in this creek.
Here is the same road after that wash out heading across another hill top a few Ks on down the road ... I snapped these few shots on the way back to the hotel at the end of the day. This is looking back across the water inlet where we landed at yesterday. DAY 2: Back in the trails See videos for the drive down into the bottom of this valley ... It was really gnarly and not for everyone ... I'll name this valley crossing as Gary's Shortcut since Gary was the first to cross here ... I'd never go a route this gnarly on my own or without another hard-charger such as Gary ... It was about 12:30 when we arrived at the bottom here, hot, and the step ups were not so easy ...Thats Gary looking for a way up out the bottom...
This is where that trail came out at on the top side ... It was about 1/4 mile up from the creek bottom.. Lake Danao .... The Husky back in the lowlands, killing time and waiting for the the roro boat to arrive for the ride back to Cebu ... Waiting for high tide ... this boat will easily move between islands with 2-3 bikes here and cost should be ~$3,000.00 or so I'd guess ... My ride back west to Cebu This was really rough waters for me ... The ocean settled down alot before dark after we got a couple hrs into the ride back home ...
Videos here .... Some made with Garys cam and some with mine ... Bump the display up to HD if possible for best viewing .. This is me at the bottom of the valley on day 2 ... I went up the creek as far as possible looking for a way out to the road but had to return and make the climb out up the trail .. View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5b2vL6fWsg This is Gary following me down and across a smaller valley and back up again .... View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sm_Pm-WGICU View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgTp9G6tea4 This is me driving to the bottom of the last big valley creek we crossed ... View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkcq4VVi5z8
This is some of Gary climbing back out of the large valley we crossed .... You can see how slick it is as he tries to stay to the far right line but the bike keeps sliding back to the low side of the trail ... The kenda back tire is a little worn but if the dirt was dry, it would have tracked directly behind the front tire there ... You can also see the dirt has a funny color on the top shaded side... We knew when we looked at it, that it was gonna be slick in places ...
This is Gary leading off into the valley and down to the creek we got blocked it ... His helmet cam is new and he does not have the sunshine areas dialed in yet on it ... Its got a wrist band that remotely controls the many functions of the device
Cool stuff. My dad took part in the liberation of your part of world during ww2. He was 17 in 1945 andtold me all kinds of crazy stuff landing and moving through phillipines. He said its gorgious there as your pictures show but said he would never go back. Too many bad memories.
Yep I bet it was really, really primitive here in those days ... Lots of dirt roads only I bet .. They are pouring lots of cement in the mountains since I've been here ... And stringing ELEC wires all over ... Leyte is still primitive in many ways ESP after you get away from the main drags ... My father was floating around out there on a destroyer back in WWII days ... He never talked about much of the war days either ... Except that he gave out the beers on the boat ... Everyone could have 2 beers a day or night or some how ... if you gave him any crap, he would punch your card and your quota of 2 beers would be hit ... Keep cool and your card never got that second punch ...
Here's a little of the street congestion caused by the 'All Souls Day' holiday here in the Ormoc City, Philippines ... My 08 bike runs hot way to easy these days due to bent radiators I'm thinking ... At the end where I clear the jam is a lot more like normal traffic each day ...
