One of my New Year Resolutions was to do more exploring around Chiang Mai on the bicycle and motorbike too. With Lamphun being around 35km away from CM it had been on my list of places to visit for a while, so with little preparation, I jumped on the bike and headed southwards. I wanted to avoid the main roads so, I set the map app to ‘walking’, unfortunately, there isn’t a cycle option and the car one tends to take you down the type of roads that I was hoping to avoid.

The planned route would take me through some unknown roads but would lead onto the 4022 beside the River Ping which I have cycled a few times before and seems to be a decent road for a ride. Not too busy, not many potholes and scenic views along the way. I’d even been recommended a coffee shop in Lamphun, so what was there not to like?  Once I had joined the river, I just had to continue to road 1015, take a left, over the bridge past the Kruba Chao Srivichai Monument and ride the 5k, or so into the pleasant town.

Welcome to Lamphun

Once inside the old city wall, I turned left along the moat, passing some quaint rickshaws on the way, I spied a couple of cyclists sitting outside of Note Espresso on the right-hand side.  It’s a tiny place and easy to miss but the coffee is good, although the motif is perhaps a bit unusual.

 I had a little cycle along the moat and stopped to take in some of the sites 

before noticing that I had a punctured front tyre, luckily enough there was a bike shop close and for 130 Bhat I had a new tube fitted and ready to head back up some different roads road to Chiang Mai.

A total round trip of just under 70km, an elevation gain of only 82m and a lovely and easy route.