Malagonlong Bridge Ride
July 27, 2014
Malagonlong Bridge/ Puente de Malagonlong
The Malagonlong Bridge is a century old, 445-ft long bridge located in Tayabas, Quezon. Built in 1840-1850, it is said to be one of the oldest stone arched bridges in the country. It is declared as a historical site by the National Historical Commission, and would’ve made it to the UNESCO World Heritage List if not for the modern bridge built parallel to the site.
I first heard about this bridge in 2011 when I was a volunteer in Baguio. I had no idea that a very interesting piece of architecture exist somewhere just 45 minutes away from my town. Since then, I have been aching to go there but no one wants to go with me to discover its wonders. Until finally…
Bike ride to Puente de Malagonlong
The Malagonlong Bridge ride is a bike ride that took a year to be accomplished. It was July 2013 last year when me and my friend Michael first talked of going to the town of Tayabas, Quezon via Lucena using our bikes. Sadly, our schedules don’t match that time and the plan just faded away. Fast forward to July 2014 and yes! we're finally able to push through.
We started our ride from Jolibee at the Lucena-Tayabas Diversion Road at about 6:30am. It was raining the previous day and we were very thankful of the fine weather during our ride. It was my first time to bike long distance and about 15 minutes into the ride, my lungs are ready to explode. I had a little trouble keeping up with my friend, good thing he’s kind enough to wait for his lampayatot friend.
We passed by the town center of Tayabas and took the Tayabas-Pagbilao road to reach the bridge. The old bridge can be seen on the right side as you pass by the newly build bridge before the road going to Mauban. It was fun cruising at the Tayabas-Pagbilao road because it was a downhill ride (we're just going to worry about the ascent later).
After about 10 mins of cruising, we arrived at the site. It was a delight to see the old bridge. While taking pictures, all I can think of was the life of the people using the bridge a century ago. I wondered how they lived their lives; I wondered what were their stories and adventures. I run through my hands in the rough limestones that make up the bridge hoping to find answers.
Celebratory photo
We left the bridge at about 9:00 am after our picture taking. I had hoped to go down the river but there was no place to leave the bikes. We arrived at Jolibee diversion at 10:00 am, very tired and most of all, very hungry. Even so, I am very happy to be able to visit that hidden gem of a bridge. Truly, every painful pedal on my bike was worth it.
