Day 9, 10 & 11

After having decided to spend a rest day recovering from our food poisoning,
 we finally shot down to our next location, looking somewhat 
like a bunch of infected hospital inmates commandeering a rogue DHL 
van. We stocked up on much needed supplies and hit the pillow at the aggressively 
late hour of 9.30pm, ready for our glorious return to the saddle in 
the morrow. ‘Glorious’ seemed like a rather hyperbolic way to describe 
the meandering and drunken ride which actually ensued... The lack of 
quality food and obvious dehydration made the surprisingly favourable 
road and weather conditions on the A1 highway seem arduous and 
hard-work. However, after 2 hours (and roughly 40k) later we stopped 
for a necessary break- where various fluids were taken on... whereas 
others were rejected and sent back up! In a gesture of good team 
spirit, Sam decided to get a novelty hair cut as well- to top off a 
morning that, in truth, nobody fully remembers! The afternoon’s ride 
got underway in much higher spirits- and we quickly made up the miles, 
flying down the A1, and into ‘Dong Hoi City’ - after passing through 
the apocalyptic rainstorm that lay in wait.

The decision was made to have an additional rest day the following 
morning, to recover in time for the 115k ride to come; where the day 
was spent catching up on the Euro World Cub, and admiring Brad Pitt’s acting 
prowess- both crucial steps in this hearty marathon!

The team awoke fighting fit; and even the car-honking orchestra or the 
questionable smells that seem to follow us everywhere, were not enough 
to put us off one of the best days cycling yet. We cycled out of 'Dong 
Hoi' and onto the ‘Ho Chi Minh Trail’- a mountainous pass that 
stretches the length of Vietnam, where we saw the Vietnam we’d all 
been waiting to see....... Endless rolling green hills, gorgeous 
cloud-tipped peaks and smooth riding were the order of the day- with 
fewer cars seen all day than we had  seen during an hour on the much more 
crazy ‘A1 highway’

. This truly lifted our spirits; as did the hoards  of school-children that chased after us- even the stoic Callum Ewing  lifted a smile at one point today (a skill that this horrific food  poisoning has robbed of poor Callum). We arrived at our destination of  ‘Cam Lo’, and were extremely
  surprised to hear that we had travelled 101k. With the beautiful scenery and milder temperatures seemingly distracting us from what would normally be a mammoth distance. Buoyed by this new sensation of contentment, we decided to cycle a further 15 k to                ‘Dong Luong’, and prepared for tomorrows 80k trip to ‘Hue’ - bring it  on! -
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