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Ba'Kelalan expedition with mondial 4x4
LE CIE DU RAID in Sarawak page 3
I Hate Mud! and they come in all forms and consistencies.
From
here on Labo told us to go ahead and he would see us at Apple Lodge, our base
for the next two days. There were more sections that looked horrendous but we
found that it had a firm base and reached our destination without any more
dramas. I peeped under my car and saw the extent of the mud bath. Yes, the Lord
is good!
The next day (four) was spent away from the car as we hiked around the rice paddies and walked the apple orchards- yes, they grow apples here.
My super muddy under carriage
Some of the many scenic villages that one would pass going into Ba'Kelalan
Lemur
and Blouie had to drive out of Ba'Kelalan without Lapis. By this time,
two dry days have passed and conditions changed quickly and the road had
'improved' somewhat. The backhoes and tractors had worked on the trail
and the worst parts were the priority but there were a few sections that
had us worried. There was a section where we drove downhill coming into
Ba'Kelalan but now it
was a long slippery and rutted uphill over mud that was still soft.
Lemur being the lighter car, went first. Philippe followed the tyre ruts
and got stuck very close to the apex of the climb. He tried a number of
things that only made matters worse and so it was the first time the
Ramsey winch would be operated. I tied the rope to the best anchor I
could find and the winch cable was extended to it. It was a small slow
winch but it did the job of recovering the car.
Lemur took a wrong line and Blouie gave him a tow.
Lemur lifting a wheel over the technical trail from Sorensin to Poring
I took a different line out of the tyre ruts and
drove uphill without any dramas. Score 2-1 in my favour. We got to
another section and I remembered that we had a tough time driving
through it. Lemur being a lot lighter got but Blouie (with the spare
tyre) got stucked. Score 2-2. One of the last obstacle was the point
where I first towed Philippe the for the first time. Again Lemur got
stuck taking a different line, this time its short wheelbase being the
culprit - score 3-2 to me!
Maneuvering a tight line to prevent cross axel and maintain traction
We got beyond Long Semadoh and the logging trucks appeared with more and more regular frequency. We were left to fend on our own to drive among the juggernauts, switching from side of the road to another. There was this one empty truck that was on the wrong side of the road- both Philippe and I went defensive, I used my turn indicator and stopped.
This is one scenic trail
We
got to Lawas, I changed back to my worn MT tyres and headed to Kota
Kinabalu where we spent two nights, with a dinner at Salut being the
highlight. We went back on the road and headed to Kota Marudu to the
Rungus longhouse at Bavaganzzo. The next day, we headed to the Sorensin
trail.
Nice and easy water crossing when not raining
This trail is so different from Ba'Kelalan as it
is a technical driving trail. One needs to watch the lines and drop into
deep ruts and also to avoid cross axel sections. No dramas on the first
5 km of this trail as someone went in with a tractor and took out the
ruts. There were many areas which was rutted and technical. The water
crossing were pretty easy but the broken bridges was the one that hung
heavily on my mind. The what-ifs started playing in my mind... what if
the broken bridges broke further? What if the land slide broke further
and we could not cross and had to turn back? I monitored these points on
my GPS and saw it drawing nearer. We got to the first one and the bridge
was intact and crossed without dramas. The second obstacle was the land
slide section and again
someone else had worked on it and made an easy crossing.
Mt.
Kinabalu makes for a fantastic background on this trail
Philippe took many pictures of the cars and mountain
Finally
it was the log bridge. It looked a little worn out and needed to be
propped up. I took out my found a macaranga tree. A few firm blows saw
it fell and Philippe and Pierre helped me cart the tree and propped the
bridge. After a few turns of thick wire to bind the logs together, we
were good to go. I crossed first and since Philippe wanted to take
pictures, Pascal had to drive it. Eunice navigated her through. Pascal
had never had the experience of following the instructions of a
navigator and was so elated or clearing this obstacle.
Lemur's proud portrait with Mt. K
We got to Pine Resort our based for two nights for some cool mountain air and to visit the Kinabalu areas - Kundasang market, Mesilau with its nepenthes garden, Ranau rafflesia conservation area but more important to drive the village roads that links the many villages in this scenic mountainous area where we took tones of pictures. From here, we headed back to Kota Kinabalu where both Eunice and I bade farewell to the Grielens and left them to visit Sukau and Mulu on their own. Borneo 4X4 may be in the lead at 3-2 (recovery score) but Mondial 4X4 still has a chance to catch up as there would be more expeditions to come.