Biking in Nuvali – my first trail

Had my first morning trail ride in Nuvali yesterday — was happy to discover a whole new world right under my nose!

A friend came to visit so we could go biking, which I took as doing 10K rounds around the village. Ten minutes into the ride and we reached the edge of Avida Settings, saw Elaro across the street, and casually decided to head for the Bird Sanctuary (neither of us had been there before).

Little did we know we\’d end up on an actual bike trail, and 2 hours later reach Venare via the uphill path behind Montecito.

Was an adventure of a morning, what with both of us being first timers on any trail.

We entered the soil path between Elaro and Montecito and followed the signs that pointed to the bird sanctuary.

There were no other bikers in sight, and many times we considered turning back for fear of getting lost or not having the energy for the return trip.  On occasion we\’d come across a maintenance personnel or a security guard, who would greet us a good morning, encourage us to press forward and just follow the path.

We eventually reached a lookout point with 2 viewing decks and a small pond, and (much) later on were comforted by a familiar sight: the Big Gazebo overlooking the Aviary lots of Elaro.

We could\’ve turned back then but saw signs to the right, pointing to the Nuvali community nursery, Greens and Patches.   Since we were already there, we decided to just go for it.

We never found it. 😛

We passed a couple of houses with men tending goats, geese, and possibly pigs and chickens, but we must\’ve made a wrong turn somewhere and missed the nursery.

It was a good thing that at this point, we ran into two other bikers, Manny and Kristel, making their way through the trail, and they told us we were near the main road near Venare already.    I remember my brothers telling me that the biking community is generally friendly and helpful, so I was glad for the company.

Manny told us that we picked a good day to do the trail, as it usually gets crowded on weekends.  He also said that there are about 4-5 trails inside Nuvali alone — really exciting to have all this is my/our backyard!

Here\’s a pano shot of the peak of the trail and what greeted us after our biking mini-adventure: Mt. Makiling and Tagaytay under the dazzling 9:30am sunlight, and an army of tall grasses swaying to the winds of Nuvali South, right across Venare. Click again when you open in Flickr to see the full size.

Was so beautiful, and worth the aching muscles and sunburn.

We said we\’d turn it into a weekly habit — let\’s see how next week goes.

🙂