Day 1 – Nakorn Luang to Phitsanulok
Christmas day in 2015. I had planned a few days away into North Thailand with my wife covering some of the ride I had done in early December solo. It was our first tour around Thailand so was going to be a refreshing break.
Day 1 was just about getting from A to B. ‘A’ being my workplace in Nakorn Luang and ‘B’ being the Harmony Plus hotel in Phitsanulok. I’d taken the bike to work in the morning and arranged for my wife to get there by mid afternoon. The plan was to leave by 2pm and arrive in Phitsanulok by 6pm and have some time to look around and relax. I’d planned a route to go up the Eastern side of Nakorn Luang and head up through Lopburi along Route 11 towards Phichit and cut West arriving into Phitsanulok. We ended up leaving my work at 3pm so headed out on Route 347 and then on to Route 3196 towards Lopburi before turning left onto Route 311. We took a break at a PTT here as Ara (my wife) head butted me from behind. A sure sign that she was nodding off on the bike. It was great to see that staff in the coffee shop dressed up in Christmas outfits. We took a good break to freshen up and set off again. Unknowingly the GPS route put me back onto Route 32 (AH2) towards Nakorn Sawan before planning to put me onto to Route 11.
Lesson to be learned here is to check the route in detail once you’ve planned your route into your GPS. Sometimes the GPS finds a route between the waypoints that is not your desired route. This was not my intended route and so given now that I was on the fast road, and also an hour behind schedule, I decided to abort the planned route and head straight to Nakorn Sawan and then up the Route 117 straight into Phitsanulok.
By the time I was North of Nakorn Sawan the Sun has started setting so I motored on as safely as I could arriving into Phitsanulok at just past 7pm. Riding solo I can afford to be bullish in the traffic and make my way through quite fast. But when you have your nearest and dearest on the back, I definitely slow the pace down a bit. Pillion comfort and safety is always paramount.
The GPS took me straight to the hotel cutting through the centre of the town. A good straight dash leaving enough time to relax and order in some Pizza and get a good rest before the ride tomorrow. Also I made sure to review in detail my desired route for tomorrow and ensure it was as I had planned.
- Distance Covered : 404.5km
- Fuel Used : 5.5L/100km
- Roads Travelled : 347, 3196, 311 (AH2), 117
- Hotel : The Harmony Plus Hotel, Phitsanulok
- URL : Harmony Plus Hotel
Motorcycle Chronicles by Jamil Siddique 