CYCLING BALI DAY 4: Cruising Bali’s Forgotten North Coast

CYCLING BALI DAY 4: Cruising Bali’s Forgotten North Coast

I awoke again at 5:30 am, this day in Seririt city on Bali’s little-visited north coast. I was very excited to begin my most eagerly-anticipated day of the entire bicycle tour. I knew that west of Seririt I’d be treated to stunning scenery, light traffic and nearly flat roads all the way west to Pemuteran, a trip of just 40 km / 25 miles. Once there, I’d get to luxuriate for 1 1/2 days at a seaside resort. I’d just been there 1 week earlier, so I knew what delights awaited me.

Local girl making ‘kue’ in Seririt, N. Bali

Colorful Balinese sweets ‘kue’

At 7:15 I excitedly set out. Immediately upon leaving Seririt, beautiful scenery greeted me. “Hello!” A lovely stream, racing down from the distant mountains through green rice fields and backed by the Bali Barat Mountain range, flowed down to the bridge on Seririt’s western edge. Fantastic. “Here I come beautiful nature,” I said aloud as I cycled westward.

Another bonus: a freshly paved road. According to my motorbike journal, this road was nearly flat, but slightly uphill, all the way to Pemuteran in far west Bali. I envisioned a completely flat road and easy cruising. And indeed, I started out in my high gears, flying along, enjoying the spectacular scenery and stopping for occasional photo opps.

Before long, though, I found myself pedaling in mid-gears, much like Day 2 from Sanur to Ubud, with occasionally steeper climbs. Ugh! It was a bit tougher than I’d expected. Perhaps my legs were slowly wearing down, tired from three days of hill climbing? Or perhaps it was just the mental anticipation of an easy cycling day? Or perhaps the roads were just steeper than I’d noted?

In any event, I pressed on, still enjoying the views. When I stopped for my hourly break, I was already quite hungry. I found a local warung (local restaurant) selling babi ( pork), so I ate a tasty meal while resting.

Back on my bike, I found the pedaling a little tiring, but do-able. I did have to stop more frequently than usual, oddly enough. Then, before I knew it, I suddenly reached my seaside hotel. Great! It was just 9:30am.

Temple back in the hills- Pemuteran

Once I arrived at the hotel, I discovered that I actually still had lots of energy. So I unloaded my bike at my room and set out to explore the lovely area. I found out that the region is chocked full of Balinese temples. Way back narrow roads, in the ‘middle of nowhere’ were 3 clearly important temples.

Temple gate overlooking the N. Bali Sea

Dip in the sea anyone?!

Sweeping coastal views from the temple

Out along Bali’s gorgeous coast I found 3 more important temples. They were infested with local monkeys. My experiences over the years with monkey hordes have not been enjoyable, so I was surprised to find these monks were not very aggressive. In fact, they just wandered around minding their own business, sat about grooming themselves, and played with each other. Another temple sat up on a small hill with fantastic views up and down the coast.

After my interesting explorations I returned to my lux seaside resort where I spent the whole day relaxing, writing and swimming in the pool. Ahhh, paradise!

my Cycling Bali Guidebook

If you’re inspired to cycle around Bali, check out my guidebook-

Cycling Bali: Guide to Circumnavigating Bali by Bicycle

Cycling Adventure Bali: Overview
Bicycling Day 3: Cruising Down Volcanic Ridgelines.
Bicycling Day 5: Flying In Bali Barat NP

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