Wednesday, 20 October 2021

West Coast Exploration (April 11, 2021)

 

Straight River Beach runs alongside a narrow inlet. You can see the canal / stream in the background

Jalan Parit Perpat Laut

Pantai Perpat aka Pantai Raja Sehari usually refers to the groom as he is the King for the Day!

Food stalls at Pantai Perpat. None were opened so early in the morning

There's a single bench on the whole beach!

Near the breakwaters

Mangrove submerged by the tide

View from the breakwaters

Breakwater

Another view of the breakwater

We were hoping to use the dirt tracks that runs parallel to the beach and to the inlet, but it was blocked with a makeshift farm gate

Could have carried our bikes across the gates....BUT....U-Turn it is !!!

Somewhere after Jalan Kampung Kalong Gantung Laut, Claudine's front tyre locked with Henry's rear tyre. Luckily, nobody crashed! VT had made a U-turn and Henry was slowing down while Claudine was happily enjoying the passing sceneries!

Victory

Pantai Punggur doesn't really come with a beach

Large parking area

Breakwaters at Pantai Punggur

Checking the public toilet for future car camping

Checking the public toilet for future car camping

Checking the public toilet for future car camping

Watergates at Parit Kalong

"Drone" view

Locks controlling the waterflow of Sungai Senggarang

Brackish water

The gatekeeper was not around but looking at the surrounding area, we can see that he takes pride in his job. There was a small pantry with tap, sink and cooking utensils beside the watergate.

Serendipity

Another set of dirt tracks 

Another set of single lane tarmac

Another set of gravel road

Straight River Beach's seafood restaurants on stilts

Few concrete jetties for fishermen to bring in the haul 

Anchored fishing boats on calm sea

Straight River Beach is actually a strip of elevated dirt tracks built to prevent soil erosion. It is named after the inlet that ran along the coastline.   

There are many rickety shacks built on stilts all along the coasts. This one is not manned 

There were quite a few long jetties too

This one is exceptionally long and comes with a shelter in the middle

Walk with care

Enter with caution! A worker came and locked up the entrance with 2 anglers still inside!! He was erratic and will not listen to reasons. Bernie and Suzie bore the brunt whilst another angler paid RM20 to appease him.

View from the jetty

Straights River Beach's container cafes. They were beginning to open at 11.30 am

Riding towards Pantai Terus

Possibly more than 5 km of dirt tracks from Parit Kongsi to Parit Terus

There's a stall selling simple rice dishes and drinks at Pantai Terus.

Fishing boats anchored at Pantai Terus

A small strip of sand

All smiles at Tanjung Hill. Earlier, Claudine had dropped her 4 months old Samsung S20 when riding through a gravel section in a palm oil plantation. Luckily, phone was found within 200m away, backtracked. It had jumped off her fabric handlebar bottle cage with no sound. Luckily, her instinct was to check on her phone!

Waiting for Bernie and Suzie who had left us at Pantai Terus to pack Nasi Beriani Mohd Shah from Batu Pahat

View of the sea from the hill top

Tanjung Hill is actually a burial ground for early settlers to the area. 

Entrance to the graveyard at the hilltop

The dirt tracks that hugs the hill slopes, leading to the other side of the coast

A short walk

View of the trail

Pantai Tanjung Labuh, at the base of Tanjung Hill

Quiet Cove

Few anglers but lots of mosquitoes

A few such similar structures allows anglers to reach the other side of the rocky coast

Access to Tanjung Hill is via the old abandoned Batu Pahat airstrip. You will notice some remnants of broken fencing and a large flat area. After exiting, we waited for Bernie and Suzie at Assam Pedas Delima Batu and couldn't resist their out of this world assam pedas. Our Nasi Beriani was delivered within 10 minutes after and so a second lunch was taken by the roadside of Route 5

Assam Pedas Delima Batu in the background

Happy with meals from Batu Pahat

One last recce after we picked up our cars from Rengit was Pusat Rekreasi Tampok Laut. It looked sadly abandoned

A river estuary at Tampok